Medicated feed?

[Mango1]

My son started feeding his steer the new Nutrena Showmaster feed. It has Lasalocid in it. What is the purpose of this? He also has fed a feed that has Monensin in it, with all kinds of cautions on the tag. What is the purpose of medicated feeds and are they recommended or not?
Also the Showmaster feed only has 12% protein, while most "show steer" feed is 14% protein. Is 12% enough to build the muscle they need?

Thanks

 

[rk]

My son started feeding his steer the new Nutrena Showmaster feed. It has Lasalocid in it. What is the purpose of this? He also has fed a feed that has Monensin in it, with all kinds of cautions on the tag. What is the purpose of medicated feeds and are they recommended or not?
Also the Showmaster feed only has 12% protein, while most "show steer" feed is 14% protein. Is 12% enough to build the muscle they need?

Thanks

Lasalocid (Bovatec) is an ionophore. It changes the way feedstuffs are fermented in the rumen and how volatile fatty acids are produced. It will make them more efficient and/or increase ADG. Monensin (Rumensin) is another ionophore that does much the same thing.
As for protein percentages....animals don't have a protein requirement. They have a requirement for amino acids. That's why lower protein feeds, if they are properly formulated with regard to amino acids, can outperform higher protein feeds. Both Nutrena, and especially ACCO, have the best formulaes on the market, IMHO.

rk

 

[msscamp]

My son started feeding his steer the new Nutrena Showmaster feed. It has Lasalocid in it. What is the purpose of this? He also has fed a feed that has Monensin in it, with all kinds of cautions on the tag. What is the purpose of medicated feeds and are they recommended or not?
Also the Showmaster feed only has 12% protein, while most "show steer" feed is 14% protein. Is 12% enough to build the muscle they need?

Thanks

....animals don't have a protein requirement. rk

Ummmmm, got to disagree on this one - animals do, in fact, have a minimum protein requirement, and that includes the human animal. Protein is the primary building block for everything that keeps cattle, horses, cats, dogs, humans, and every other species living, breathing, and thriving. Horses require about 10% protein in their diet, cattle require roughly 12-14% (if memory serves), I can't quote you the requirements for cats, dogs, or humans because I have never looked them up.

 

[rk]

My son started feeding his steer the new Nutrena Showmaster feed. It has Lasalocid in it. What is the purpose of this? He also has fed a feed that has Monensin in it, with all kinds of cautions on the tag. What is the purpose of medicated feeds and are they recommended or not?
Also the Showmaster feed only has 12% protein, while most "show steer" feed is 14% protein. Is 12% enough to build the muscle they need?

Thanks

....animals don't have a protein requirement. rk

Ummmmm, got to disagree on this one - animals do, in fact, have a minimum protein requirement, and that includes the human animal. Protein is the primary building block for everything that keeps cattle, horses, cats, dogs, humans, and every other species living, breathing, and thriving. Horses require about 10% protein in their diet, cattle require roughly 12-14% (if memory serves), I can't quote you the requirements for cats, dogs, or humans because I have never looked them up.

I respectfully offer this....amino acids are the building blocks of all proteins....formulating diets to provide specific amounts of amino acids is much more precise than merely using a crude protein calculation. Protein provides amino acids (lysine, etc.). Specific amino acids much more closely define the requirements than a simple crude protein number.

In other words, crude protein provide amino acids, which is really what the requirements are.

 

[Herefordcross]

In my humble opinion, medicated feeds only work if the animal consumes the correct amount of the medication/additive in a given period time. It works fine if your feeding individual animals but, feeding groups of animals It's hard to get the correct amont to all animals being fed. If you don't believe me look it up it's all over the place on the web. It's like antibitotics/vitamins in water soluble form. You can never get an even consumption.

 

[msscamp]

My son started feeding his steer the new Nutrena Showmaster feed. It has Lasalocid in it. What is the purpose of this? He also has fed a feed that has Monensin in it, with all kinds of cautions on the tag. What is the purpose of medicated feeds and are they recommended or not?
Also the Showmaster feed only has 12% protein, while most "show steer" feed is 14% protein. Is 12% enough to build the muscle they need?

Thanks

....animals don't have a protein requirement. rk

Ummmmm, got to disagree on this one - animals do, in fact, have a minimum protein requirement, and that includes the human animal. Protein is the primary building block for everything that keeps cattle, horses, cats, dogs, humans, and every other species living, breathing, and thriving. Horses require about 10% protein in their diet, cattle require roughly 12-14% (if memory serves), I can't quote you the requirements for cats, dogs, or humans because I have never looked them up.

I respectfully offer this....amino acids are the building blocks of all proteins....formulating diets to provide specific amounts of amino acids is much more precise than merely using a crude protein calculation. Protein provides amino acids (lysine, etc.). Specific amino acids much more closely define the requirements than a simple crude protein number.

In other words, crude protein provide amino acids, which is really what the requirements are.

Yep, you're right. Sorry about the disagreement.

 

[auctionboy]

I thought the cows stomach could make amino acids itis lacking? So exact emino acids are not necessary except in young stock with less rumen development?

 

[msscamp]

I thought the cows stomach could make amino acids itis lacking? So exact emino acids are not necessary except in young stock with less rumen development?

Not if the proper amount and kind of protein isn't there. Amino acids are derived from protein - be it milk protein, hay protein, grain protein, or any other kind of protein. A knowledge of amino acids is necessary because some amino acids depend on other amino acids in order to be effective. I'm probably not explaining this very well, but this is a relatively new approach to feeding for me, and that is what I gleaned (so far) from a search about the relationship between amino acids and protein. RK, feel free to jump in here at any time! :lol: :lol: