Mixing minerals on pre calfers

WexTK

Hi all,

our vet recommended we give our precalvers this Sea Quim seaweed based mineral to dairy herd this winter at the feedfront.... I was thinking of keeping our usual Glanbia Superchoice mineral licks in the shed over the winter too...

Just wondering (regardless of the cost!), can access to too much precalver mineral be a bad thing for dairy cows?

Richk2012

WexTK wrote: »

Hi all,

our vet recommended we give our precalvers this Sea Quim seaweed based mineral to dairy herd this winter at the feedfront.... I was thinking of keeping our usual Glanbia Superchoice mineral licks in the shed over the winter too...

Just wondering (regardless of the cost!), can access to too much precalver mineral be a bad thing for dairy cows?

A good few lads do wat your thinkikg of doing .

If your feeding mineral powder on silage , the more timid cows might not get in on time to receive an adequate amount so access to mineral mineral blocks as well solves this problem ..

Never heard of over consumption however anyone I know know uses a sodium based block rather than mollassed ones .
They only take it when they need it rather than going for the sweet mollases regularly

delaval

We feed minerals ad-lib to dry cows. We feed in regular troughs and find that when its calculated on a per cow basis they consume no more than if measured daily.

We don't feed on Sundays and if trough is empty on Monday they will mow it hard and settle back to normal again.

I'd say what your doing will cause no problems

whelan1

had a lad working for me, instead of a bag of dry cow minerals lasting a week he was giving them a bag a day:eek: vet said not to give them minerals for a few days, one or 2 of the calves where a bit queer when born but i couldnt definitely put it down to the minerals, after that i used the calsea precalver blocks which worked well

jersey101

Havent given dry cow minerals in the form of blocks or powders here in a good few years. We put it all in the water. Never have any trouble with tetany or milk fever. We put trace elements in every 2 -3 weeks and phosphorous the other 2-3 weeks. We use it all uyear round due to p deficiency.

Richk2012

whelan1 wrote: »

had a lad working for me, instead of a bag of dry cow minerals lasting a week he was giving them a bag a day:eek: vet said not to give them minerals for a few days, one or 2 of the calves where a bit queer when born but i couldnt definitely put it down to the minerals, after that i used the calsea precalver blocks which worked well

I use those calsea blocks too.
As a matter of interest what are you paying for them ????

And do you find they turn to mush and become unpalatable if you give them in the field and it rains heavy

whelan1

Richk2012 wrote: »

I use those calsea blocks too.
As a matter of interest what are you paying for them ????

And do you find they turn to mush and become unpalatable if you give them in the field and it rains heavy

i am buying them through glanbia. will check what they cost... i dont use them in the field use mineral buckets outside.. have a holder on the wall for the calsea blocks

dungfly

Does anyone give multivitamin and minerals to calves all year round in the drinking water?

whelan1

dungfly wrote: »

Does anyone give multivitamin and minerals to calves all year round in the drinking water?

i dont, the odd calf might get a shot of multivitamin but thats it

visatorro

Started giving all in calf animals a mineral bolus at drying off. No mineral or meal once bcs is ok. Any opinions

mahoney_j

dungfly wrote: »

Does anyone give multivitamin and minerals to calves all year round in the drinking water?

Nope but all calves get a all sure calf bolus in May and fr heifers get it again at housing.deficent in copper here and also iodine in a big way so needs must.works very well and great shine off calves

mahoney_j

dungfly wrote: »

Does anyone give multivitamin and minerals to calves all year round in the drinking water?

Nope but all calves get a all sure calf bolus in May and fr heifers get it again at housing.deficent in copper here and also iodine in a big way so needs must.works very well and great shine off calves

delaval

mahoney_j wrote: »

Nope but all calves get a all sure calf bolus in May and fr heifers get it again at housing.deficent in copper here and also iodine in a big way so needs must.works very well and great shine off calves

If you didn't have specific deficiencies would there be a benefit? I have often wondered would they add something here. The only people I've spoken to are reps so no solid info

visatorro

delaval wrote: »

If you didn't have specific deficiencies would there be a benefit? I have often wondered would they add something here. The only people I've spoken to are reps so no solid info

Licks are a waste of time. Not that dusting minerals is hard work but at least they all have mineral in them now.

delaval

visatorro wrote: »

Licks are a waste of time. Not that dusting minerals is hard work but at least they all have mineral in them now.

No, I was enquiring specifically about all sure bonus

mahoney_j

delaval wrote: »

If you didn't have specific deficiencies would there be a benefit? I have often wondered would they add something here. The only people I've spoken to are reps so no solid info

Personally I think they would.minersls like selenium ,cobalt and copper are very important in a dairy ainmAl.i find they work well for me.im looking into the mineral dispensing system that terra are offering at the moment for the cows.its computer controlled and dispenses minerals daily through water for the cows

visatorro

It was all trace bolus 's I used. Dearer than all sure, 7 euro for all trace 5 for all sure. All trace have more elements but according to teagasc the extra elements dont get taken in by the animal because it's such a small amounts. I dunno was only two euro a beast extra so....