A long time ago, I helped a producer feed loose mineral to his herd of 60 beef cows. It was at the start of summer and during their breeding season. We’d just rip open a couple of bags and pour the mineral into an old wooden crate near a full dugout of drinking water. Often, he would let them run out, but he didn’t care as long as each cow got bred.
Such practice is unacceptable today. Assured good mineral intakes by breeding beef cows builds up good macro, trace mineral and vitamin status, which contributes to optimum health and high conception rates. All it really entails is that each cow eats a few ounces of a nutritious mineral on a daily basis. At times, this simple task is challenging, but with good, committed management can be achieved.
Consequently, many factors either promote or hinder the consumption of a commercial cattle mineral, so each cow consumes 56 to 112 grams (two to four ounces), daily. Here is an outline of some major factors:
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Mineral formulation
Salt-free mineral is eaten to a lesser extent than one containing 10 to 15 per cent salt. If salt makes up at least 20 per cent of this mineral, one should adjust suggested mineral intakes accordingly.
Note that cattle also may shy away from mineral that contain excessive amounts of limestone (calcium), phosphorus (over 10 per cent), or salt (over 25 per cent).
Water quality
The mineral content and salinity in cows’ drinking water is one of the biggest challenges to get breeding cattle to eat loose-fed mineral.
A few years ago, I recommended a 2:1 cattle mineral (with 10 per cent salt) to a 200-cow cow-calf operation that grazed rotational pasture and drawing water from a natural spring. It contained low levels of salt and minerals; the cattle ate about four ounces of mineral daily. Weeks later, the cattle were moved to a new pasture in which the well-water was very saline. As a result, cattle mineral consumption fell to zero.
Timing
Whether cattle are overwintered on a good mineral program or not, it seems providing loose mineral on pasture is a new experience for even the most mature cowherd. Overconsumption of cattle mineral is initially expected, which should taper off after a week or so. Because of this phenomenon, it important to keep loose mineral available at all times.
Overcoming these few obstacles to good cattle mineral consumption is a matter of consistent mineral-management. We should:
- Calculate the amount of mineral you would need to carry the cows, every few days. It goes something like this: 300 cows x 112 grams of mineral x 3 days = 100 kg or 4 x 25 kg bags of mineral.
- Place about one third of a bag in about a dozen durable mineral feeders (one per 30 cows).
- Check back every few days and refill mineral feeders. Note: adjust mineral consumption as the summer progresses and spring calves start eating minerals too.
By experience, I prefer to fill with mineral the three-compartment plastic mineral-feeder covered with a thick rubber flap. A few years ago, I knew a producer with the same amount of beef cows as above (roughly 300 cow-calf pairs); he mounted seven new mineral-feeders on tractor tires.
These mineral feeders were spread out over summer pastures, with one or two of them placed near water-filled dugouts in which the cattle congregate. Caked and clumped mineral were removed and fresh mineral was placed every few days.
The funny thing is that this producer had low mineral problems for the first few weeks of that year’s summer. His cow herd would eat barely a half ounce (15 grams) of salt-free mineral per day. Subsequently, he solved/increased his herd’s mineral consumption in three ways:
- Switched to a mineral with 15 per cent salt. Removed most of the free-choice blue-salt blocks from pasture. Mixed one-third salt with two-thirds of this new newly formulated mineral and poured it into the mineral feeders.
- Moved feeders closer to the dugouts.
- Stopped feeding liquid molasses in a lick-tub near one of the mineral feeders. As a result, mineral consumption leveled off to 70 grams per head per day.
It feels good to hear such mineral intake success stories. This problem wasn’t solved with a lot of scientific fanfare, but with some common sense. It also reminds me that good mineral intake of a cattle mineral goes hand-in-hand with a well-balanced mineral formula — one that meets the essential mineral and vitamin requirements of breeding cows and eventually helps get them pregnant.
