I guess mineral tubs have a purpose.

[RiverHills]

Put wheels under her!!!!!.Life's to short to have a cow around that won't eat loose minerals. :hide:

 

[TexasBred]

Put wheels under her!!!!!.Life's to short to have a cow around that won't eat loose minerals. :hide:

A lot of cattle won't eat loose mineral. We're just not there to see it "not happen" and it's not the most tasty stuff in the pasture either. I notice in the "medicine cabinet" thread most have some pretty strong medications in there for cattle with problems. Much more severe than what this heifer has........ She looks pretty good to me. If she breeds I'd keep her....if it happens again then yes I'd consider getting rid of her.

 

[RiverHills]

Put wheels under her!!!!!.Life's to short to have a cow around that won't eat loose minerals. :hide:

A lot of cattle won't eat loose mineral. We're just not there to see it "not happen" and it's not the most tasty stuff in the pasture either. I notice in the "medicine cabinet" thread most have some pretty strong medications in there for cattle with problems. Much more severe than what this heifer has........ She looks pretty good to me. If she breeds I'd keep her....if it happens again then yes I'd consider getting rid of her.

I was being sarcastic in the post TB. It seems to be a popular response to any problem with cattle.

I just had an experience with an older cow loosing condition. We weaned her calf but she kept loosing condition for over a month. Called the vet and they sent us some b12 and multimin90. Treated her and within a week she started improving. We feed good quality minerals year round. So defiantly agree that some eat very little if any or don't absorb it.

 

[jedstivers]

Something is off withe her. I'd ship her and put that money in something else. Course that's just me.
Most of my cattle operation is a buy and sell deal.

 

[Jessica06]

One thing that you can do to meet in the middle between slowing consumption of the tub and saving money by making them eat more of the loose is to top dress the tub with loose mineral; couple inches or so. If you check on your cows pretty often it won't be anything to put another scoop in the tub when it starts getting low.

 

[angus9259]

Put wheels under her!!!!!.Life's to short to have a cow around that won't eat loose minerals. :hide:

A lot of cattle won't eat loose mineral. We're just not there to see it "not happen" and it's not the most tasty stuff in the pasture either. I notice in the "medicine cabinet" thread most have some pretty strong medications in there for cattle with problems. Much more severe than what this heifer has........ She looks pretty good to me. If she breeds I'd keep her....if it happens again then yes I'd consider getting rid of her.

I was being sarcastic in the post TB. It seems to be a popular response to any problem with cattle.

I just had an experience with an older cow loosing condition. We weaned her calf but she kept loosing condition for over a month. Called the vet and they sent us some b12 and multimin90. Treated her and within a week she started improving. We feed good quality minerals year round. So defiantly agree that some eat very little if any or don't absorb it.

So you are a proponent of keeping a cow that has to be treated special?

It sure seems to me your original post was right. If you feed loose mineral and there's one cow in your operation that won't eat it, why would you keep her? Similar with tubs I guess. My mineral is in tubs. If there are cattle that need to have loose and either get sick or won't breed, they don't stay.

 

[angus9259]

Something is off withe her. I'd ship her and put that money in something else. Course that's just me.
Most of my cattle operation is a buy and sell deal.

X2 (I guess we're at x4 by now). I particularly like the quote that a mineral tub has never saved a cow. That said, if she were sick from something else then maybe she will do just fine on loose and that was never the issue to begin with so I would keep her for that reason - because if she turned around after you put out a tub, she was sick from something else and getting over it anyway.

 

[TexasBred]

So you are a proponent of keeping a cow that has to be treated special?

It sure seems to me your original post was right. If you feed loose mineral and there's one cow in your operation that won't eat it, why would you keep her? Similar with tubs I guess. My mineral is in tubs. If there are cattle that need to have loose and either get sick or won't breed, they don't stay.

All cattle should be treated as individuals. No two are the same. As I mentioned earlier most of you have no problem administering antibiotics for everything in the world. What's the difference in giving mineral in a tub as apposed to loose mineral?? I'm sure the entire herd enjoyed part of the tub as well. Hope the original poster keeps us up to date and will post a pic of this nice heifer with her new calf when it hits the ground. Meanwhile, keep culling everything that has a runny nose, cough, wheeze or loose manure. They dont' deserve any kind of special treatment.

 

[angus9259]

I hope it was the tub that made her healthy and you found the root cause and forever have it behind you. Great news and good to hear.

 

[True Grit Farms]

So you are a proponent of keeping a cow that has to be treated special?

It sure seems to me your original post was right. If you feed loose mineral and there's one cow in your operation that won't eat it, why would you keep her? Similar with tubs I guess. My mineral is in tubs. If there are cattle that need to have loose and either get sick or won't breed, they don't stay.

All cattle should be treated as individuals. No two are the same. As I mentioned earlier most of you have no problem administering antibiotics for everything in the world. What's the difference in giving mineral in a tub as apposed to loose mineral?? I'm sure the entire herd enjoyed part of the tub as well. Hope the original poster keeps us up to date and will post a pic of this nice heifer with her new calf when it hits the ground. Meanwhile, keep culling everything that has a runny nose, cough, wheeze or loose manure. They dont' deserve any kind of special treatment.

I'm a little confused with this post. Cows are herding animals and there's no way to treat one animal using tubs and not all the others. Antibiotics are administered to a specific animal for a specific problem. Maybe giving the problem heifer a shot of Multi Min twice a year when you work cattle could be something to look at?

 

[angus9259]

I'm a little confused with this post. Cows are herding animals and there's no way to treat one animal using tubs and not all the others. Antibiotics are administered to a specific animal for a specific problem. Maybe giving the problem heifer a shot of Multi Min twice a year when you work cattle could be something to look at?

I'm thinking that since no two cows are alike, the best approach would be to have a separate paddock for each animal so their individual needs could be met.

Short of that, you're either stuck with putting tubs and loose out for all the animals all the time and maybe adding the multi min shot in case you get an animal that doesn't like loose OR tubs.

 

[angus9259]

Sorry. Typed something I wanted to delete and don't know how. Hope this does it!

 

[angus9259]

I'm a little confused with this post. Cows are herding animals and there's no way to treat one animal using tubs and not all the others. Antibiotics are administered to a specific animal for a specific problem. Maybe giving the problem heifer a shot of Multi Min twice a year when you work cattle could be something to look at?

I'm thinking that since no two cows are alike, the best approach would be to have a separate paddock for each animal so their individual needs could be met.

Short of that, you're either stuck with putting tubs and loose out for all the animals all the time and maybe adding the multi min shot in case you get an animal that doesn't like loose OR tubs.

Well, didn't do it! This post was rude. I apologize for the tone. I always tell my kids you can't get your words back and here I went and taught myself a lesson. So many lessons, so little time. Again, my apologies for the tone.

 

[True Grit Farms]

I'm a little confused with this post. Cows are herding animals and there's no way to treat one animal using tubs and not all the others. Antibiotics are administered to a specific animal for a specific problem. Maybe giving the problem heifer a shot of Multi Min twice a year when you work cattle could be something to look at?

I'm thinking that since no two cows are alike, the best approach would be to have a separate paddock for each animal so their individual needs could be met.

Short of that, you're either stuck with putting tubs and loose out for all the animals all the time and maybe adding the multi min shot in case you get an animal that doesn't like loose OR tubs.

Well, didn't do it! This post was rude. I apologize for the tone. I always tell my kids you can't get your words back and here I went and taught myself a lesson. So many lessons, so little time. Again, my apologies for the tone.

TB, knows cows so I'm curious on why he said that myself. You can bet there's a good reason.

 

[TexasBred]

I'm a little confused with this post. Cows are herding animals and there's no way to treat one animal using tubs and not all the others. Antibiotics are administered to a specific animal for a specific problem. Maybe giving the problem heifer a shot of Multi Min twice a year when you work cattle could be something to look at?

I'm thinking that since no two cows are alike, the best approach would be to have a separate paddock for each animal so their individual needs could be met.

Short of that, you're either stuck with putting tubs and loose out for all the animals all the time and maybe adding the multi min shot in case you get an animal that doesn't like loose OR tubs.

But would you cull one cow just because she does't like loose mineral? That was what my comment pertained to. In my mind Multimin is a short lived quick boost of vitamins that really doesn't last that long in the system of the cow. Just sort of a booster shot..Very few minerals can be stored by the cow for future use. I just find a lot of folks contradicting themselves when they say they don't want a welfare cow on the place then follow that up by telling us how they give everything on the place a shot of Multimin or a dose of probiotics etc. just as a precaution and keep hundreds of not thousands of dollars of antibiotics in store "just in case".

 

[BK9954]

The cow is doing great and loving the tub, problem solved.

 

[farmerjan]

Have 2 older cows that just do not want to consume the loose mineral. We put a salt block in the tub, loose mineral all around it. They all get some of the mineral when they are licking it. It also helps to keep the cows from trying to "eat" it too fast, and to not waste it by knocking it out. Works for us and no one seems to be lacking anything.