mineral supplements

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jwhisperj

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What would you guys recomend as a good quality mineral supplement? 3 1/2 week Holsteins on milk replacer, quality alfalfa mix and pretty good grass hay, creeper feed, and cob with highland salt with EDDI all free choice. I would like to find a good mineral and am not sure where to start. Thanks in advance for your time :D
jwj
 
Would be best to ask your vet. As all areas need different supplements. My supplements are different from my neighbors. An all around mineral/vitamins for me is a 12:12 mineral. Good luck
 
Animal Science 101 -- a 3 1/2 week old calf is not a ruminant animal as yet --- it will be in about 3 months + -
Forget the feed and hay and stick to the bottle for awhile yet
 
simangus23":3qoe0u5w said:
Animal Science 101 -- a 3 1/2 week old calf is not a ruminant animal as yet --- it will be in about 3 months + -
Forget the feed and hay and stick to the bottle for awhile yet

Why do they chew their cud at a week to 10 days of age?
 
I forgot to tell a 3 day calf it wasn't yet a ruminant yesterday.
I went past the barn and did a double take it had gotten up on top of a 5x5 round bale and had a big mouthful of hay just chewing away.
Then I went and got it down before it broke its neck.
 
Yall need some beef cattle (ruminant) physiology -- I dont care how much hay your 3 day old calf had in its mouth --- it cannot digest it until the rumen has completely formed. Back to school kids
 
simangus23":1vpoifr8 said:
Yall need some beef cattle (ruminant) physiology -- I dont care how much hay your 3 day old calf had in its mouth --- it cannot digest it until the rumen has completely formed. Back to school kids

So explain how I raised a 6 week old calf on grain and hay and no milk. She is now 2 years old and just had her first calf. Maybe she doesn't have a rumen, :banana: :banana: :banana:
 
I'm with Jovid and dun. The only way a rumen can form is if the calf is eating forage and/or grain, I'm guessing starting around 3 days of age. Or sooner... How else is the rumen gonna form? Milk can't completely make up a growing calf's diet, it doesn't work that way. Matter of fact, it doesn't ANY make sense that a calf would have a 100% diet consisting of only milk until it's 3 months old. If that were the case, no rumen would form.

sa23, I think you're the one who needs to go back to school. :nod:

JMHO.
 
Our calves start munching alfalfa as soon as they watch their mothers eat, usualy about three days old and spend alot of time chewing a stem...fun to watch.
Dmc
 
Susie so do mine. They may not eat much but they get the picture real quickly. Use to be a cartoon show on ages ago that had a character on it called "Mr. Know it all". I believe Simangus must be that character reincarnated but this time with a much more abrasive attitude.
 
Grew up on a dairy farm and all baby calves nursed mama for 3 days and then went on milk replacer for 30 days. At 2 weeks of age, sweet feed and good alfalfa hay were offered free choice and the calf was weaned at 30 days of age. I think you can tell these calves' rumens were functioning because they never got milk after a month of age.
 
Man I can't wait to get cattle-smart. Taking that TN Master beef producer class starting Tuesday. Hope I don't wind-up on everyone's "ignore list" if I start spouting off that stuff. ;-)
 
WHEN IT COMES TO NUTRITION ASK A NUTRITIONIST AVAILABLE THRU YOUR LOCAL FEED DEALER, THEIR SERVICE IS USUALLY AT NO COST IS TO THE DEALER, BELEIVE IT OR NOT AND I HAVE A VET IN THE FAMILY, VERY LITTLE NUTRITION COURSES ARE REQUIRED FOR A DEGREE.
 
That's why vets are vets and nutritionist are nutritionist. When either talks about the other's field they're no more expert than the rest of us.
 

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