My little Dungsters are finally back!

[gabby]

TB,
Since you made minerals I guess you drank the same Kool-Aid as the guys who sell it. Nothing personal its just the way the world goes around. Same principle applies to fly minerals, which I will never use again.

Cattle minerals are like human vitamin pills. They are overrated, overused and mostly peed out, but they are both promoted in a way that implies that if you don't use them you are just plain stupid. Nevertheless, I still gamble that there is a little extra good in the loose minerals so that's why I pay twice as much per 50 pounds for them and use equal parts mineral and tm salt block. I used nothing but tm salt blocks for many years and would not hesitate to do it again because my cows seemed to do just fine on it.

So how does one feed mineral "as directed" as you say? Spoon feed 2 oz/day to each cow? Check out this picture I just took at my mineral tub. Both cows are licking the tm salt block in the tub, not the minerals in the same tub. This is how I feed it, one bag of minerals and one tm salt block. I don't refill until it's all gone. Sometimes the minerals disappear first and sometimes they don't.

When I had staggers, I was feeding it free choice in the same type tub with no tm salt block. Is that wrong?

 

[TexasBred]

Sounds like your cattle need the salt more than the mineral. If so then by all means give it to them. they probably overconsumed the mineral in an attempt to get the salt. That's about all there is in the TM blocks anyway. But by your comments I assume you're only "half convinved" they need the mineral. ;-) At least you are letting the cattle make the decision which is how it should be. Best wishes.

 

[hillsdown]

http://www.thecattlesite.com/diseaseinf ... s-staggers

Are you sure it wasn't called hypomagnesaemia ?

He is a link about feeding cattle the wrong minerals and not enough salt .

 

[gabby]

http://www.thecattlesite.com/diseaseinfo/215/hypomagnesaemia-grass-staggers

Are you sure it wasn't called hypomagnesaemia ?

He is a link about feeding cattle the wrong minerals and not enough salt .

That's not it. I wasn't feeding hi-mag minerals because it was mid-winter and they were eating hay not grazing. It was definitely encephalo-mal-something.

 

[TexasBred]

if you look at the center of the pile of dung ... you will see dirt that is where the beetles are digging ... I use igr and have for about 5 years... no dung beetle loss... I use cydectin wormer to avoid killing the dung beetles

JS I've been using IGR mineral that long or longer, year round and no problems. Used Rabon mineral pryor to that. A fresh cow pile hardly has time to even crust over til it's gone. You can pretty well get the results you want in a lab depending on who's funding the research. Sort of like water boarding. :lol2:

 

[JSCATTLE]

if you look at the center of the pile of dung ... you will see dirt that is where the beetles are digging ... I use igr and have for about 5 years... no dung beetle loss... I use cydectin wormer to avoid killing the dung beetles

JS I've been using IGR mineral that long or longer, year round and no problems. Used Rabon mineral pryor to that. A fresh cow pile hardly has time to even crust over til it's gone. You can pretty well get the results you want in a lab depending on who's funding the research. Sort of like water boarding. :lol2:

I'm not a biologist so I can't say for sure ... but its hard to find a cow turd in my pastures .. it's been so dry I think the beetles are covering it faster than normal to keep it wet ... I use igr mineral and loose salt... I've had cows chip there teeth trying to bite salt blocks... can over consumption of salt cause the same symptoms
he mentioned above... it seems like I remember my grand pa making his own range meal one year and he put to much salt ... caused the cows to stumble around and he almost lost his herd until the vet came out and told him what it was ....I think it was kidney failure ... id ask him but hes been dead about 10 years ...

 

[TexasBred]

Excessive salt can have toxicity but most times it's when the cattle don't also have adequate water to go with it so it can be eliminated.

 

[dieselbeef]

i give my animals free choice the same way and basically get the same results as gabby. i got thru the blocks about twice as fast as the loose stuff..which becomes a block a few days later anyways once it rains.probly could be the salt ut i have those out also and they disappear at different rates compared to either block or loose

i have no comment on the beetles..except i can see em in the pic just fine kids...

 

[TexasBred]

i give my animals free choice the same way and basically get the same results as gabby. i got thru the blocks about twice as fast as the loose stuff..which becomes a block a few days later anyways once it rains.probly could be the salt ut i have those out also and they disappear at different rates compared to either block or loose

i have no comment on the beetles..except i can see em in the pic just fine kids...

A cow can only lick a block so long and her tongue either gives out or is worn off and she still doesn't get all the salt she needs everyday. :lol2: Give them loose salt that they can flick two or three times with their tongue and walk away.

 

[gabby]

A cow can only lick a block so long and her tongue either gives out or is worn off and she still doesn't get all the salt she needs everyday. :lol2: Give them loose salt that they can flick two or three times with their tongue and walk away.

TB,
Now it's my turn to use your little smiley friends!!!

:bs: :bs: :bang:

Cheers!

 

[TexasBred]

A cow can only lick a block so long and her tongue either gives out or is worn off and she still doesn't get all the salt she needs everyday. :lol2: Give them loose salt that they can flick two or three times with their tongue and walk away.

TB,
Now it's my turn to use your little smiley friends!!!

:bs: :bs: :bang:

Cheers!

That's ok Gabby. You proved much earlier you don't respond well to common sense and reason. Keep using the blocks. However, in your spare time why not call that "specialist" you talked with and see what the correct name was for the condition caused by cattle eating mineral. :tiphat:

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I love this site. Where else on the Internet can you find grown adults chatting about dung beetles and better yet, searching a picture of cow poo looking for them? :lol:

 

[TexasBred]

I love this site. Where else on the Internet can you find grown adults chatting about dung beetles and better yet, searching a picture of cow poo looking for them? :lol:

Actually Tenn the proper way is to kick the turd unless of course it's still wet. Tomorrow the topic is "Are they horn flies or face flies"?? ;-)

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I can't wait! :clap:

 

[gabby]

I love this site. Where else on the Internet can you find grown adults chatting about dung beetles and better yet, searching a picture of cow poo looking for them? :lol:

Hey Tenn,
Feels more like head-butting than chatting. Not the first time I have head-butted somebody with thousands of posts. Wonder what they do . . . aw hell I've got work to do.
gabby

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Heck fire, I'm still in the dark as to whether or not the beetles are a good thing or not. I'm familiar with the African Dung Beetle but what do ours do here in the USA?

 

[TexasBred]

I love this site. Where else on the Internet can you find grown adults chatting about dung beetles and better yet, searching a picture of cow poo looking for them? :lol:

Hey Tenn,
Feels more like head-butting than chatting. Not the first time I have head-butted somebody with thousands of posts. Wonder what they do . . . aw be nice I've got work to do.
gabby

No head butting on this end Gabby...just an ill fated effort to assist someone who apparently really doesn't want any assistance. As I said much earlier "If if's working for you do not change a thing". I'd still like for you to ask your effort what "encephalo-mal-something" really is and let all of us know. :nod:

 

[TexasBred]

Heck fire, I'm still in the dark as to whether or not the beetles are a good thing or not. I'm familiar with the African Dung Beetle but what do ours do here in the USA?

Tenn..they're beneficial insects. They remove manure, place it in tunnels, lay eggs in it and the larvae eat the dung, then repeat the process. Since flies love to lay eggs in manure they help with fly control.

 

[CowguyTN]

Rabon does not kill dung beetles. You may see fewer dung beetles ... But that's because Rabon kills fly larvae & dung beetles are in manure to eat fly larvae. If the larvae have been killed, then the dung beetles fly to another pasture to look for dinner.

HOWEVER, even if your dung beetles have flown the coop, so to speak, researchers saw no difference between manure breakdown in pastures where cattle were fed Rabon or where they were not fed Rabon. There was no difference at 8 weeks or 9 weeks, & another study showed no difference at 6 weeks. This is because there are other tunneling insects that are burrowing through manure.