Mineral tubs

[countryguy]

I am also having a little trouble with the cows not going into a full labor.I don't know if it is just due to the large size of the calves or something else.My vet figures it could be a calcium deficiency.I told him I have been using mineral tubs and he said he and our livestock specialist have seen alot of problems resulting from these.I really like the convenience of the tubs but he advised me to go back to straight loose mineral mixed with salt if need be.What is everyone else's experience with these tubs?

[ALICIA]

I started using the tub in March, I also had large calfs, and one C-section on a heifer, but the heifer was just to small, and this was in January. I would not stop using the tubs (Smart-Lick) is the name of the tub I used. Also 5 late calves where born in April and they were average, but I did notice that at birth they seemed to be larger an they were about a week later.

[mbfarmer]

We start giving our cow the mineral tubs about 3 weeks before calving and go right through until they go to pasture. We have done this for 5 years now. We had problems with cows not cleaning...started the mineral tubs and problem was solved. Dont have that much problems with big calves....maybe 3% of the herd, we have more problems with malpresentation. You could look at giving the cows some extra minerals with a little grain.