Molasses tubs/Krystalix

[Anonymous]

I am doing most of the feeding from the barn, since I am trying to save my forty acres for rotational grazing. The alfalfa around here is extremely selenium deficient. As I understand it: the deficientcy comes from the water being applied to the crops, since down on the coast, they are also deficient in selenium and it rains 364 days down there (or so it seems). I was thinking about what dunmovin' said about the lick being a waste of money and my situation. Perhaps during the warmer months when I have my cattle out in the pasture, I should remove the tubs and just keep them around for the months of snow and cold. I also give the calves a BOSE shot in the first day of their lives to save them from white muscle disease.

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[Anonymous]

The soil is selenium deficient, due to fate. In Saskatchewan, you can have one field selenium deficient, and the next have excess selenium. And they are commonly in drought there, so rainfall is not a factor. It is literally a mineral in the soil. If it is not there, all plants will be deficient including on pasture. Here in Ontario, we are generally quite deficient, and supplement either with bulk mineral or mineral licks. Crystalix is one I found very palatable for my cattle, but there are other licks without protein and molasses. Purina and others make them--and they contain selenium. All bagged minerals here also contain it, so you have many choices. I also believe that all calves should receive an injection of selenium at birth and in severe areas, again at 1 month in preventative not therapeutic dosages.