Last week, I touched on mineral supplementation for the pre-calving cow.
A quality dry cow mineral is a very important element of a successful dry cow nutrition in preparation for the next lactation. Look at the quality of the mineral, rather than buying it on price alone.
This applies to both suckler and dairy production systems.
Which minerals does your herd need?
If you have gone to the trouble of getting a mineral analysis for your silage, then get help to match the correct mineral so that any deficits in your silages are filled. Dry cow minerals should always have a high magnesium level and organic/protected trace elements to optimize mineral availability.
It is also important that sufficient vitamin E is fed to promote the cow’s immune response around calving. Phosphorous also needs to be supplied in sufficient volume to ensure good saliva production for thorough digestion and rumen buffering.
Many suckler herds now use a bolus in the Dry period as their means of mineral supplementation and this has proved to work very well on many farms. However, I would certainly not favour this as the sole method of mineral supplementation in a dairy herd.
By all means, use a bolus as an addition if you have identified a copper, selenium, iodine or cobalt deficiency on your farm. In both suckler and dairy herds additional mineral supplementation beyond a Bolus would be a good idea this dry period.
A common trend in forage mineral results returning for 2021 silages is that silages...
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