Livestock Nutrition Archives - Page 2 of 2

How to Set Your Herd for Long-Term Success

Posted on January 1, 2022September 19, 2025 by Amy Wold

SHORTING COWS ON QUALITY MINERAL SUPPLEMENT DURING THE THIRD TRIMESTER COULD BE A WRECK WAITING TO HAPPEN.

Article by Riomax®

The drought’s been bad, and not just this year. It’s been dry for several years and weaning weights are off. It’s time to cut deep into expenses.

Then calving season rolls around and with it, a wreck. Calves are too weak to get up and suck. Too many get sick. Too many die. And the medicine simply isn’t working.

For this rancher, one of the expenses that was cut was the mineral. The rancher knew minerals are necessary, but mineral is mineral, right?

Does Cheap Mineral Help Cut Costs?

Not in the long run, says Dr. Jeffery Hall, technical services veterinarian with Huvepharma and former director of the veterinary diagnostic lab at Utah State University. Without adequate supplementation of a quality mineral, especially during the third trimester, a wreck could well be waiting in the wings. “The only way that calf will be born without adequate body reserves (of vitamins and minerals) is if mama ran out,” he says.

Almost 90 percent of the mineral that gets moved to the fetus occurs in the last trimester. “That is a very critical time that you have to have really good quality mineral supplementation going into the cows to make sure those calves are born with their buckets full; where they have enough to get through that period when they’re not getting much in the diet but they’re still growing rapidly.”

Indeed, Hall says as ranchers go through the winter, they need to look at setting up the spring calvers to have the calves where they’ll be in good shape going into the summer. “And those people who decide to cut back on mineral are losing more money in the long run than they’re saving by either going to a low-cost mineral or no mineral supplement at all.”

That’s because all mineral is not the same.

There’s a trade-off between the less expensive inorganic mineral compounds versus chelated or organic compounds. “There are things that can happen in the rumen that can tie up (inorganic) minerals where the body can never absorb them,” Hall says.

On the other hand, having the mineral bound to an organic compound allows it to survive the rumen. “So when (those minerals) reach the intestinal tract, they’re still in a form that the body can recognize, bind to and absorb.”

Calves must be born with higher body reserves of minerals than their mamas because they get very little in the colostrum. Certainly, colostrum is vital to a young calf for a variety of reasons. But mineral ingestion isn’t one of them. So if mama is deficient, baby is deficient.

“The biggest financial cost of these deficiencies is what it does to the calves,” Hall says. “Deficiencies in calves are going to cause poor growth rates.” A lot of that poor growth is because the calves get sick. “With these deficiencies, you end up with poor immune function and poor vaccine response. Because of that, you see more disease. And the first thing an animal does when it gets sick is to quit eating well and it starts to use a lot of excess energy trying to survive.”

What About Vitamins?

Supplementing third trimester cows with vitamins A and E is especially important during a drought. “Typically where we see big problems with vitamin A and E deficiency is in spring calving herds after a severe drought the summer before.”

Vitamin A and vitamin E are fat-soluble vitamins that require the intake of green vegetation, he says. Cows will store these vitamins in body fat to get them through the winter where there’s no green vegetation to eat.

“Things may have dried up in May or June and cows didn’t get anything green from that point all the way until they calved the next spring, and they just ran out of body reserves,” he says. That’s why you shouldn’t overlook supplementing these vitamins during the third trimester.

“With vitamin A deficiency, you’ll start to get poor digestive tract integrity,” Hall says. “The cells aren’t dividing as rapidly and they don’t have as tight a junction between the cells, so you’ll get a lot of opportunistic pathogens that invade.” Those calves have a high incidence of diarrhea and just don’t respond to anything you give them to treat it.

“Because of that, with severe vitamin A deficiency, you’ll see extremely high death losses in the calves. And it’s generally in the first 10 days.” A vitamin E deficiency will usually show up as white muscle disease. But white muscle disease can also be a mineral issue, so it’s important to test the livers to correctly identify the specific problem.

What’s the Cost?

“What does it cost you when you have these mineral deficiencies?” Hall asks. “If you fix it, even with mild deficiencies, it’s not uncommon to see a 2 percent to 4 percent drop in the number of open cows at preg check. With more severe deficiencies, 5 percent to 15 percent,” he says. “The worst case I ever had, I had a group of cows that we improved the breed-back efficiency by 22 percent by nothing more than supplementing them adequately.”

Open cows cost money,

particularly in younger cows that are more severely affected by mineral deficiencies than older cows. Those first and second calf heifers have time and money invested in them that is only recouped if they stay in the herd.

Then there’s the calves. With adequate supplementation of the cows during the third trimester, you’re going to decrease the number of sick calves in the critical days after birth. That means you decrease medicine cost, you’re treating fewer calves so your labor is less and you’re going to have more, heavier calves to sell.

“With juvenile health, you’re going to see decreased summer pneumonia. You’ll have decreased weaning health issues, decreased death loss and medicine costs. You’re going to improve vaccine efficacy,” he says.

“But the biggest thing most producers see when they take deficient animals and put them on a good supplement, even when correcting minor deficiencies, is a 20 to 30 pound per calf increase in weaning weight averages. With major deficiencies, 50 pounds or more,” Hall says.

“Overall, changing a group of animals from being deficient to adequate (for mineral and vitamin levels) generally results in a net, not a gross, profit of $50 to $100 or more per cow. And I see it all the time.”

Ready to eliminate mineral deficiencies in your herd and become more profitable? Discover the livestock supplement with 100% protected key trace minerals AND a complete digestion pack. Visit www.riomax.net or call 844.920.2581 to chat with a herd health guide & learn more.

Home – American Cattlemen

January 2022

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Raising Environmentally Friendly Beef

Posted on March 1, 2021September 29, 2025 by Amy Wold

Raising Environmentally Friendly Beef

Jim Jensen’s great-grandfather came from Denmark in 1895, homesteading near Boulder, Wyoming. “We’re above 7000 feet, usually the coldest place in winter, and one of the toughest places to make a living in the cattle business,” Jensen says.

The ranch had Herefords at first because no other breeds at that time could handle it. Later he bought Angus, and eventually registered cattle, selecting and raising them different than most purebred breeders.

“If I raised a bull, I wanted to know he would work in my environment because that meant he would work anywhere.” Jensen was one of the first to start PAP-testing, and the first to come up with standards.

“Cattle must be at higher elevation for at least 70 days before testing—at 7000 feet or above, for an accurate test. We run our bulls at 7600 feet for 120 days prior to testing, and the tests have maximum accuracy.”

Jensen started feed-efficiency testing 20 years ago–using vertical mixers. This doesn’t test a specific animal but can show how a herd did this year versus last year, on the exact same ration. “Actually, we were feed-efficiency testing all along by running cows in extremely difficult conditions where grass was sparse. Cows that weren’t efficient didn’t get pregnant and fell out of the program,” he explains.

He then bought a GrowSafe system to test cattle individually and was the only seedstock Angus producer in the U.S. at that point to own a GrowSafe system.

This year he decided to focus on “Environmentally Friendly” beef, knowing that many people believe in global warming. “Regardless of reality, this trend is not going away; we must tell people we have Environmentally Friendly Beef. Our ranch data proves we have cattle that are 30% more feed efficient—and will create less greenhouse gasses and smaller carbon footprint,” he explains.

“With high-elevation PAP test and hardiness in our cattle, we have less sickness and death loss because of how we’ve selected and raised these cattle. There is less need for antibiotics, less need to put cattle through the chute, and better over-all animal husbandry. We’re trying to help consumers understand this, with our environmentally friendly beef brand. We want people to know that our cattle help them fix the planet. People need to have beef, to survive.” These animals can be raised in terrain that can’t grow crops for human food; people won’t have enough food without livestock turning grass into food.

“We want to do our part, and change the aura of the beef industry so the people who hate us will start loving us, we don’t have ‘bad’ cows that ruin the environment, we have new cattle that will save the world. We can change perception of our industry in a positive way, and there’s a huge market for environmentally-friendly beef,” he says.

“Everything we’ve done has been to create cattle that make more profit for our customers and we offer the nation’s only 4-year guarantee on the bulls we sell,” he says.

These cattle dominate for profitability on the ranch and in the feedlot because of their feed conversion, low cost of gain and carcass traits. Now his goal is to brand the name “Environmentally-Friendly Beef. “For several years we wanted to run with this but were afraid it would drive off some of our bull customers. We finally launched it a few months ago, however, and response has been great.

For more on the Lucky 7 program and their feed efficient bullsatwww.lucky7angus.comor 307-850-2514.

Jensen’s Lucky Seven Angus Ranch

Home – American Cattlemen

March 2021

Here is another article, check it out!

Temporary Fence Repair Is A Must!

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Or if you enjoy the Outdoors. Including hunting, fishing, or just recreational outdoor activities the Iowa Sportsman is a great option

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Protein Supplements- The Many Options

Posted on December 1, 2020September 19, 2025 by Amy Wold

Protein Supplements- The Many Options

During fall and winter in most regions of the country, mature forages are low in protein, yet many ranchers try to extend grazing as long as possible because winter feeding is the most expensive part of raising cattle. Adding a little protein supplement to fall and winter pastures is generally cheaper than feeding hay.

Adequate protein level in a ruminant diet is crucial for optimal microbial growth and function. Rumen microbes are key to unlocking the complex carbohydrates in dried standing forage. Cattle can lose body condition on dry fall pastures, at a time when they should be building reserves in preparation for winter and next spring’s calving. Without protein supplementation, the rumen can’t adequately digest the poor quality forages. Protein supplements, whether supplied in cake, blocks, tubs, or a small amount of alfalfa hay, help improve digestion of low-quality forages and build body condition.

Ken Olson, PhD, Extension Beef Specialist, South Dakota State University, says that whenever forage is deficient in protein, a supplement is needed. “The key number is 7% crude protein. In general, the requirement for a cow, even for a mid-gestation dry cow whose calf is weaned, is a little higher than that, but we are trying to meet the requirement for rumen microbes, so they can digest the forage. That’s our first need, before we worry about the cow,” he says. If we meet the requirements of the microbes, they will provide for maintenance requirements of the cow.

Derek. Bailey, Department of Animal and Range Science, New Mexico State University, has been doing studies for more than 20 years on use of protein supplements to alter grazing behavior and distribution. “Before I came to New Mexico I was at Montana State University and started doing research with low moisture blocks. These are protein supplements that contain urea and natural protein sources such as soybean meal and cottonseed meal, plus vitamins and minerals in a molasses mix. The manufacturers cook it and place it in a vacuum so it dehydrates and becomes very hard. The mix is often put in barrels, plastic tubs or other types of containers,” says Bailey.

Some supplements are made by putting ingredients under hydraulic pressure to form blocks, while others use additives like bentonite to make them hard. “We had the best luck with low moisture blocks and compared these with feeding cake. We also did a study using a liquid, molasses-based protein supplement with a lick wheel. The nice thing about the low moisture blocks is that you can get them in different sizes and they last awhile out on the range–and cattle love them,” he says.

“We got consistent intake with low moisture blocks. We did a study in New Mexico where we compared a pressed block with low moisture blocks. For the first month, the cattle didn’t eat very much of either. The forage quality was still relatively good and they didn’t want the protein. Later in the season, the cattle started eating the low moisture block and very little of the pressed block.

“In one of our studies we measured much they wasted when fed cake (pelleted feed). We fed cake in northern Montana in winter, and sometimes there was snow on the ground and sometimes not. Feeding the cattle 4 pounds per head every other day, we found there was very little waste. We recorded where we fed it (with a GPS receiver) and went up a few days later or after the snow melted, going to that exact location to check—examining 10 to 12 feet on each side of the line where we fed. There was hardly any waste, and most of the waste was just a few cubes that fell into a fecal pat and they didn’t want to eat that. Otherwise there was almost no waste,” says Bailey.

“When we used a lick wheel it worked nicely, too. The problem with those is the challenge of hauling liquid supplement around in the mountains–and in the cold weather in Montana it didn’t work very well. In sub-zero weather, liquid molasses supplements are a challenge! It’s difficult to haul, and consumption rate was too high—well over twice what the manufacturer hoped.” It worked very well as an attractant, but the cattle ate too much (which made it too expensive for practical purposes).

“With low moisture blocks, consumption rate was close to what the manufacturer stated, which was between ½ pound and a pound per day. Often the consumption rate on our cattle was about 7/10ths of a pound. With the lick wheel, by contrast, they were consuming about 2 pounds daily on a dry matter basis,” he says.

Pellets or “cake” have been one of the traditional methods for feeding protein on winter pastures. This works well in pastures where you can just drive out anywhere in and feed the pellets. Frank and Jennifer Beel are part of a family ranch near Johnstown, Nebraska (the third generation) and run about 1200 cows, calving in spring and fall. “We put up prairie hay in summer, and in fall and early winter rely on grazing the aftermath. We start feeding fall-calving cows and their babies hay in late fall when weather turns bad, but our spring calving cows are on pastures we save for winter grazing,” Frank says.

His family has used cake as a supplement for a long time. A Co-op at Ainsworth, Nebraska brings it to the ranch, a semi-load at a time, to fill their bins. “We have two overhead bulk bins that we drive under to fill the feeder on our flatbed truck, and scatter it with a cake feeder mounted on the back of the truck. The feeder holds about 1200 pounds. We feed about 3 pounds per head, every other day, to our cows,” he says.

“With our spring-calving cows we generally don’t start feeding cake until December, because they don’t start calving until March. With our fall calving cows, we start feeding cake in October, to keep them coming along and ready to breed again. It can get pretty cold around Thanksgiving or early December,” Frank says.

“The cows really like the cake, and come to the truck. It’s a very palatable pellet and they don’t waste any. We try to feed on grass or firm ground on the meadows. If we get into a patch of sand or mud we shut off the feeder (from inside the cab) until we get onto good ground again and turn it back on,” he explains.

Even if it snows, there are usually places where snow has blown off, where cake can be fed on grass. “Once in a while we might have to quit caking for 3 or 4 days if snow gets too deep, but usually after the cattle tromp around, we go back to feeding. If there are no areas where snow has blown off, we just go down the windrow where we’ve fed hay earlier, and put cake on that area, or go down the tractor tire track and feed cake where the snow is mashed down,” he says.

“The cows don’t waste any; if you go back afterwards you can’t find any they missed; it’s all cleaned up. The fall calves eat with their mothers and learn how to eat it. We used to wean our fall calves the first of March but figured out it was cheaper to leave them on the cows a few more months. The cows teach them how to graze and the calves stay healthier, out on the pastures with their mothers,” Frank says.

“The cake is easy to use and the company makes it with all the minerals and vitamins our cows need. They custom make it to what we want. If we want to boost vitamin A during calving season, they do that for us. They also have different levels of protein and we choose the most economical level that fits our operation and what our cows need,” he explains.

“What a person chooses as a supplement often depends on cost of high-protein feeds in your area,” says Olson. “Here in the Dakotas and upper Midwest where we have ethanol plants, distillers’ grains are often our most economical source of protein,” he says. In western states, alfalfa hay is often the most cost-efficient protein unless cattle are on mountain pasture where you can’t haul hay to them, or on a Forest Service or BLM allotment that doesn’t allow feeding hay unless it’s certified weed-free.

“Some producers use pelleted alfalfa, which destroys viability of any weed seeds. Dehydrated alfalfa pellets are usually 17 to 18% crude protein,” he says. Pellets can often be more easily transported to mountain pastures than alfalfa hay.

Lick tubs can work, if cattle don’t over-eat or under-eat. “With young stock, it can be a challenge to get them to use tubs. They may not consume enough, whereas some of the older cows will just stay there and eat from the tubs and won’t go graze. You need to monitor cattle and know what they are doing and their rate of consumption. Most of the time you want to know how many days it takes for them to empty the tubs, and how many cows, so you can calculate how many pounds per cow per day—to get a sense of whether they are eating enough to meet their requirements, or over-eating,” he says.

You may need multiple tubs at each site, so several cattle can use them at once. Otherwise dominant older cows may consume most of the protein and keep timid ones away from it. It’s never a perfect situation, and it takes time and effort to manage a supplement. You can’t just haul it out and forget about it; you need to know how the cattle are utilizing (or not utilizing) it.

Home – American Cattlemen

December 2020

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