loose minerals

[papavillars]

guys I have 20 head, ranging from 4 months to short solid mouth. how much loose minerals do I feed and how much ?

 

[bigbull338]

we feed loose minerals free choice.an they eat what they want/need.when they run out you put more out.

 

[dun]

we feed loose minerals free choice.an they eat what they want/need.when they run out you put more out.

Yup

 

[novatech]

And another Yup.
Might as well buy 2 bags. They go through the first one pretty quick. They well slow down as they get caught up on what they need.

 

[rockridgecattle]

Yup.
And if they do not consume the mineral, try addind either some salt...do not buy the mineral with salt in it, add your own...or buy some molases granuals and with the mineral to increase palatibility.

 

[novatech]

Yup.
And if they do not consume the mineral, try addind either some salt...do not buy the mineral with salt in it, add your own...or buy some molases granuals and with the mineral to increase palatibility.

Why?
Not a comment, it's a serious question.

 

[TexasBred]

Yup.
And if they do not consume the mineral, try addind either some salt...do not buy the mineral with salt in it, add your own...or buy some molases granuals and with the mineral to increase palatibility.

Why?
Not a comment, it's a serious question.

I'm wondering too. Salt is not put in mineral to limit nor encourage consumption. I guess if you didnt' want them to eat much you could load it up with more salt...sort of like oversalted popcorn....but be realistic.Cattle need sodium. You want them to eat it. Cottonseed meal, distillers, dried molasses etc. are put in mineral to encourage consumption. Most times if they do not eat it the stuff is either not palatable enough to encourage consumption or they just don't need it !!!!

 

[fargus]

Where are you? We don't really need mineral. The only one we need is Selenium, so we feed loose salt free choice with trace minerals, and make sure there is selenium in it. I will admit ours don't always have it in front of them, and they don't suffer for it.

 

[novatech]

I feed mine the way the factory blinds it. The guy at the mill says the salt hides the taste of the phosphorus and also limits consumption.
I left mine off mineral for a while. When I put it back in the cattle ate it like sweet feed, well in 3 days. The next bag lasted a month.
I think cattle have a built in system to eat what they need. The clover is going crazy with all the rain we have had. The cows graze it for a while an then will browse on the brush. It hit one day as to why. A lot of leaves contains tannin. Tannin is good for relief of bloat.

 

[rockridgecattle]

Depending on where you are here, salt can increase intake or decrease depending on the herd. Some years we add salt and they go crazy for the mineral. Some years they would rather not have the salt in the mineral. Our feed house recommends and even places on the bag to mix 50/50 with loose salt. However, for our herd, we rarely mix 05/50. at the most 30% salt.
The livestock ag guy was also suggesting at a cattle producer's dinner, because we feed free choice salt, and since all cows eat salt, skip the free choice salt block and add the salt to the mineral, guaranteeing that all cows will get some mineral. the consumption of mineral will go up in the beginning but they will level off after a bag or two.

We are also iodine deficient here in our area. We actually add iodine to the mineral several times a year. We used to have several foot rot cases a year, and lumpy jaw was eating into the bottom line. The vet recommended adding iodine and we have not had a problem in several years on lumpy jaw. This year we saw a few cases of foot rot, but the two years of wet ground took it's tole, and we ran out of the iodine. Once we got it back into the mineral we stopped having cases of foot rot.

I think it depends on your area. A regional thing

 

[papavillars]

hey everyone I really appreciate the answers. this is not near as an ordeal as I thought. Very easy to put out a couple bags of loose minerals and check periodically day to day. Everyone have a safe and prosperous 2010.

 

[Angus Cowman]

Depending on where you are here, salt can increase intake or decrease depending on the herd. Some years we add salt and they go crazy for the mineral. Some years they would rather not have the salt in the mineral. Our feed house recommends and even places on the bag to mix 50/50 with loose salt. However, for our herd, we rarely mix 05/50. at the most 30% salt.
The livestock ag guy was also suggesting at a cattle producer's dinner, because we feed free choice salt, and since all cows eat salt, skip the free choice salt block and add the salt to the mineral, guaranteeing that all cows will get some mineral. the consumption of mineral will go up in the beginning but they will level off after a bag or two.

We are also iodine deficient here in our area. We actually add iodine to the mineral several times a year. We used to have several foot rot cases a year, and lumpy jaw was eating into the bottom line. The vet recommended adding iodine and we have not had a problem in several years on lumpy jaw. This year we saw a few cases of foot rot, but the two years of wet ground took it's tole, and we ran out of the iodine. Once we got it back into the mineral we stopped having cases of foot rot.

I think it depends on your area. A regional thing

I prefer to put salt out with my mineral not mixed in with it I use trough type mineral feeders that are 6-8 ft long with a roof over them i put mineral at each end of the trough and a bag of salt in the middle so they can chose which they want
right now they are consuming more salt than mineral but at other times they consume more mineral or consume them at the same rate

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Thats the way i do it AC, that way the cows can which ever one they want.

 

[novatech]

Depending on where you are here, salt can increase intake or decrease depending on the herd. Some years we add salt and they go crazy for the mineral. Some years they would rather not have the salt in the mineral. Our feed house recommends and even places on the bag to mix 50/50 with loose salt. However, for our herd, we rarely mix 05/50. at the most 30% salt.
The livestock ag guy was also suggesting at a cattle producer's dinner, because we feed free choice salt, and since all cows eat salt, skip the free choice salt block and add the salt to the mineral, guaranteeing that all cows will get some mineral. the consumption of mineral will go up in the beginning but they will level off after a bag or two.

We are also iodine deficient here in our area. We actually add iodine to the mineral several times a year. We used to have several foot rot cases a year, and lumpy jaw was eating into the bottom line. The vet recommended adding iodine and we have not had a problem in several years on lumpy jaw. This year we saw a few cases of foot rot, but the two years of wet ground took it's tole, and we ran out of the iodine. Once we got it back into the mineral we stopped having cases of foot rot.

I think it depends on your area. A regional thing

You brought up an important point. You need to know what you are deficient in in your area. Here we are deficient in copper and phosphorous. You have to make sure that the mineral you feed includes those particular minerals.

 

[TexasBred]

Thats the way i do it AC, that way the cows can which ever one they want.

And only "she" knows how much she needs or if she needs any at all.

 

[c farmer]

I was just told by my vet to mix 1 part mineral to 9 parts salt in a mineral feeder does that sound right. I am just starting to feed a loose mineral , was mixing minerals in with the feed.

 

[TexasBred]

I was just told by my vet to mix 1 part mineral to 9 parts salt in a mineral feeder does that sound right. I am just starting to feed a loose mineral , was mixing minerals in with the feed.

I think you're vet got it mixed up....Reverse the mixing ratio...with that much salt they won't get enough mineral to hardly know it's there.