Loomix

[SusanT]

Hello! I am finally getting a chance to start posting!

I was wondering if any of you have had experience feeding loomix. We have been looking at ways of reducing winter feeding costs for our cattle and recently received a visit from a Loomix dealer. The claims that the dealer are making about loomix include that we can get by with feeding our cows strictly straw and loomix in the second trimester (if it is halfway decent straw). If we were to end up using loomix, we would be feeding it with ryegrass straw and the dealer thinks that would work well. Have any of you ever tried feeding just loomix and straw before? Did you like the results? The dealer also says that we don't have to feed any minerals with loomix, just salt. Has that been your experience? Any other pluses or minuses to Loomix? Basically, I am trying to get other points of views on Loomix besides that of the dealer. Thank you very much for your time!

 

[Bez+]

Hello! I am finally getting a chance to start posting!

I was wondering if any of you have had experience feeding loomix. We have been looking at ways of reducing winter feeding costs for our cattle and recently received a visit from a Loomix dealer. The claims that the dealer are making about loomix include that we can get by with feeding our cows strictly straw and loomix in the second trimester (if it is halfway decent straw). If we were to end up using loomix, we would be feeding it with ryegrass straw and the dealer thinks that would work well. Have any of you ever tried feeding just loomix and straw before? Did you like the results? The dealer also says that we don't have to feed any minerals with loomix, just salt. Has that been your experience? Any other pluses or minuses to Loomix? Basically, I am trying to get other points of views on Loomix besides that of the dealer. Thank you very much for your time!

Susan

There has been a ton of discussion on feeding straw on this board - in fact I was a big straw feeder at one time due to drought.

There is a lot of information located here:

http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=50116&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=feeding+straw

Hope the link works for you - I am technically challenged.

Use the search function of this board to find more. Use every university in North America that has an ag department - the info is free, accurate and almost always up to date - I might add they usually respond very quickly

As for LOOMIX I have no idea. You need an ingredient list - then chat with your veterinarian if you are not sure.

There are many feed companies out there that produce excellent feed additives - either liquid supplements or dry - I used to be more concerned about cost than I was about the company - as long as you can compare ingredients and talk with someone in the know you will do fine.

In fact you could send some of this to those ag universities - just the ingredient lists - you might get lucky and a grad student will give you a comparisom - do not use the company names - that way there will be no inherent bias.

Most of those students are way, way smarter than us old timers when it comes to the science and technical side of the business - do not be afraid to draw upon their advice. And to top it off most of them not only truly care about the response - they come from an ag background - so they can relate to you and your request.

We did this with Guelph in Canada and found out that three of the four additives we were looking at were all quite satisfactory and the fourth was almost as good as the other three - and would certainly have been sufficient. We ended up going with a system that was local and fairly middle of the road cost wise. But in truth all four would have worked.

Remember as well the service is an issue - I would always be willing to pay a small touch more if I had the local guy doing it rather than some person from TimBuckTwo. Especially if I knew the home telephone number of the local!

Finally, you do not say where you are from. Advice from someone in Northern Canada might not be worth a pinch of the proverbial coon crap if you live in south Texas or Florida - and vice versa. In fact it could actually be harmful in some instances. What works in one area does not always work in another. Local environment is very important - so be aware of who you are talking to and where they are from.

Straw can be an excellent feed if used properly - additional proteins and all the water they can drink will probably be required to prevent impaction. Best of luck on this - properly managed, straw should be in every outfits feed program.

Good luck in your search for information

Regards

Bez+

 

[brightspark]

i do not know loomix , but have fed rice staw with molasis and urea poored over it right up to calving with a mob of dairy cows, the advice in the last post sound very good, good luck.

 

[SusanT]

Bez+ Thank you for the excellent post.

Uggh!! I thought that I had entered my location but I didn"t! Shame on me! We are located in the eastern part of Oregon and feed hay for 5-6 months of the year. It gets pretty cold (below zero fahrenheit for a few weeks) during the winter and we generally get a couple of feet of snow.

We have been feeding our cows a mixture of on average about 1/2 alfalfa and 1/2 straw with really good results for over 10 years. In recent years, we have used bluegrass straw (get the right kind and you can almost feed it straight, excellent stuff!), rice straw, and ryegrass straw. Unfortunately, this year the alfalfa growers in our area have more than doubled the price of their hay. All other kinds of hay that you can feed straight such as grass, rye, oats, etc. have more than doubled as well and are uneconomical. Straw has actually gone up very little compared to last year and we have a good source of affordable ryegrass straw or rice straw if we find something to mix with it. If Loomix works like the dealer claims, mixing it with our straw would cost considerably less than any of the other available feed sources that we have investigated so far. We would only be feeding that way during the first half of the winter as we have raised enough of our own grass hay to get us through the last half of winter.

 

[dun]

We used to feed Loomix in the tubs with the exposed wheel for them to lick. The forage was a little cheat, bulrushes and sagebrush. I have no idea what the nutritional value was of that stuff but the cattle did well on it.

 

[RanchManager]

Hi, We are in NE OR. We have used it to supplement our cows while grazing alfalfa stubble. It gave them a boost. Essentially you are feeding the microflora in the rumen which in tern synthesizes protein for the cow to utilize. If you are feeding a low protein feed (like straw) this will increase your protein content. Loomix also can supply a host of minerals (it's high in phosphorous), but not all minerals. What it doesn't do is supply all approriate vitamins and minerals like a good grass or alfalfa hay can assuming your hay has no inheirent deficiencies(without research beta-carotene comes to mind.) A neighbor feeds only poor quality grass hay and uses Loomix. They think they are saving a ton of money. Their cows coats are dull, eyes dull, etc. They really pay for it at calving. They always have terrible troubles with all the usually afflictions. At the end of the day, in my opinion, they are losing money when you add up the calf losses and time spent treating animals. Again, in my opinion, they might come out ahead if they used something like a good grass hay and Loomix. They use the same strategy all winter long. They are shorting their cows in the third trimester when the cow is producing colostrum for the coming calf. I would be willing to use it again, but in balance with roughage, protein, and something with a little green in it ( i.e.chlorophyll). I think a producer could come out ahead if done right, but I believe if you just feed straw you are going to pay down the road with poor calf health, conception rates, etc. Just my thoughts for what it is worth.