Mineral licks and supplements for farm livestock

Cattle and sheep mineral supplements are high margin products which have been marketed very successful for many years.  Farmers buy them in much the same way as people buy vitamin pills.  You think you need them and feel they do some good, and they don't seem to do any harm.  If you stop taking them maybe you'll go down with a cold, or something worse.  So the few pence a day on the vitamin pill seems like a good investment.

Minerals are the same.  Except that the cost may be something like 10p per day per animal, which on a herd of 300 cows and beef cattle might work out at the thick end of £30 a day, £1,000 a month.   A lot of money to spend on a feed supplement which is bought on a hunch rather than on an exact analysis of need.  Yet, give the minerals up, and maybe the cows won't get back into calf as well as they have been, or the beef cattle will perform worse and convert their food less efficiently.  Or the sheep will do the same.  Calculate the costs of these effects and the mineral costs can be justified.  So minerals are widely fed.

This is why I like the Mike Sherwood DIY approach.  Buying straight ingredients like rock salt, molasses and the minerals themselves as straights removes the costs of the label on the bag, the distributors and manufacturers profit margins, marketing costs and all the other expenses which pile in to make the product expensive.  He can mix the ingredients as he thinks necessary, adding or subtracting those trace elements according to his knowledge of the land he farms.  He has no need to shell out a large amount of money on a bulk order in order to earn a discount, and that also means lower costs of storage (shed space costs something, even on a farm) and the possibility of damage in storage. 

Combining this proven DIY recipe with donations to Macmillan is a brilliant idea which Practical Farm Ideas is pleased to support.

FARMERS

Contribute £5.00 to Macmillan Cancer Appeal and they will be pleased to send you a copy of Mike's cost-cutting recipe.  Cheques (donate as much as you can) payable Macmillan Cancer Appeal should be sent to Practical Farm Ideas, PO Box 1, Whitland, Carmarthen, SA34 0BX

MEDIA

Should you have any questions, need high res pictures, require an interview with Mike Sherwood, or anything else, please email me editor@farmideas.co.uk  or call 01994 240978     Some more info on Practical Farm Ideas can be found on www.farmideas.co.uk/contact.php

Media Page for this issue, published May 8: http://www.farmideas.co.uk/custom.php?id=39

Practical Farm Ideas on mineral feeding:

Many farmers feed their stock supplementary minerals.  There are free access powders, licks, and minerals which are mixed with feed.  Farmers feed minerals because they are generally advised to.  Reasons are one or more of the following:
a.  they see their stock licking the ground, drinking dirty water and urine, eating earth, all activities which the stockman sees as a sign of deficiency
b.  modern day forage is grown with fertiliser and so contains less minerals than that which isn't 'forced'.
c.  vets attribute commonly found diseases and conditions on mineral deficiencies.  Pregnancy toxaemia (hypoglycaemia) occurs due to a lack of dietary energy in heavily pregnant ewes. This causes the animal to mobilise body reserves too quickly, causing a build-up in ketones that causes damage to the brain and nervous system.
Milk fever (hypocalcaemia) is the manifestation of low blood-calcium levels, but this is often not the result of a diet low in calcium. Many interactions occur between mineral elements in the metabolism of animals, and the most obvious solution is often not appropriate. Hypocalcaemia is often related to intake of high-oxalate plants, but may also be related to grass tetany and low magnesium levels.
Hypomagnesaemia (grass staggers)  Occurs due to a low level of magnesium in the blood. Cows don’t have large reserves of magnesium in the body and only a small proportion of magnesium in the diet is absorbed from the gut.  The risk is highest early in the grazing season and sometimes in the autumn. Magnesium is less available in young lush grass, especially if rich in nitrogen or potash.  The adverse effects of any magnesium deficiency can be accentuated by stress such as oestrus, high milk yield, excitement or adverse weather.  First signs of a problem may include nervousness as well as the characteristic staggering gait. The onset can often be so quick that a sudden death is the first symptom seen.
Acidosis   The optimum rumen pH is around 6.4 - 6.5. The digestion of feeds produces a variety of acids which lower rumen pH and many feeds we offer are acidic themselves, particularly silage at a pH around 4.0.  Feeding high levels of starch or sugars that are rapidly digested in the rumen can reduce the pH below the level where the rumen flora are most active. This slows down forage digestion and feed intake is reduced. In severe cases, cows go off their feed completely and milk yields plummet.  Some feeds do not release acid to the same extent when digested (unmolassed beet pulp), whilst others (caustic treated wheat and caustic treated straw) are clearly alkaline. Cows can buffer rumen acidity (via saliva) but when they fail acidosis is likely. Forages stimulate saliva production to a greater extent that straights / concentrates, but adequate water and salt are required. 
Encourage cows to maximize saliva production by providing rock salt or proprietary salt licks, together with adequate water.

Minerals are expensive, and many are provided on a free access basis.  The unappetising taste of many minerals means products are spiced, with molasses, salt, and other ingredients, so stock take to them. 

ends