Their gestation and even lactation diets are made up of nearly all forages. Fortunately, nitrate testing of forage samples is not expensive, and if a winter feed inventory is discovered to contain toxic levels of nitrates, effective measures can be taken to correct beef herd feeding programs that reduce most nitrate threats.

I was taught a long time ago that nitrates accumulated in many types of forages usually caused by bad weather, despite a small number of forages that are known as good weather high-nitrate accumulators. Some of those damaging weather conditions/forage combinations are as follows:

• Hailed cornfields, alfalfa and oat crops.
• Drought overshadowing a cornfield.
• Cool, cloudy and wet growing season in alfalfa and other legume crops.
• Early frost in immature cornfields, oats, alfalfa and other legumes.
• Excessive wind that blows over corn plants and causes severe lodging in cereals.

When sunny weather prevails between timely rain showers, nitrates and other nitrogen compounds are naturally taken up by the plants’ roots and transported through the stems and finally to the leaves.

Photosynthesis converts these nitrates into leaf protein. However, when one of the above bad weather conditions interferes with nature, nitrates have literally nowhere to go and tend to accumulate to toxic levels in the lower portion of the plant.

Ironically, nitrates do not cause nitrate poisoning in beef cows.

That’s because the real culprit is an intermediate compound, nitrite. When cow herds consume forages with natural low levels of nitrates, the ruminal microbes break down this nitrate into ammonia, which is safely incorporated back into bacterial protein. In contrast, excessive forage nitrates overwhelm the microorganism’s capacity to process the nitrates into ammonia, and a nitrite pool is formed.

These nitrites are absorbed across the rumen wall into the bloodstream, where they bind with the oxygen-carrying compound hemoglobin, present in cow’s red blood cells. Unlike hemoglobin, methemoglobin cannot carry oxygen in the blood. As a result, the oxygen-carrying-capacity of the cow’s blood quickly diminishes to the point where the tissues of a poisoned cow suffocate to death.

All nitrate-suspected forage (such as a hailed-out barley crop or drought-stricken corn field) should be tested before feeding to cattle as the best assurance for safety. Producers should collect samples in the field and then collect another set of samples once the crop is harvested. Send in all samples into a reputable laboratory and request a common nitrate test, which should cost no more than $20 per forage sample. It is also recommended that water samples be collected and tested for nitrates too.

A routine laboratory printout shows forages and other feeds analyzed for nitrate content are commonly reported as nitrate (NO₃) or nitrate nitrogen (NO₃N).

Research has proved that mature cattle and replacement heifers can safely consume a total diet containing nitrates that are below 0.5 per cent NO₃, or, expressed another way, below 0.12 per cent NO₃N on a dry matter basis.

Blending down

I believe that if overwinter forages are sampled and the results show that they contain toxic nitrate levels for the cow herd, it is a good idea to grind the contaminated forage such as hay and dilute it with other clean hays, straw and silage.

This process often brings the level of nitrates to acceptable safe limits, particularly in a TMR mixer. Note that the alternative of feeding whole high-nitrate bales alternated with low-nitrate bales is not recommended.

Last winter, I dealt with a 250-beef cow-calf operation that tested an overwinter supply of hailed alfalfa-grass hay bales that contained 0.70 per cent NO₃ (on a dry matter intake (DMI) basis). In order to safely feed it, we diluted it down to under 0.5 per cent NO₃ (on a DMI basis) by putting a reformulated TMR diet together.

TABLE: A ration formulated to reduce the impact of high-nitrate forages in a beef cow diet. Source: Peter Vitti

Actual calculated NO₃ level of this diet was 0.46 per cent (DMI basis). The producer fed this overwintering diet, when his cow herd was brought home in late October until the start of the calving season in February. Then a couple of pounds of barley were fed to each fresh cow. No problems associated with the nitrate-contaminated hay appeared.

This story is a good testimonial that feeding high-nitrate forages to overwintering beef cows can be done. This means suspect forages should be tested for nitrate content. If its nitrate content comes back and it cannot be safely fed, dilute it to a safe feeding level with low-nitrate forages in a well-balanced overwintering beef cow diet.

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After the spring calves are weaned, they may be sold or moved into drylot for backgrounding; the remaining brood cows are checked for pregnancy and soundness. Any animal that is deemed unprofitable should be culled before the new year.

Not too long ago, their salvage value was only worth a few hundred dollars, but in today’s record-high market, even a half-blind, smooth-mouth and open cow is worth significant dollars. Consequently, people should make up a cull list to take advantage of this revenue stream, while also improving the integrity of their cow herd.

All mature cows, first-calf heifers or replacement females that cannot get pregnant or are open should top everyone’s cull list. Infertile cows simply cannot produce a money-making calf for next year. That is the strict opinion of my friend, who operates a 400-head Angus-Simmental cow herd.

I asked him if there were any exceptions to his number one rule of culling open cows. He replied that even if she were the best cow in the herd and was guaranteed to re-breed the next season, she is clearly a depreciated item:

• She did not give birth to a calf that generates his main income,
• She will then incur at least a $3 per day bill for overwinter feed and housing costs (200 days) or $600 of liability, and
• At least she is worth a few thousand dollars in today’s cull market.

The funny thing is that it might not be her fault in the first place. His story continues: much of his cow herd breeding season falls during the hottest days of summer and many cows (as well as breeding bulls) having suffered from heat-stress-related infertility.

My friend says it’s unfortunate, but these cows must be culled for cited economics — not to mention that he has no time, room or interest in creating a pregnant fall-calving herd.

Another producer I know operates a 250-head cow-calf operation, several hundreds of kilometres to the east of my first friend. He has similar views on culling infertile cows, but is ‘open’ (pun intended) to giving a handful of non-pregnant mature cows a second chance. He writes their ear tag number under a ‘maybe’ column on his cull list.

These ‘maybe’ candidates are healthy mature cows that have proven to be good nursing mothers in the past year that have turned out good 600-pound weaned calves by autumn. Given that she might eat $600 worth of overwinter feed until the next breeding season, this producer is willing to take a chance to successfully breed her next year to yield a feeder calf, which is worth nearly $4,000 ($650 per hundredweight) in today’s market.

These two friends sell their cull cows shortly before the end of the year. However, I met a third person who runs a 300-head Hereford crossbred operation and takes a slightly different approach.

He culls his cow herd twice a year. The first culls consist of about 30 open cows after the calves are weaned, and the second group is 15–20 individuals, put together within weeks after the calving season ends — hard calvers and cows that are breeding season stragglers. All cull cows are put in their own pen during an 80-day feeding program to gain 250 lb. and then sold at cull-cow prices.

All three beef producers above cull cows due to infertility; however, there are secondary reasons why brood cows might be sold. Some of these reasons are:

• Old age. As brood cows reach 10 years, their bodies break down, worn-down teeth (smooth-mouth), teats and udders collapse, uterine infections and general lameness are inevitable. They are more susceptible to disease.
• Poor nursing cows. Cows with poor milk production (which translates into poor growing calves) should be culled. One obvious goal of most commercial herds is to maximize total saleable weaned weight of their annual calf crop.
• Rough calvers. Some cows seem to have several hard-calving seasons — a calf has to be pulled or the cow has a prolapsed vagina, retained placenta, milk-fever or serious uterine infections.
• Poor cow health. Some cows are more susceptible to health challenges compared to other cows. Cows with a contagious disease or identified as disease carriers should be removed. Cows with chronic health problems might be culled.

Regardless on the reasons that any cow is culled from its herd, I believe there is at least a 10-15 per cent cull rate on most cow-calf operations.

All of these culls should be replaced by a young, healthy, good milking and promising mother — namely, a bred first-calf replacement female. Soon, she should give birth to a strong, good-growing spring calf, which is sold the following fall as a heavyweight money-maker.

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Some will be shipped short distances, while others will be trucked to distant feedlots. The stress of trucking causes weight loss in most animals. This weight loss is known as “shrink.”

Most marketed cattle are sold by weight, so several hundred dollars per calf are lost when shrink is significant. The goal is to minimize shrink and maximize the value of each sold calf.

Producers generally expect up to 10 per cent shrink in weaned calves from the time they leave the home farm until arrival at an auction mart or feedlot. Unfortunately, the potential economic loss is staggering.

For example, if a truckload of 40 calves averaging 650 pounds sells at $600 per hundredweight and each animal loses 50 lb. to shrink (7.7 per cent), nearly $12,000 disappears.

In my experience, there are three types of shrink, ranging from non-lethal to long-term chronic issues and possible loss of an animal:

Fill shrink: This occurs during the first part of transport. It reflects weight loss from rumen-fill, manure and urine. Cattle held 10 to 12 hours are expected to get thirsty and hungry, but it usually doesn’t threaten their lives. Much of fill shrink is recovered within a day after animals are watered and fed.

Dehydration: This is an actual loss of fluid from the calf’s tissues — muscles, organs, blood and even bone. It may result from calves not getting water during long hours of trucking and can be worsened by hot weather. Dehydration is also common in distressed calves caused by poor weaning or handling. I’ve witnessed some truck-weaned calves so distraught that they hyper-ventilated (drawing off water from lungs) as they were being loaded.

Morbidity (sickness): Many calves suffer from a high rates of dysentery and respiratory issues during trucking and by the time they enter a new feedlot or any other new home. These high rates of disease are often worsened by a compromised immune system. Many animals never fully recover, leading to lower feedlot gains, poorer feed efficiency and higher feedlot mortality.

Trucking remains the biggest factor behind these three types of shrink in cattle. University and extension work has demonstrated weight loss from shrink occurs rapidly in the first hours of transport, levels off and then gradually increases as haul time becomes excessive.

University of Wyoming research indicates cattle lose about one per cent of their bodyweight per hour for the first three to four hours of transport, then 0.25 per cent per hour for the next eight to 10 hours.

An unrelated Iowa study found cattle lose an additional 0.6 per cent of weight from the point of origin for each additional 160 kilometres (100 miles) of haul.

Handling and processing are the next biggest stressors in trucked calves. How cattle are gathered and sorted for sale accounts for two to three per cent total shrink. Current welfare practices have significantly reduced this number through improved processing.

For example, it is my understanding that incoming trucked cattle are now sold within a few hours of arrival at a sale yard, rather than waiting up to 24 hours as it was handled previously. In addition, hay and water are available for incoming cattle, which has become commonplace.

Other factors that contribute to cattle shrink include the type of ration that calves were receiving before they were trucked. For example, cattle grazing lush pasture shrink more than cattle fed dry hay in the days before transport.

Similarly, preconditioned weaned calves that were creep-fed for at least 45 days before shipping adjust better to transportation stress and lose less weight than truck-weaned calves.

Any shrink in trucking calves means reduced income and possible loss of future performance.

A friend who operates a 200-head operation is always looking for ways to shrink the shrink in about 100 weaned steers weighing 650 lb. shipped to eastern Ontario each fall. His goal in 2025 is to reduce shrink by 2.5 per cent by any practical means. If successful, that’s a $9,800-bigger paycheque.

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It often costs the seller and/or the buyer a lot of money. Fortunately, better weaning methods are available compared to the abrupt removal of calves from their mothers. These better weaning alternatives are effective in reducing weaning stress in sold calves as well as putting more money in everybody’s pocketbook.

It’s no secret that the immunity/health status of truck-weaned calves is compromised compared to calves put through good weaning programs weeks ahead of the actual weaning. Reliable field data reports that many stressed-out calves never fully recover from truck weaning and suffer from significant rates of pneumonia and dysentery within weeks of being put in a feedlot. High mortality rates are also recorded.

Truck-weaned calves suffer more shrinkage than pre-conditioned calves once they reach the feedlot. In today’s market, where prices seem to hit new highs each week, a 650-pound truck-weaned calf that loses an extra six per cent — about 39 lb. — at $550 per cwt is worth about $200 less than a properly weaned pen mate.

Much of this stress in truck-weaned calves is due to breaking the instinctive maternal bond between cow and calf. The University of Saskatchewan demonstrated that when cow-calf pairs in a herd were split in half and each group of cows was given the other group’s calves following weaning, both cows and calves kept searching for their own partner. Before separation, many of these calves were spending little time nursing on their dams (at six months of age, calves receive less than 15 per cent of their nutrient requirements from their dam’s milk). But after separation, it was proved that the cow still provides comfort to her calf.

Slowly breaking this maternal bond between mother and calf during weaning can be employed in the following ways, which not only reduces stress but also gets calves familiar with a new diet and a foreign environment:

• Complete separation: Put cow-calf pairs in the same feedlot pen for a few days to a week. Once the calves get used to the feed bunks and waterers, move the cows out.
• Fence-line weaning: Separate cows and calves by a fence, which prevents them from touching one another but allows visual contact to reduce stress on both sides of the fence.
• Two-step weaning: A method developed by the University of Saskatchewan that outfits each nursing calf with a nose “anti-nursing” device for about seven to 10 days before calves and cows are separated.
• Early weaning: This is a method that can employ each one of the above methods in one way or another, where calves are weaned at four to five months of age (and as early as six weeks of age).

A friend of mine who runs about 400 cow-calf pairs takes a different approach when it comes to weaning his calves in late fall. He believes the key to good weaning is to fill up the calves’ bellies a few weeks before they are actually separated from the cows.

At this time, the carrying capacity of his pastures is low, and there might even be a little snow on the ground. So he makes up a brood-cow TMR, which contains a lot of barley silage, some grassy hay, no grain and a well-balanced trace mineral-vitamin pack.

Then, he dumps this load right on pasture in front of the cow-calf pairs. It takes only a couple weeks of doing this and then these filled-up calves are removed from pasture and put into my friend’s home feedlot to be backgrounded until late February. One or two calves may bawl for a day, but most of them have already nicely adjusted once the feedlot pen gates are closed.

My friend has gone through many successful weaning seasons. It is a great testimony of reducing autumn calf stress, not only when they are taken away from their mothers and weaned but it also helps them get onto new feeding programs in a usually strange new environment. Such challenges may never be eliminated, but using this or similar common-sense approaches goes a long way. And today’s saleable weaned calves, bid at more than $500 to $700 per cwt, are just too valuable to be truck-weaned.

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To some producers, it is a matter of pure economics to put on profitable extra weight on spring calves — while to others, creep feeding makes for better autumn-preconditioned calves. Last and not least, there are producers who don’t see the value of creep feeding.

Many of them might have valid reasons. Yet it seems to me that whether one doesn’t want to creep feed or is one of those who haul out their creep feeders by the end of summer, I advocate that one should calculate its present economics, plus its practical advantages in 2025.

A new beef producer I met last year inherited a 250-head cow-calf operation. He asked me to determine the economic value for him of putting out his creep feeders at the end of this July. He doesn’t expect his spring calves (mostly born at the end of February) to eat much creep feed until the middle of September. That’s because his pastures up to now have received a few timely rains and thus have good carrying capacity, and his cows and first-calf dams are milking well.

Once the weather cools off, he expects all calves eat to up to three kg of creep per head per day. With a feed conversion of 6.5 pounds of creep feed (costing 15 cents per lb.) to one lb. of gain, it should be no problem to add 60 lb. extra weight onto calves that would otherwise weigh 700 lb. at weaning time if the creep feeder remained by his machine shed.

With such pertinent information added into the graph shown here, as well as an already pre-established contract price of $4.95 per lb. of weaned calf sold this October, a tidy profit of about $168.50 per 760-lb. calf or a return on investment of 288 per cent will be directly attributed to creep feeding.

TABLE: Creep feeding program, 2025

Here is a general review of the major factors that determined this profit of $168.50 per head:

Established calf price

Some ag news states that grass and feeder calves are selling on historical highs driven by depressed calf crops and feedlot placements in the United States.

Calf price gradients

There is a sliding price discount as calves hit higher weight classes. In my example, I used a price discount of about $10 per hundredweight. As this price gradient narrows between weight classes, creep feeding becomes more profitable.

Feed costs

Creep feeding profits are attractive when calf prices are high relative to low feed costs. In 2025, I see that forage and grain prices are modest, which contribute to substantial 2025 creep profits.

Feed efficiency

The conversion of a well-balanced creep feed into saleable weaning weight is a major driver in the profitability due to creep feeding. It ranges from six to eight lb. per lb. gain for most grain-based creep feeds. For example, every 0.5 lb. improvement in feed efficiency means an extra $4.50 revenue per calf.

Aside from the almost unbelievable economics of 288 per cent return on investment, there are other practical benefits to creep feeding calves. Some other producers have told me that their creep-fed calves are not as dependent on the nursing cow by autumn.

As a result, calves are much easier to wean with less stress. Other producers say that creep-fed calves are bunk-broke, which is a real advantage when put onto background feeding programs.

Despite such positive and practical creep feeding advantages, I spoke with another cow-calf operator who runs about the same size of ranch, and he never considers creep feeding his spring calves. It’s not that he has anything against creep feeding, but he believes his cows milk well throughout the summer due to his heavily managed rotational pastures. Plus, he grows cover crops, and he pastures both cows and calves on their regrowth from August to late November.

As a result, he successfully gets similar performance on his calves’ weaning weights compared to his neighbours’ calves that are creep fed.

In summary, I value what this producer had to say, but I also value the experiences of people that seem to put their creep feeders onto pasture every year. For them and those new cow-calf operators who might consider creep feeding their calves in 2025, it’s a hard-to-beat profitable creep feeding year.

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Therefore, many producers might be compromising their cows’ reproductive performance. Many of these cows often fail to return to active estrus and fail to get rebred and finally become pregnant. Rather than go down this wrong road, producers should review their current mineral-vitamin program and choose one that drives successful reproduction.

Before I make any recommendation to producers as to what kind of mineral-vitamin feeding program is a good choice, most people should conduct a body assessment of each cow and calved-out heifer.

I advocate that all nursing animals should maintain a visible cow’s body condition score (BCS) of five to six (out of 10) by calving, which should be carried on to the end of the breeding season. Such adequate BCS has been research-proven to return a higher proportion of fertile beef cows compared to thin cows (BCS less than four) to active-strong estrus by 80 to 90 days postpartum. Strong estrus should result in highly successful conception rates.

Most mineral and vitamin requirements of even the best-bodied nursing cows and heifers soar as they return to active heat cycles in preparation for conception during a short 60-day breeding season. Postpartum cows’ calcium needs increase by nearly 100 per cent, while phosphorus, magnesium and trace mineral demands grow by 50-60 per cent, and the need for fat-soluble vitamins more than doubles.

For example, the requirement for manganese is about 400 milligrams per day per cow. Known to be involved in enzyme systems that drive follicular/egg development, a lack of dietary manganese is proven to lead to inactive estrus, or “silent heats.” Given that Canadian prairie grasses often contain less than 20 mg/kg manganese, the need for manganese supplementation in a typical cowherd diet is necessary.

In order to assure manganese and other essential mineral/vitamin requirements are achieved, I recommend a “breeder” cattle mineral be fed from calving and throughout the upcoming beef breeding season. Consequently, this type of special cattle mineral is a specific complement of macro-minerals (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium) as well as a high level of trace minerals in particular copper, zinc, manganese and selenium, fortified at the best concentrations as well as in highly bioavailable chelated forms. Once these macro- and trace minerals are consumed at three to four ounces per head daily, they are designed to reach the cows’ digestive tract, where they are quickly absorbed, efficiently metabolized and highly retained to build optimum mineral status.

I have met many producers who believe in feeding such a breeder cattle mineral after their calving season is done — but some of them modify it to tackle specific nutritional mineral issues such as “grass tetany” on lush pasture.

In these cases, this breeder mineral can be formulated with four to 12 per cent magnesium and fed during the high-risk period of the first two to three weeks of the grazing season. Other producers I’ve known have added extra copper to the same breeder mineral to combat secondary copper deficiencies caused by excessive amounts of copper-binding molybdenum found in their pasture grasses.

All such types of well-balanced cattle minerals/vitamins should be placed in proper mineral feeders and be accessible to all cows. The feeders should be protected from rain, wind, sunshine and sometimes defecating cows. I am the biggest fan of a two- or three-compartment durable heavy-duty plastic feeder with a fixed metal bar in the centre, which secures a weather-proof rubber flap.

The best ones have notches moulded into the base to bolt it down on top of a truck tire and keep it out of water and mud. Then, two bags of mineral and one bag of salt can be poured into the separate compartments and checked every few days to be cleaned and refilled.

A few springs ago, a friend of mine bought two brand-new blue mineral feeders with the black rubber flaps. He operates a 100-cow red Angus herd and routinely feeds a breeder mineral fortified with extra organic zinc in order to strengthen hooves of the cow herd by the breeding season.

The offbeat thing is that he used to feed this cattle mineral in the trunk of a wheel-less 1962 Oldsmobile found in his yard. He would put out three bags of mineral each week in this way until one day the cattle abruptly stopped eating it. That’s because a fox gave birth to her pups in the back and prevented cattle from sticking their heads in.

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Yet, the writing was on the wall with increased world demand for milk-based food and ingredients. Like most dairy producers, some people acknowledge its skyrocketing cost but have become advocates to remain feeding high levels or accelerated levels of milk replacer.

Their endgame is that better-quality calves make better (high-milk producing) dairy cows.

Consequently, Iowa State University proved more 20 years ago that standard calf milk replacer programs (still practiced today) yield only modest calf growth rates. The researchers at that time fed milk powder at the rate of 1.25 to 1.5 per cent of bodyweight to groups of pre-weaned calves, which supplied only enough dietary energy and protein to support maintenance requirements with a little left over for nominal growth. They found that feeding milk replacer at an accelerated rate of two to 2.5 per cent of bodyweight allowed a matching group of calves to achieve phenomenal double neonate birthweight growth.

For example, a 150-dairy cow operator that I visited a few years ago switched up his automatic calf feeding system to feed a reconstituted 1,200 grams of 26-26-18 milk replacer (from a standard 20-20-20 milk replacer of 800 g) to each of his pre-weaned calves.

At 56 days or eight weeks of age, he weaned them off the milk replacer and was able to achieve an average weaning weight of 102 kg (1.05 kg per head per day). He then put them on a modest-energy heifer grower diet until they were bred at 14 to 15 months of age. He then reduced their dietary energy slightly until they were finally brought onto the milk-line at about two years of age. His first group of accelerated heifers yielded about 15 per cent more milk during their first 305d-year of lactation as compared to past milk-reared animals.

It should be mentioned that this producer also introduced a 21 per cent protein texturized oat- and corn-based calf starter to all his pre-weaned calves at seven days of age. At first, they nibble at it, but by three to four weeks of age, they were eating about 700 g, which by nature stimulates good rumen development. By the time, these calves reached 56 days of age, most of them were eating about 1.2 kg, which is proven to facilitate weaning/transference onto post-weaning replacement heifer diets.

My case-study dairy producer was always aware of the cost of his accelerated calf milk replacer program in order to achieve its superior benefits. See the included simple 2025 balance-sheet of his accelerated milk replacer program as compared to a current conventional feeding option.

1. Investment of each program — It costs about $156 or 60 per cent more to feed Holstein dairy calves on an accelerated dairy program. At first glance it seems excessive to spend over $400 per calf weaned at eight weeks of age. However, weaned heifer calves are no longer worth $400 as they once were, but $1,000 to $1,500, depending on health and genetic statute of each weaned calf.

2. Investment in a consistent milk-based program — Investing in an accelerated milk replacer feeding program just lends itself to feeding a well-formulated 26-26-18 milk replacer that now costs about $110 per 20 kg bag. The advocates say that it cannot be substituted by feeding less-expensive milk replacer or pasteurized whole milk that often cause digestive upsets when fed at higher than conventional milk-feeding levels.

3. Importance of good quality and clean water — All conventional and accelerated milk replacer feeding programs requires high-quality water free of high total dissolved solids and other contaminants. I recently witnessed a 100-cow dairy that fed milk replacer to their calves. They put in a water-treatment system in their calf barn in 2024 and within a few months, significantly improved calf health and performance.

All three points are valid. It is a matter of “accelerating” young pre-weaned dairy calves on a better plain of nutrition to meet their full growth potential. A full transference of such superiority means more milk produced and thousands of dollars earned in the not-so-far future.

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Most of the time, we simply forget it’s present when we provide loose cattle mineral on pasture. However, when it’s not there in the required amounts, or somehow gets biologically tied up, we eventually find out.

That’s why it’s important that cattle eat a well-balanced, zinc-fortified mineral in order to prevent any zinc deficiencies.

Most commercial pasture cattle minerals are formulated with about 10,000 mg/kg zinc to be fed at rates of at least 50 grams per head per day. Such predicted intake covers the National Research Council recommendations for dietary zinc in most classes of beef cattle. Factors such as age of the animals, growing and production status, stress and disease challenges are taken into account and often call for additional zinc to be added to cattle mineral.

Such trace amounts, compared to other essential nutrients, show us just how powerful zinc really is in beef cattle nutrition. For example, an average beef cow requires about one kg (2.2 lbs.) of crude protein per day to cover biological functions: vital body maintenance, producing milk, growth, immune function, reproduction. On the other hand, 500 mg of pure zinc equals 0.7 grams of zinc oxide, which gets lost at the bottom of a small teaspoon.

The odd thing about zinc is that it often works side-by-side with crude protein (and other essential nutrients) in the metabolisms of beef cattle. That’s because it’s scientifically proven to be part of more than 300 of their enzyme systems (specialized proteins that trigger chemical reactions in the body), and therefore is involved in energy metabolism, protein synthesis, DNA functions and the internal workings of cattle immunity.

Here is what we should expect from feeding zinc at recommended amounts to beef cattle:

Strong hooves

Because zinc is part of specific enzyme systems involved in epithelial (skin) formation and repair, feeding extra dietary zinc is thought to strengthen cattle hooves, particularly under harsh field and housing conditions.

A few years ago, I was working with a beef producer who calved out about 150 cows. Many of these cows seem to have very soft hooves and had a higher incidence of foot rot on pasture. Therefore, I formulated a loose mineral with four grams per head of zinc-methionine. It could have been coincidence, but fewer lame cows were treated by the end of that summer.

Good immunity

One particular field study showed zinc-methionine supplementation in spring calves enhanced their immune response to vaccination. The study was conducted on calves no more than two months old — when their colostrum immunity is in decline and their permanent immunity is not yet fully developed.

In this way, a Colorado study showed about one-third of pre-conditioned weaned calves were still getting sick after they were shipped to feedlots. This high incidence of morbidity was traced back to poorly formulated cow-herd mineral lacking sufficient dietary zinc and other important trace minerals.

Reproduction

Zinc plays an essential role in many of the average cow reproductive functions such as strong estrus cycles, improved conception rates, normal post-partum uterine involution and reduction of metritis. In the bull pen, zinc is essential for sperm production and circulating male hormones such as testosterone. A study at Kansas State University demonstrated that viable sperm counts in Angus bulls increased by one-third when bioavailable chelated zinc was fed.

Such positive responses were due to feeding more bioavailable organic sources of zinc — namely zinc-methionine. Subsequently, ruminant scientists will tell you that competitive inorganic zinc sources are still biologically active, but their supplementation in cattle mineral often doesn’t elicit a response due to many compounds that may bind them up in the cattle diets. Zinc-methionine, on the other hand, retains its high biological activity because it cannot combine with other systematic compounds.

Regardless of the source, there is no doubt as to zinc’s essential role in beef cattle nutrition. But zinc is only part of any well-balanced cattle diet, which must also contain other essential nutrients such as energy, protein, other minerals and vitamins. Plus, they must all work together to promote successful health and performance in beef cattle.

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First, I walk along the bunk and look at the cows that are eating — and look over to the cows lying in their stalls. I’ll also pick up a handful of lactation diet and pick through it.

In these short five minutes, these observations give me a ballpark idea as to how much lactating diet is being eaten on an as-fed and dry-matter intake basis.

When the dairy producer walks with me, I often fine-tune these observations by asking specific questions about the cows or something about the diet. By getting a handle on the dry matter intake of the lactation barn, I am really getting an idea of the amount of dietary energy intake that drives milk production — which in most cases is almost a perfect correlation.

With the advent of more robot milking systems, the dry matter intakes of lactating dairy cows have dramatically increased, and milk production follows along. For example, I can design a PMR (partial mixed ration) to be fed in the bunk at 50 kg on an as-fed basis (25 kg, dmi) and another five kg of robot pellets fed at the milking stations.

As a result, the dairy cows are cleaning up about 30 kg of actual feed on a dry matter basis to produce 40-45 kg of milk per day. Such intake and performance were really unheard of 10 years ago in the traditional parlour milking systems.

Whether lactating cows are milked in a parlour or robot barn, high-quality forages have always promoted high dry matter intakes. The science is simple: more kilos of a well-balanced lactation diet tend to pass through the cows’ rumen, because its fibre portion tends to be more efficiently digested by the resident rumen microbes, which also speeds up its rate of passage throughout the whole digestive tract. Naturally, there are many chemical restraints in the rumen that kick in along the way, which also help maintain such good rumen function.

Based on these broad-based nutritional principles, here is a set of dairy barn suggestions that in my experience help achieves optimum feed intake among lactating dairy cows.

Set up a close-up dry cow feeding program

Close-up dry cows (three weeks before calving), which consume about 12 kg of dry feed daily, have been shown to have greater DMI as early lactating cows and fewer post-partum metabolic problems.

Promote good rumen fermentation

Typical rations for lactating dairy cows should be formulated to contain 19-21 per cent acid detergent fibre (ADF), 28-32 per cent neutral detergent fibre (NDF) (with 75 per cent coming from effective forage fibre) and limitations of 35-42 per cent placed on non-structural carbohydrates.

Know DMI and as-fed intake

A weekly schedule of DMI and as-fed intake of the lactation herd, as well as the moisture content of the diet, should be recorded. A friend of mine, who milks 350 dairy cows, measures their DMI and as-fed intake every few weeks and their dietary moisture levels about once per week. In doing so, he has significantly decreased the incidence of ketosis in his fresh cow group.

Formulate healthy rumen diets

Feed a portion of the grain that has slower rates of starch digestion, such as grain corn, to prevent acidosis. Avoid feeding too much bypass palm fat. Make sure to limit feed unpalatable feed ingredients. Lastly, check forages and grains for visible mould and other contaminants.

Use a direct-fed microbial (DFM)

I often formulate a DFM into lactation diets. It contains bacteria, grain and forage enzymes and yeasts, which have been shown to improve feed digestibility and prevent sub-acidosis rumen acidosis. Fed at 10 g per head per day, it costs about 25 cents per head per day.

Most of these suggestions take time to implement, but sometimes it only takes five minutes of common sense to promote dry matter intake in lactating dairy cows.

At one farm I visited recently, the bunk ration seemed to be very dry. All it took was adding 100 litres of water to the PMR that helps increase its consumption and subsequent milk production — just a little bite.

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Better genetics and nutrition are two good reasons. Yet, these brand-new mothers still require special attention after calving, despite some producers treating them like seasoned mature cows.

I often recommend that a good walk be taken among the main cow herd or segregated groups of first-calved heifers (now young cows). Conduct a proper body condition score (BCS) of each young animal, which determines their nutritional status. From there, select the particular feeding program on which you want to take them, once the heifers are on pasture in order to get rebred with their second calf.

A good BCS of each young cow on the day of calving is a good starting point that will dictate the success of such upcoming reproductive performance. That’s because an optimum BCS of 5 to 6 on a scale of 0 to 9 is an indication of her current nutritional status, which is the single most important factor that controls postpartum interval, milk production, estrus strength, services per conception and, ultimately, successful rebreeding.

In light of research-proven facts, I recently spent a couple of hours with a herd manager of a 350-head cow-calf operation. We completed a body assessment of about 60 calved-out replacement heifers. The premise was:

• Starting calving date was March 1, 2025.
• First-calf replacement heifers were bred three weeks ahead of the main cowherd – allowing 20–30 days of extra post-partum interval.
• All heifers were fed an overwintered diet of 15 kg barley silage, two kg grass hay, 0.5 kg canola meal and four oz. of a well-balanced fortified mineral-vitamin premix. All barley grain was removed a couple of weeks ago.
• Replacement heifers were segregated from the main herd and housed along with cull cows due to a lack of facilities.
• Creep feeders were placed in the pen and filled with a 16 per cent texturized oat-corn ration.
• Bulls are released on pasture during mid-May for a 60-day breeding season.

Most of these calved replacement heifers are well-framed animals that scored the desired 5 to 6, which I believe was directly responsible for only one or two assisted births from the present calvings.

These young mothers were also nursing well with two- to three-week-old calves that had great vitality. Only two replacement heifers were poor doers (thin body condition, due to other factors) and were soon to be culled.

Since there was a good amount of rainfall in the fall, in combination with early spring snows, the manager expects most pastures to be in good shape by the time the cow herd is released. The plan is that his first-parity cows (nursing a new calf) will be moved onto green pastures broken up only a couple of years ago. The high quality of these tamed pastures is expected to match their high energy and protein requirements for lactation, support of good body growth and retaining body condition in order to trigger at least one active estrus before the breeding season.

The manager also routinely feeds a loose mineral on pasture to the main cowherd as well as to all first-calved beef heifers. It has been his experience that a well-formulated mineral should be fed at three to four ounces per day in order to build up the mineral/vitamin status of every cow, which promotes active rebreeding and conception.

His personal choice is a “breeder-type” mineral with 18 per cent calcium and nine per cent phosphorus plus fortified levels of “chelated” copper, zinc, manganese and selenium as well as higher levels of vitamins A, D and E. He has never had much of a problem with grass tetany over the years, so he limits the magnesium to about three per cent, which meets those respective requirements.

Given that good pasture nutrition is in place, his only real concern is a bout of foot rot that hits the same young cow group (with nursing calves). When it happens, about every other year, it starts with one or two cows and spreads to about a third of the other grazers. Luckily, the most visible cases are caught in the early stages and treated with antibiotics.

Beyond that concern, it’s a matter of providing good nutrition and management to a young set of mothers that really started at the beginning of winter and carried on to the calving season. It means carrying on this special attention from calving and right through the breeding season on pasture.

As a result of all these efforts I look forward to successful confirmation of a second pregnancy, 30 days hence.

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