Feed & Nutrition

The “corner post” of any cow nutrition program should be a year-round mineral program. Every rancher knows that to build a good fence, you must have a good corner post. In the same way, building a sound beef cow nutrition program starts with a sound mineral program.

Calving season is upon us, and most of our time is being spent in the barn cleaning pens and checking cows, possibly leaving time to run coveralls through the washing machine once a week.

Representing the future of the cow herd, replacement heifers must be managed with the end in mind – that is to maintain an efficient, productive cow-calf operation.

How good is the mineral supplementation program for your ranch? Are there financial benefits that can be gained with a good mineral program? Will an off-the-shelf mineral product satisfy the nutritional demands of your cow herd?

Just like a business that’s only as good as the people and business plan behind it, the same goes for feed formulations and a person’s ability to deliver it to the bunk.

The problem has lots of names: grain overload, founder, laminitis, acute indigestion, acidosis. Some people expand that last term to “rumen acidosis” or “lactic acid acidosis.”