custom mineral program...

[cswilson]

I might sound like a bit of a heretic but shouldn't our cows kind of be able to function on what is produced on their home ranch or at least close by. I haven't found alot of kelp beds in northern Sask. lately. I'm not saying it isn't good stuff but kind of exotic feed for an oild black baldie cow to rely on. There's cows have lived long productive lives in our neck of the woods and never got more than blue salt. The more you push things production wise the more you have to finetune your supplementation programs I think.

[farmers_son]

You tell them Cswilson. I agree 100%.

[Cattleman]

Couldn't agree more cs, there is something to that natural selection theory I believe. Our main focus on our farm is marketing hay, with the beef business where it is today, there is no money in feeding good quality hay to beef cows, our cows pretty much ate dusty weathered hay all winter, and just had salt. (I will admit we had a large waste though as well) We also calve in March, and believe it or not, most of our cows are bred, and calving was 100%. Our cows are low maintenance scavengers, and they seem to do just fine. I don't want to start tweaking the formula now. It may all sound very redneckish..but we have a vet in the family.
Believe it or not we even run purebred cows, and they survive, and are pretty well all bred, with minimal minerals, no plugs, no injections, etc.....and they still funcion...anyone looking for bulls??lol

[grassfarmer]

I don't claim to be an expert on mineral supplementation, I have raised the same questions as farmers_son on previous threads - do we need minerals? and if so how much? How much do you spend per cow in a year supplying minerals and salt farmers_son, cattleman or cswilson? I'd be interested to know as I am always looking to eliminate or reduce any purchased input costs.
I would certainly be happy to discontinue salt supplementation, I don't know anyone in Europe that fed salt to cattle and I doubt if they need it here either. Minerals I'm not so sure on yet as I don't have enough experience of Canadian conditions.

[rkaiser]

Not much arguement from this guy either. If your pastures are clean and free of chemicals and fertiliser - your air free of acid rain and such from the local gas plant, and your winter feed grown under similar conditions. We do put up fences however folks, and we do live in Canada where access to those things that cattle, or shall we say Bison or Deer, used to access on their own.

I could not agree more with Cory when he talks of pushing it. I would not take a chance on non supplementing,
hormone added, feed fertilised cattle.
Taking a chance on a natural approach is enviable and I do envy those of you who have found it working on your land. Condition of the cattle and hints like retained placenta in the spring will be the first things to tell you if it is not working. If your genetics are strong enough - you may be able to even overcome things like that and get those cattle bred back and working.

And by the way Cattlemen - you should have one of the best bull sales in Western Canada if folks truley looked at your program and understood it. Natual selection is aways better than dressing up.

[cswilson]

Cattleman what breed are you involved in and where at. Randy I just sent ten Brangus heifers over to one of your Galloway bulls up here-should be interesting I'm thinking.

[ProFarmer]

i went with a custom mineral and advice from coop feeds in brandon. They formulated things wrong and i had 8 beef cows go down with milk fever before calving. Their feed rep said to feed more calcium still more cows went down . I took my feed samples to another feed rep recommended extra magnesium oxide plus told me i killing my cows with feeding too much mineral. Cows improved over night on the new mineral. their stools tightened up as they were so loose all winter form the over feeding of mineral.I wouldn't recommend them to any body. Also their garrentee on their bag is totally bogas.

[victoire]

check www.bovineengineering.com Gearald Fry under mineral nutrition We are using a mineral mix that is basically a fortified salt mix with added essentials very reasonable price @ Greenbelt mill Wainwright Alta 780-842-9150 Mark Rajotte

[DiamondSCattleCo]

I've been watching this thread for a bit, and have a couple points to ponder.

First, for those who don't supplement mineral at all: Cattle, whether they be British or exotic are not native to Canada. These animals have evolved over thousands of years, _in their native habitats_, to be able to live and pro-create. While rancher selection of breeding stock will certainly speed up the process in which an animals physiology evolves to make it healthy in a different environment, we certainly haven't gotten to that point yet. I'd argue that once a cow was to the point where he/she would be completely healthy on Northern Canadian grasses with no supplementation, he/she would be a completely new species.

Second, human beings have evolved along side of the other animals in this world, and our bodies ask for certain minerals to survive and thrive. With our incisors, its obvious that we were intended by mother nature to be meat eaters, and as such, derive our nutrition primarily from meat. So if we start raising beef animals that aren't getting the necessary nutrients to be at peak condition, don't you think that will be reflected in the meat at butcher time? You get what you put in.

With the above in mind, I don't do much around here for supplementation. I've had my feed analyzed for nutrient levels, and have bought a free choice loose mineral that has the necessary nutrients in it to make up where my feed lacks. While my cows have proven they can make it with no supplementation (I tried it a couple years ago), I don't believe the meat I'm growing in this fashion is the healthiest it can be for my family, or the families of my customers.

Rod

[Cattleman]

Thanks for the comments Cory and Randy, its all about pursuing the marketing, and I had leased out some cows for a few years but I have them all back now, so only a couple of last pick bulls left. Cory, we are south of PA about 50km.

Interesting comments Diamond, I have not really thought of it that way, but do you have any info of how the mineral programs transfer to the meat? I know it is supposed to help the health of the animal, but not sure if goes beyond organs, etc. Do you test the meat? Another interesting thought is that we are all talking about feed testing for the animals, anyone test the feed they grow and eat themselves? We sure don't, sort of ironic isn't it!