Minerals and Conception

[Air gator]

If you have cows you are trying to breed what do you look for in the breakdown of minerals?
I have used ConceptAid in the past but it's a little out of my way to get them and it costs twice as much as other minerals.
Right now, I am trying Southern States Hi-Mag beef cattle mineral. My alternative is Purina 12-12 with Selenium.
I know MultiMin is good to use but am interested in feedback on minerals.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Son of Butch]

I know MultiMin is good to use but am interested in feedback on minerals.
Thanks in advance.

Our Vet is a big believer in balancing rations and insists Multi-Min is unnecessary and a waste of money if you have
proper nutrition.

 

[Allenw]

I think a good year round mineral program will help with conception rates but unless you have a serious deficiency it is toward the bottom of the list of importance.

 

[Ky hills]

Not sure if it's the same mineral you are using but I am also using Southern States mineral called Beef Breeder Hi Mag. It is a chelated type mineral.

 

[Ebenezer]

You never miss the water until the well runs dry. Same for a decent mineral. Use or lose but know your soil deficiencies before you supplement with the wrong or unnecessary.

 

[Bright Raven]

If you have cows you are trying to breed what do you look for in the breakdown of minerals?
I have used ConceptAid in the past but it's a little out of my way to get them and it costs twice as much as other minerals.

I use Vitaferm ConceptAid. A good mineral that is bioavailable is cheaper than a mineral that goes in the front and goes out the back. Bioavailability is the most important property to consider in selecting a mineral.

 

[Tbrake]

I feed vita firm also. It seems like good mineral to me. If you can get them accustomed to it, and eating the correct amount (4oz per day) it is about the cheapest around. My dealer gives me a little discount because I buy 2 pallets at a time.

 

[True Grit Farms]

We feed all different brands of quality mineral. Seems most mineral companies use close to the same blends percentage wise. From what I can tell choosing the cows that fit your management style is the key to conception rates.

 

[TexasBred]

We feed all different brands of quality mineral. Seems most mineral companies use close to the same blends percentage wise. From what I can tell choosing the cows that fit your management style is the key to conception rates.

Not exactly. Give me one (1) mineral guaranteed analysis tag and I can literally make you a thousand minerals with no two being the same, simply by changing the ingredients, various type of those ingredients and the concentrations of each each. It's really pretty hard to find two minerals that are the same even on paper.

 

[Nesikep]

If you have cows you are trying to breed what do you look for in the breakdown of minerals?
I have used ConceptAid in the past but it's a little out of my way to get them and it costs twice as much as other minerals.

I use Vitaferm ConceptAid. A good mineral that is bioavailable is cheaper than a mineral that goes in the front and goes out the back. Bioavailability is the most important property to consider in selecting a mineral.

I think the additional price of chelated minerals can quickly exceed the increased bioavailability... Take Copper for example.. Now if you have Copper Oxide, you might as well just throw it out, it's insoluble and useless, but Copper Sulfate is very soluble and fairly bioavailable.. It's also relatively cheap and easy to get.. You can easily increase the content with little additional cost.. I'm not sure that going to chelated is going to give you a lot of bang for your buck.. On other minerals it may be different.

For my area I look to have about 2500mg/kg of copper and 100mg/kg Selenium, Lots of phosphorus.

 

[Air gator]

Thanks for the feedback.
I need to do a little research to see whether the minerals are chelated or not.
Thank you again.

 

[gizmom]

Our embryologist told us to make sure we used a chealate mineral to help increase conception.

Giizmom

 

[Luckiamute]

One thing you might consider doing, though it is a little costly, is having your vet draw blood and submit the samples for mineral testing to a lab (Michigan State University is one place that runs mineral tests on livestock) on a sample of your herd. Find out what, if anything, they are deficient in, and then shop for your mineral mix based on that. Chealated minerals and organic forms of minerals, like organic selenium, are the best for absorption.
Several years ago we had horrible conception rates and couldn't figure out what was wrong with our cows and heifers. We decided to run some mineral tests on a sample of the herd, and low and behold we found we were severely deficient in several key minerals for reproduction/conception health. Started using a mineral mix made for our region of the country and haven't had any issues since.

 

[Air gator]

Luckiamute,
Thanks for the advice. I did that many years ago on a Fleckvieh cow I had.
Her problem was she was low on selenium.
I appreciate the feedback from everyone.

 

[OwnedByTheCow]

I did hear at a conference that I attended that FBC(?) minerals right before breeding seemed to help. I'll have to check the name of it because I have it written down somewhere but about a week before AI or introducing a bull.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I have always used loose quality mineral.
Couple years ago, I added Multimin to my program 30 days prior to breeding and would not go back to NOT using it. Great improvement with embryo implants and AI program. (I use Vigortone - not cheap)