SBW Fall 2021 Sect. I
8/24/21
9:23 AM
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Photographed at Smith Genetics by Hannah Wine.
Tips For Managing Free Choice Mineral Intake By Mary Drewnoski Free choice mineral mixes are commonly used to provide the mineral that grazing cattle need. However, ensuring that cattle are getting enough mineral without overconsuming can be a struggle. Being on either side of the spectrum can be costly either in reduced performance due to deficiency or in increased feed cost due to over consumption. An extra 1 oz per cow per day can cost $4 to $8 per cow per year. If your mineral mix is designed to meet the cows needs at 4 oz. per day, intake above this only adds unnecessary cost. In most situations cattle intake of free choice mineral is driven by their desire for salt. Although there may be other ingredients that are added to improve intake such as molasses or even distillers. Cattle do not have nutritional wisdom and do not vary their intake of mineral based on their need for minerals in the mix. Because salt is usually one of the key drivers of intake, you will observe variation in intake throughout the year as the cows’ desire for salt change. Therefore, salt can be used as a weapon to control intake. In most situations, adding some salt to a mineral mix will cause cattle to eat it. This along with the fact that forage is deficient in sodium is why all free choice minerals have salt in them. You may also notice that mixes with smaller target PAGE 6
Fall, 2021 • SIMBRAH World
intakes usually have more salt than those with greater target intakes, i.e., 2 oz. vs. 4 oz. targets. As you start increasing the salt, you can cause them to start decreasing their intake because they get their salt “fix” with less intake. So, if cattle are eating above your target intake, mixing in more salt at home can help reduce intake of the mix. Relatively speaking, salt is cheap and can be a very cost-effective way to manage mineral intake. If you do add extra salt at home, do not include this salt in your calculation for reaching the target intake of the mineral mix as it is diluting the mix. The goal is to make sure cows reach the target intake of actual mineral. For instance, if the target is 4 oz. per hd (0.25 lb. per hd) of a mineral mix, then for 100 cows you are looking for them to consume 25 lbs. of the mineral mix per day or half a 50 lb. bag. If you add 10 lbs. of salt to a 50 lb. bag of mineral, you actually want them to consume 30 lbs. total per day to get their target intake of the actual mineral mix. The easy way to ensure you are reaching your goal is to track the amount of mineral mix you feed separate from the amount of salt you add. Then you don’t have to do extra math. Although, it is still a good idea to record the amount of salt that is being added so that the amount can be
