Enhanced Nutrition Means Healthier Cattle
Keeping your cattle on a higher nutritional plane can pay big dividends in helping them not only reach their production potential but also reduce treatment costs for disease.
Experts agree that good nutrition directly relates to optimum cattle health. “Getting your cattle started right will pay tremendous dividends when it comes time to market,” says Paul Kropp, Beef Business Manager for Diamond V® Mills, which produces and markets Diamond V Yeast Culture.
Diamond V Yeast Culture is used in many Land O’ Lakes Feed beef cattle products. It offers improved palatability and feed intake and enhances rumen fermentation, including improved fiber digestion.
Nutrition and immunity
“When you have an animals on a sound nutritional plane, eating well and the rumen functioning correctly, generally they are going to perform well with morbidity and mortality minimized,” Kropp says.
“While minerals and vitamins are required in very small amounts, they really are critical players for actual immune function in beef cattle,” says Connie Larson, PhD, a research nutritionist for Zinpro Corporation. Zinpro manufactures and markets Availa® 4, which provides the organic forms of essential organic trace minerals: zinc, copper, manganese and cobalt. Availa4 is included in many Land O’ Lakes Feed beef cattle products.
Immunology is a very complex system that reacts in different ways, Dr. Larson explains. Minerals such as zinc and copper become key players in an animal’s immune response, she says.
Poor immunity in calves, for example, can lead to scours that result in calf dehydration, electrolyte imbalances and possibly death. Scours often is the most costly disease that calf producers battle.
Relationship to vaccination
Dr. Larson says that a deficiency of trace minerals in the diet can have a direct, negative affect on the immune system and impact the effectiveness of vaccines.
“If the diet is trace-mineral deficient, cattle may not get the full protection needed from vaccines because the deficiency is preventing the full level of antibody production,” says Dr. Larson. “A vaccination program is only as good as the nutrition program that precedes it when managing calf health.”
Trace mineral nutrition is extremely important in cow-calf production management, according to Dr. Larson. “One of the most important things for cow-calf producers is to make sure they have a good trace mineral program for their cows.”
A critical time for maximizing profits occurs approximately 60 to 80 days prior to calving through 60 to 80 days after calving, explains Dr. Larson. This 120- to 160-day period includes the final trimester of gestation, calving, peak lactation and breeding season.
A good year-round herd nutrition program, including supplementing essential trace minerals and vitamins, can provide returns in improved growth, ovulation and better conception rates in heifers. It can also create tighter calving intervals and improved conception rates in cows, according to Dr. Larson. Breeding bulls also benefit by earlier puberty, enhanced semen quality and improved foot health.
Lower medicine costs
Good cow nutrition also helps calves start out healthier and reach heavier weaning weights quicker, she says. These healthier calves mean fewer treatments, lower medicine costs and a better end product for consumers, says Dr. Larson.
Improving trace mineral status in cattle diets can also help sick cattle respond better to treatment. “You see a better response to treatment because the immune system has been improved,” Dr. Larson says.
Dr. Larson acknowledges that cattle can survive on forage alone without mineral and vitamin supplementation. “But their rate of production or reproduction will be greatly diminished.”
Land O’ Lakes offers many mineral options that can be tailored to fit your beef cattle production system’s needs. For more information on mineral nutrition and its impact on health and productivity, contact your Land O’ Lakes nutrition professional.