Looking for mineral advice

[rockridgecattle]

Ok here is the deal
Our current dealer sells the normal cow minerals (Ridley/feed-rite). Cows consume alright, look good.
They now want to change to a different supplier who makes mineral with chelated (sp)minerals. The dealer says better mineral, consume less, more efficient. Price hike of 5 dollars a bag
There is a meeting today (last minute notice) during calving about this change over

Any thoughts, advice? Anyone use chelated minerals and see it's worth the increase in price?

Thanks

 

[Aaron]

Worth every penny. Non-chelated is a waste of time and money. Who is the new supplier?

 

[rockridgecattle]

Thanks Aaron....EastMan Feeds is the new supplier

 

[TexasBred]

Cost shouldn't be $5.00 a bag more. Chelated minerals are expensive but not that much more expensive than the other forms. Compare the tags from the old mineral and the proposed replacement. Normally the only minerals that are chelates are zinc, manganese, copper and cobalt. Make sure calcium, phos, mag, salt levels are all equal and especially that VITAMINS are equal or greater. Vitamins are just as necessary and are expensive so don't let them reduce them....ask about "recommended" consumption rate. IF they eat less that may be good and it may not be. Depends on levels of Vit. & Min. n the mix.

 

[novaman]

I would use nothing but a good chelated mineral. Inorganic forms work but are not nearly as bioavailable as their chelated counterparts. $5 may sound like a lot but if the recommended consumption is 4 ounces, that amounts to 2.5 cents more per cow per day.

 

[TexasBred]

I would use nothing but a good chelated mineral. Inorganic forms work but are not nearly as bioavailable as their chelated counterparts. $5 may sound like a lot but if the recommended consumption is 4 ounces, that amounts to 2.5 cents more per cow per day.

It's also $200 more a ton.

 

[novaman]

It's also $200 more a ton.

Usually you get what you pay for. Yeah it's a lot of money and only you can decide if it is worth the added cost or not. Personally I don't see it as that out of line. I'm probably biased as I like my chelated minerals though. I am assuming it is the full package of chelated minerals though.

 

[dun]

Another way to look at it is how many extra pounds a day gain in calves does it took to more then make up for that 2.5 cents a day?

 

[TexasBred]

It's also $200 more a ton.

Usually you get what you pay for. Yeah it's a lot of money and only you can decide if it is worth the added cost or not. Personally I don't see it as that out of line. I'm probably biased as I like my chelated minerals though. I am assuming it is the full package of chelated minerals though.

No saying their not better. Only taht there is no reason to pay 5 bucks more per bag when it's not necessary. Calcium, phosphorus adn salt make up 80% of what's in a bag or ton of mineral. Calcium is cheap, salt is average price and phosphorus is expensive. The remaining 250 lbs. may be as cheap as $.50 a lb. up to as much as $12.00 a pound and that's vitamins. You're looking at changing perhaps 100 lbs. of trace minerals out and replacing with chlelated minerals. That does not justify a $200 a bag increase in price and there would be no reason to change any of the other ingredients. Guarantee when you get that new bag of mineral you're still going to have some sulfates and oxides on the label and then you'll wonder "Just how much of them new expensive chelates is in here".

 

[Anonymous]

Just went thru the same thing. The chealated minerals are few compared to the majority of what your buying by weight. Chealtation is much much better. But maybe the price increase your paying is also related to fuel price increases also. You will not usually notice a difference in consumption rates.at least from what I saw

 

[rockridgecattle]

Thanks for all the replies.
I am going to get a tag from the new supplier and compare to our old supplier. New is not available yet.

As for the price difference, we called our old supplier to check on the prices and they are what they are. So fuel is not a factor.
Look forward to more input and will post what the differences are when i get the tags.

Oh,one thing i do know, breeder mineral is 11 dollars different per bag, both chelated, just do not know the amounts...will find out! As well, one poster mentioned the mineral having salt, we do not buy mineral with salt in it.

 

[hillsdown]

Definitely switch to chelated ,you will see a huge difference in how fast they clean up and come into heats after they calve. You can use your other mineral until the last trimester then switch RR, that is what I do unless feed quality for winter is not where it should be. You will not regret it .

 

[dcara]

About every 3 or 4 years I get a forage test done after the summer pasture gets started. I send the forage sample to a local guy that does the analysis for free if I buy my minerals from him which he custom mixes to complement my forage. This thread made me realize it about time to test again.

Here's a related nutrition link
http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/ansci/beef/as1287w.htm