Recently, a friend asked me ‘when is the best time to supplement?’ What a great question for any cattleman or woman to ask! The academically correct answer would probably be: anytime that a nutrient is below the needs of the livestock in question. This is because once any single nutrient becomes deficient, the animal will only grow or milk up to the point where that nutrient is needed. A common example of that phenomenon is protein. When forage matures and protein goes below the needs of the animal, the animal will stop growing and may even lose weight. We see this when cows and calves or yearlings graze mature range or stubble fields. The cows may maintain weight, but calves and yearlings will barely maintain their weight. I remember betting a friend years ago that his calves would weigh the same in December as they
did on the first of October. These really good calves were brought from the mountain range to his ranch and cows and calves were turned out on his grain stubble. When he weighed his calves Dec. 15th they weighed slightly less than they did on October 1st. His daily cost was sure low enough, but the plus side of the ledger didn’t improve a bit.

The nutrient deficiency could also be caused by interference of one mineral by another. An example of interference would be having forage with an iron content of 1000 ppm while copper is 10 ppm. Normally, that would be enough copper in the diet, however, that amount of iron ties up the copper and creates a copper deficiency. Just to complete this particular scenario, sulfur and molybdenum also interfere with copper. If you suspect a copper problem in your herd, be certain that your forage analysis includes iron, sulfur, and molybdenum, not just copper alone. Water may also have high levels of minerals such as iron, which could add to the problem. Of course the only way you know whether a nutrient is deficient or present in excess is by taking a sample and having it tested at a feed lab.

The best time to supplement a cowherd is from 60 days prior to calving continuing on until breeding is completed. An ad for an equine supplement called providing a supplement before foaling as “filling the fetal bank for the developing embryo”. That’s an excellent way to describe what it does for a cow also. If you can’t stand to buy supplement year-round at least buy it during that period. Supplement is a general term that describes a large group of feeds. There are protein supplements: alfalfa hay, canola meal, granular protein, protein tubs, protein blocks, liquid protein supplements, protein pellets, and range cubes to mention a few. Protein supplements cost in the range of $.15 to $.35 per head daily. There are energy supplements: grain, grain by-products, products with high levels of fat, soybean hulls, and beet pulp. Cost of these supplements may range from $.15 to $.30 per head daily.
There are salt supplements: iodized salt, sulfur salt, cobalt salt, trace mineral salt, trace mineral with selenium salt, and plain white salt. Salt comes in block form, loose fine ground, coarse ground, rock grind, hay and stock grind, and natural salt clumps.

Cost of these supplements range from $.01 to $.03 daily. There are mineral supplements: 12-12 refers to the percent of calcium and phosphorus. This can be in a loose form, block, tub, liquid, pellet or cube. 6-12 is a low calcium high phosphorus mineral. 12-6 would be a product that has high calcium and moderate phosphorus. Some minerals contain high levels of magnesium in addition to calcium and phosphorus. An example of one of these would be a 6-6-12. This has moderate calcium and phosphorus and a high level of magnesium. Cost of these supplements range from $.03 to $.10 daily. The vitamin supplements are not normally provided alone. You may find a Vitamin A supplement, or a vitamin A,D, and E product, but most are added to the protein or mineral supplements. The vitamin supplements that do exist are in a loose form that can be mixed into another supplement, rather than fed alone. The instructions may advise you to mix 5 lbs/bag of mineral that is to be fed at the rate of 4 oz/head/day or something along that line. Cost of these supplements adds about $.01 to $.05 per head daily. There are also supplements in any of the above categories that are MEDICATED
or have some feed additive. Examples of MEDICATED products might be Altosid to kill the larvae of horn flies. Amprol, to control or treat coccidiosis. Bloat-guard to prevent bloat. Bovatec, to improve feed efficiency and rate of gain. Chlortetracycline for growth promotion, treatment of pneumonia, and calf diarrhea. Deccox to prevent coccidiosis. Gain-Pro to improve feed efficiency and rate of gain. MGA to suppress heat in heifers. Oxytetracycline for growth promotion and treatment of pneumonia and calf diarrhea. Rumensin, to improve feed efficiency and rate of gain. Safe-Guard to kill internal parasites. The other group of additives might be things such as yeast, enzymes, and probiotics to stimulate digestion of forages. Sodium bicarbonate is added to buffer the paunch against acidity. The cost range for these supplements is so wide that it is misleading to report. It depends on the product, the time used, whether it is prevention or treatment, and weight of the animals.

You can see that there are a tremendous variety of products available. The trick is to match them to your needs...and the way to do that is by forage testing! Don’t trust your ability to guesstimate quality by looks and smell. I’ve found some pretty first cutting around the Columbia Basin this year that didn’t test anywhere near what we guessed it would.

I believe that yearlings should have some kind of supplement from the day they are weaned until the day that they leave your care. It may only be trace mineral salt with selenium. You may attempt to allow them to graze your best feed or feed them your best hay, but if a nutrient is missing they won’t get as much out of the feed as they could. .

When I said that the period before calving until breeding is finished is the most important time to supplement the cowherd, that wasn’t intended to mean that supplement wouldn’t be beneficial the rest of the year. The problem is that it’s really hard to measure any kind of response.

To determine the best time of the year to supplement depends on your herd, the amount and quality of the forage that you have available, your ability to get the supplement to the animals, the desired weight, or body condition and the cost. If one of those factors is left out, performance and profit can be put in jeopardy.

Michael J. Mehren Ph.D. is a livestock nutritionist who always has time for a chocolate supplement in Hermiston, Oregon. He may be reached at: mehrens@eotnet.net.

 

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