Dropping blue salt blocks off the tailgate of a truck may make a satisfying sound, but that alone won’t satisfy cattle’s mineral needs.
Cattle need and crave salt. When it is mixed with other valuable, but less palatable minerals, the salt ensures cattle take in other needed minerals as well.
But when cattle are offered less desirable minerals free choice, they lick the salt and avoid calcium, manganese and selenium.
Free-choice supplements may need salt, protein or other incentives to ensure use.
Animal agrologist Tracy Evans of Saskatchewan Agriculture in Tisdale, Sask., said it is a misconception that cattle only need the blue blocks while dining on fresh pasture.
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“Pasture may provide adequate (vitamins) A, D and E. But it is often short of micro and macro nutrients.”
An animal’s mineral deficiency shows up as fertility problems or a reduction in body conditioning while the cattle are on what otherwise appears to be good pasture.
Animal nutrition needs also change throughout the year. Cows that are calving on pasture in June need more calcium than they do later in the season to accommodate the growing calf lactation.
“Calcium is crucial at calving. Phosphorus needs grow during the breeding season. It changes, but one thing is not to rely completely on pasture for the nutrients,” she said.
A variety of mineral supplements are available, but in general they fall into three categories: 2:1 mineral high calcium, low phosphorus; 1:1 mineral with equal amounts of phosphorus and calcium; and 1:2 low calcium, high phosphorus.
On pasture, 1:1 is the most commonly required balance, while 1:2 is needed to balance high legume diets, and 2:1 is used mainly in winter to fix high grain or straw rations.
Bart Lardner of the Western Beef Development Centre at the University of Saskatchewan said producers should keep in mind the shift in diet for cow-calf pairs from winter rations to summer pasture.
At the centre’s Termuende research farm near Lanigan, Sask., Lardner and his team use the blue blocks, but provide a mineral supplement in a feeder along with the salt, sodium, cobalt and iodine contained in the traditional blocks.
“We check those feeders every couple of days to make sure (the cattle) are using the minerals and to make sure they haven’t run out,” he said.
Use of minerals can surge based on a sudden move from stored feed to green pasture or changes in pasture condition. Evans said these changes usually iron themselves out “over a couple of weeks.”
Water problems should also be taken into account. If the water is high in sulfates these may block the absorption of other minerals. While chelated mineral supplements can be used to overcome this problem they are more costly than the inorganic forms, so water tests should be done to ensure the actual need.
Adding salt, protein or sweeteners to ensure animals eat from free-choice feeders should be monitored to ensure that overconsumption is not taking place.
“Between one and two ounces a day per head is ideal…. If you can keep those costs to five cents (per head per) day, it makes it affordable,” she said.
“Producers should choose a cost effective supplement. You don’t want to pay for what you don’t need, but a basic supplement is generally required,” she said.
Lardner agreed and added that the value of the minerals should never be underestimated.
“There are a lot of additional, older cows out there this season that would have been culled last year. That is adding costs to producers. Prices have been down. All in all a tough year to make ends meet. But saving on minerals is probably not the place to start cutting,” he said.
Lardner said older cows tend to have greater fertility problems and can benefit from a good mineral balance when it comes time to cycle and rebreed in the fall.
“It doesn’t take too many cows without live calves next spring to pay for that additional supplement of micro or macro (nutrients),” he said.
“As producers, they can’t fix the cattle markets or get the border open…. Marketing and politics may be beyond their control, but what they can do is manage their production as effectively as possible.”
