Make the Most of Your Pasture with Mineral Supplementation

     From winter through spring is a difficult transition for cows and cattle producers alike. For the cows, nutritional demands are high, and so are environmental stressors. For the cattle producer, production stresses loom large and labor inputs have increased. During this time, also, the quality of feedstuffs may be low and scarce, making mineral supplements necessary.

Forages have always provided the majority of essential nutrients to cattle. Three components are involved in how the cow is able to utilize forage: intake (selection, ingestion, and regulation), digestibility, and efficiency in converting the product to usable metabolites.

As forages mature, the concentration of nutrients changes. Crude protein concentrations decline, which can depress forage intake. Along with this comes a deficiency in the ruminal degradable nitrogen that is needed for microbe production and efficiency. This reduces digestion and passage of nutrients out of the rumen. In addition, as forages mature, cattle also find greater difficulty in breaking down fiber.

Thus, to keep the animal in optimal performance condition, more mature, lower quality forages need to be supplemented with minerals on pasture.

In addition to maturity, some other factors that can affect the quality of forage are moisture and growing temperature. As growing temperatures increase, plant growth increases and the plant produces more stems than leaves – and that’s not as favorable for digestibility.¹

Land O’Lakes Feed provides a wide variety of products for protein, vitamin and mineral supplementation of cattle on pasture or range. These products are available as meal, liquid, or pellets. Here are a few to consider:

RangeLand^® Minerals are free-choice, weather-resistant minerals designed to provide correct mineral balance to optimize animal performance as forage nutrient composition changes.

Rangeland^® Early Season mineral contains added magnesium to address grass tetany concerns during periods of lush forage growth.

Rangeland^® Fescue mineral has added vitamins and trace minerals to balance the specific nutrient deficiencies of fescue forage.

Rangeland^® Late Season mineral contains higher amounts of phosphorus to meet nutritional needs of high-producing cattle consuming low-phosphorus mature forages.

Rangeland^® Year Round mineral is designed for producers who want a very simple mineral program with a single product.

In addition, the Rangeland^® minerals in cooked molasses tubs provide the ultimate in weather resistance and predictable intakes in the most severe of climates. Rangeland^® cooked molasses tub products provide consistent, predictable intake with a wide range of products to match cow nutritional needs in almost any situation.

Rangeland^® protein tubs increase forage consumption and forage digestibility to meet cattle nutritional requirements by utilizing more forage.

Rangeland Ration Manager™ feed is a new product designed to be mixed with corn to provide controlled free-choice energy and protein supplementation. This product has demonstrated controlled, predictable intakes in creep-fed calves, developing bulls, heifers, and stocker calves on forage-based diets.

Contact a Land O’Lakes Feed dealer for more information about any of these products and how to use them effectively with your herds.

¹ “Environmental Considerations on Forage Quality,” by Daren D. Redfeam, LSUAgCenter.com