minerals

[Beefy]

My cows are going around eating palmettos in the spare time. do you think i'm missing something in my minerals or are the minerals making them do that? they are on mostly peanut hay. what do you think about this:

Ca not less than 16%
Ca not more than 18
P not less than 8
NaCl not less than 18
NaCl not more than 24
Mg not less than 14
Fe not less than 1
Cu not less than 2500 ppm
Zn not less than 1000 ppm
**SELENIUM not less than 1650ppm (is this good or too low?)
Mn not less than 0.03%
I not less than 0.12%
K not less than 1.5%
Vit A minimum 325,000 USP Units/Pound
Vit D-3 minimum 45000 '' "
Vit E minimum 200 ""

 

[rk]

It looks pretty good, but I don't know your regional forages. Also, how much of it are they eating? What are the sources of the minerals, sulfates or chlorides versus oxides?? If you are getting good consumption, 3-4 ounces, could there possibly be some antagonists or tie ups of the mineral they are consuming? Might be good to discuss with someone who is more familiar with the area.

 

[Saltydawg]

That mineral looks quite a bit different than the ones my cows are on.

Here's the info from mineral I feed.

Calcium..................14.50pct(min)
Calcium..................17.50pct(max)
Phosphorus.............7.00pct(min)
Magnesium..............1.10pct(min)
Potassium...............0.8pct(min)
Sulfur.....................0.50pct(min)
Sodium....................7.0pct(min)
Salt........................18.1pct(min)
Salt........................21.8pct(max)
Zinc........................0.30pct(min)
Iron........................0.303pct(min)
Manganese...............0.085pct(min)

Copper....................110.0ppm
Cobalt.....................19.0ppm
Iodine......................60.0ppm
Selenium..................25.0ppm

Vitamin A.................300,000 IU/LB
Vitamin D-3..............75,000 IU/LB
Vitamin E..................1,800 IU/LB

Im in New York though so no palmettos up here and probably significant forage differences.

I'm not smart enough to know what, if anything, your cows eating palmettos means but I did notice our mineral supplements have at least a couple differences.
We don't have peanut hay either so not familiar with that as a food.

 

[Scotty]

Becasue of the drought mine were eating leaves and twigs when they had all the coastal hay they wanted. They wuld eat them for a little while then go to the hay. Still seamed to be consuming the same amount of mineral as usual. i woundwer some times if the mix of the mineral stays consitant. We all have probly had that one or two bags of feed that was not like the rest. I asked some older ranchers in the area and they told me not to worry. Happens all the time.


Scotty

 

[denoginnizer]

Are you feeding protein tubs? I have heard that some tubs can make the cattle's appetite increase.

 

[Beefy]

no protein tubs here. maybe when i win the lottery.

peanut hay is pretty high in protein. i think they just got bored and wanted something green and the minerals allowed them to utilize the palmettos. they just tore them up this week and have had access to them the whole time. theyve also had minerals the whole time too though, but ive been putting out more lately.

kind of just wanted to compare minerals to see how i stand.