Mineral

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I can't see much purpose in it-- the salt is a needed mineral too.
So premix minerals would still have it.
And the salt(along with being a needed mineral) is the draw for free choice minerals .
 
Honestly I don't remember if our mineral has salt in it or not. I do not remember see it listed.
We use Nutri-Lix 12-12
 
There are minerals around that do not include salt. We manufacture a few but they are custom made minerals. About all commercial minerals you will find stocked in a dealership will already have salt in them. We make a custom mineral for one producer that spreads excess water from their cannery on their pastures which elevates the salt level so they want mineral with no salt.
 
i feed wind an rain minerals.an if i feed just minerals alone the cows inhale it fast.an it does have some salt in it.but not all the cows need.right now the cows are consuming 50lb of min an 50lb of salt every 10 days.but im carring close to 70 cows calves an heifers.
 
Vitafirm Conceptade, if it has salt it will be very little. My son says it has the slight taste of chocolate. Not salty. No why did I have to admit that my Aggie son would do taste tests on cattle minerals?
 
Salt is added to control consumption, and you can get mineral without it added salt is verry inexpensive around 80 to 90 bucks a ton bagged if you do the math when you buy mineral with salt you are buying some high proced salt. I have always used a no salt mineral (J cross or McNess) then ad the salt in the trough to control consumption.
 
Hippie Rancher":1d70pwkm said:
Howdyjabo":1d70pwkm said:
And the salt(along with being a needed mineral) is the draw for free choice minerals .

Actually I think the salt is added to SLOW consumption, not as a draw.
Around here its a draw.
 
rk":1n7akeot said:
Hippie Rancher":1n7akeot said:
Howdyjabo":1n7akeot said:
And the salt(along with being a needed mineral) is the draw for free choice minerals .

Actually I think the salt is added to SLOW consumption, not as a draw.
Around here its a draw.

Maybe that is an indication you don't need it? Were I am the soil has good minerals - about our only real deficiency is phosphorus. Get the salesmen around a lot anyway. ;-)
 
Hippie Rancher":3sjnnns8 said:
rk":3sjnnns8 said:
Hippie Rancher":3sjnnns8 said:
Howdyjabo":3sjnnns8 said:
And the salt(along with being a needed mineral) is the draw for free choice minerals .

Actually I think the salt is added to SLOW consumption, not as a draw.
Around here its a draw.

Maybe that is an indication you don't need it? Were I am the soil has good minerals - about our only real deficiency is phosphorus. Get the salesmen around a lot anyway. ;-)
There's no way you could put enough salt into a mineral designed for 3-4 ounces of consumption to hold intake down to that level.
Also, there's never been a cow that has much, if any, "nutritional wisdom". It's a myth that cattle eat mineral only if they need it. There's a huge difference in palatability among different brands of mineral.
 
loomis":b5zjew0v said:
Salt is added to control consumption, and you can get mineral without it added salt is verry inexpensive around 80 to 90 bucks a ton bagged if you do the math when you buy mineral with salt you are buying some high proced salt. I have always used a no salt mineral (J cross or McNess) then ad the salt in the trough to control consumption.
Are you talking about Furst McNess mineral and if so how much cheaper is the mineral with no salt?
 
rk":37ty55jx said:
There's no way you could put enough salt into a mineral designed for 3-4 ounces of consumption to hold intake down to that level.

Of course there is. Theoretically you could dilute it to molecular levels. Some mineralized salts don't have enough minerals - they are too dilute so people buy other mineral mixtures/products. That also flies in the face of your contention that the salt is an attractant. If you can't hold intake down with an unlimited amount of salt then why use any at all? They don't actually need much.

Also, there's never been a cow that has much, if any, "nutritional wisdom". It's a myth that cattle eat mineral only if they need it.

Certain deficiencies sure as heck produce certain cravings - that is where the idea of "wisdom" comes from and it is pretty real. I am not that well versed but have seen some evidence that they WILL choose what they need. Do you know of any studies? I think there was an outfit in Iowa that was doing some work with self-selecting minerals using a sort of cafeteria style feeder box.
 
Hippie Rancher":1nhx0n0o said:
rk":1nhx0n0o said:
There's no way you could put enough salt into a mineral designed for 3-4 ounces of consumption to hold intake down to that level.

Of course there is. Theoretically you could dilute it to molecular levels. Some mineralized salts don't have enough minerals - they are too dilute so people buy other mineral mixtures/products. That also flies in the face of your contention that the salt is an attractant. If you can't hold intake down with an unlimited amount of salt then why use any at all? They don't actually need much.

Also, there's never been a cow that has much, if any, "nutritional wisdom". It's a myth that cattle eat mineral only if they need it.

Certain deficiencies sure as heck produce certain cravings - that is where the idea of "wisdom" comes from and it is pretty real. I am not that well versed but have seen some evidence that they WILL choose what they need. Do you know of any studies? I think there was an outfit in Iowa that was doing some work with self-selecting minerals using a sort of cafeteria style feeder box.
There's no practical way to use salt as a limiter on a mineral designed for that level of intake (3-4 ounces). You can talk about "theory", but in practicality, it just doesn't work.
Yes, some deficiencies do produce cravings (mainly P), but cows cannot regulate intake of most other minerals based on need. You can see greater intake of one mineral than another in the same pasture with the same cows....the difference will be palatability. I've seen this over and over.
 
There's no practical way to use salt as a limiter

If you can't use it as a limiter, WHY do you need it as an attractant? You are saying you can't stop them from overeating your mineral no matter how much salt you put in there at the same time you claimed it was the salt that was needed to get them to eat any. :?: :?: :?:
 
Hippie Rancher":efl0g5jv said:
There's no practical way to use salt as a limiter

If you can't use it as a limiter, WHY do you need it as an attractant? You are saying you can't stop them from overeating your mineral no matter how much salt you put in there at the same time you claimed it was the salt that was needed to get them to eat any. :?: :?: :?:
I never said they overeat "my" mineral. Come on, do the math. A cow will eat more than 3-4 oz of salt by itself. How in the world do you propose to put enough salt into a mineral that is designed for 3-4 oz mineral consumption???
 
rk":1e7y3y3m said:
Hippie Rancher":1e7y3y3m said:
There's no practical way to use salt as a limiter

If you can't use it as a limiter, WHY do you need it as an attractant? You are saying you can't stop them from overeating your mineral no matter how much salt you put in there at the same time you claimed it was the salt that was needed to get them to eat any. :?: :?: :?:
I never said they overeat "my" mineral. Come on, do the math. A cow will eat more than 3-4 oz of salt by itself. How in the world do you propose to put enough salt into a mineral that is designed for 3-4 oz mineral consumption???
There is no way a cow would take in enough salt to be a limiter in this sense. However, it is used as an attractant because a cow will seek out sodium if she is lacking it. The goal is to get the cow to consume the mineral by having her consume sodium. If there were no sodium, intake would be tough to encourage and the mineral would likely only be eaten by some of the herd instead of all of the herd. Personally I would rather have my cows take in extra mineral then be shorted.
 
I guess we are talking at cross purposes. When I use the term limiter I (and I think most) mean to use lots of salt to keep the cattle from overeating mineral. If you are having to use the salt to get them to eat enough, then yes you are using it as an attractant. I guess I haven't heard of the need to do that, what are you giving them that they don't want to eat it?
 
Hippie Rancher":2mh80ety said:
I guess we are talking at cross purposes. When I use the term limiter I (and I think most) mean to use lots of salt to keep the cattle from overeating mineral. If you are having to use the salt to get them to eat enough, then yes you are using it as an attractant. I guess I haven't heard of the need to do that, what are you giving them that they don't want to eat it?
You're missing the concept.....you cannot put enough salt into 3-4 ounces of mineral to limit consumption.
Most components of minerals by themselves are not palatable. Phosphorus, for example, is bitter. Salt, and other palatability enhancers are generally used, to encourage consumption of the important minerals that would not be consumed by themselves.
 

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