What works best bolus or dry mineral powder on silage

cacs

What do you think works best. Bolus like cosecure or dry mineral powder on silage for weanlings and dry cows and calfed cows. I live in high iron soil so I know copper is an issue. I have been injecting copper in small amounts bolusing with cosecure and feeding minerals on silage and a few lick buckets. To the cows and dry cows. I found the dry mineral a bit of a pane as I forgot to apply it to the silage more days than I thought Of it. Licks are expensive and do they all get it. The bolus are great one treatment and your done but I feel they are missing regular micro nutrients that dry powder mixes have. What are your thoughts

Grueller

cacs wrote: »

What do you think works best. Bolus like cosecure or dry mineral powder on silage for weanlings and dry cows and calfed cows. I live in high iron soil so I know copper is an issue. I have been injecting copper in small amounts bolusing with cosecure and feeding minerals on silage and a few lick buckets. To the cows and dry cows. I found the dry mineral a bit of a pane as I forgot to apply it to the silage more days than I thought Of it. Licks are expensive and do they all get it. The bolus are great one treatment and your done but I feel they are missing regular micro nutrients that dry powder mixes have. What are your thoughts

Bolus all the way. First change I made here when I took over from the boss. No more sprinkling fairy dust bought from snake oil salesmen.

cacs

Grueller wrote: »

Bolus all the way. First change I made here when I took over from the boss. No more sprinkling fairy dust bought from snake oil salesmen.

What one do you use

50HX

If you have the time make troughs from ridgi pipes cut in half
Sprinkle powder mineral on trough....cattle lick clean
Move troughs & feed

That's they way i feed pre calver mineral

Cheapest way out of it

Can't get my head around a bolus lasting as long they claim to last

alps

50HX wrote: »

If you have the time make troughs from ridgi pipes cut in half
Sprinkle powder mineral on trough....cattle lick clean
Move troughs & feed

That's they way i feed pre calver mineral

Cheaopest way out of it

Can't get my head around a bolus lasting as long they claim to last

I'd be a bit concerned about those pipes on the ground being a TB risk...Don't like anything down low that wildlife will be sniffing and pissing on..

They are a very handy for moving around etc..

Mooooo

Bolus can be grand for some stock but not all precalver minerals are in them as they need to be taken every day. Handiest way is to leave the bag of minerals nearby or in the feeding passage so everytime your in the shed you can just throw it out. If feeding meal you can get the minerals in it for in calf cows but may not be practical

jntsnk

Yes same issue with minerals on silage and was concerned of what was limited in a bolus until I started using these bolus from Agrimin. They have a dry cow bolus also.
You need to purchase their gun as it’s two bolus per animal.

P.J. McGRATH
Republic of Ireland Sales Manager
t: +353 (0)86 836 7778
e: pjmcgrath@agrimin.com

_Brian

We like bolus.
Get good results.

Bit of work administering but not too bad.

Hard Knocks

jntsnk wrote: »

Yes same issue with minerals on silage and was concerned of what was limited in a bolus until I started using these bolus from Agrimin. They have a dry cow bolus also.
You need to purchase their gun as it’s two bolus per animal.

P.J. McGRATH
Republic of Ireland Sales Manager
t: +353 (0)86 836 7778
e: pjmcgrath@agrimin.com

How often do you give the bolus?
Yearly or every 6 months?

Bass Reeves

It's dry stock I have. Making statements like bagged minerals are snake oil is just ludicrous. I know most minerals now include calcium and salt often as fillers so it makes it easier to apply them. Both are required by cattle in large amounts anyway. I never find an issue with remembering to feed them. They are in a wheelie bin with in the central passage or just outside the door. It's a 5 minute job once a day to apply on top of silage or on ground at back of pen.

Doing boluses is a two man job along with the necessity to catch every animal.in head crush. If a bullocks head is too big or small you have to adjust the head gate. It's 4-5 minutes per animal. I feed extra calcium as well and if I can get salt I feed extra of that as well.

jntsnk

Hard Knocks wrote: »

How often do you give the bolus?
Yearly or every 6 months?

6 months

Gillespy

If I wasn't using a feeder I would probably go with the bolus. Loose mineral thrown on the silage is hit or miss. It works no doubt about it, just is it done right and is it done every day. I know I'm guilty of skipping it in the past. Bolus is a lot of work but if coincided with dosing, it's nothing extra really.

jntsnk

It’s not a two man job. Most are done without a headlock gate.

Freejin

Nobody mentioning mineral block licks. have been using them with years and very happy with them. We are short on feed space so couldn't get all all animals to feed together, so blocks the best option.

Gillespy

jntsnk wrote: »

It’s not a two man job. Most are done without a headlock gate.

I would like to see it. You are not putting a bolus gun into a cow's mouth that easily.

GrasstoMilk

Boluses only contain trace elements
Bagged minerals contain trace elements and minerals
For dairy cows you need the phos, mag and calcium that's in the bagged minerals
We use agritechs minerals and get on very well

That being said I am going to bolus my incalf heifers this year, theyre very slow to loose there baby/winter hair after calving
Going to try a bolus to see will it sort it out

jfh

I use minerals on silage too, bolus the odd one but sucklers are difficult, even with the head scoop, some will not be bailed up no matter what you do, I use liffey Mills with added vitamin e, works out at 45 euro per bag but saw a marked difference in calf hardiness as opposed to the cheaper minerals

Donegalforever

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Boluses only contain trace elements
Bagged minerals contain trace elements and minerals
For dairy cows you need the phos, mag and calcium that's in the bagged minerals
We use agritechs minerals and get on very well

That being said I am going to bolus my incalf heifers this year, theyre very slow to loose there baby/winter hair after calving
Going to try a bolus to see will it sort it out

It is not correct that Boluses only contain Trace Elements and Minerals.
For example 2 - Agrimin All-Trace Element Boluses for Cattle contain the following:
Copper 136.5 mg
Cobalt 2.9 mg
Selenium 2.1 mg
Manganese 69.4 mg
Zinc 111.5 mg
Iodine 4.1 mg
Vitamin A 4,580 i.u.
Vitamin D3 910 i.u.
Vitamin E 9 i.u.

charolais0153

I use drenches, 6 weeks before calving and then again before bulling, fill up crush and get heads up,

Mooooo

Donegalforever wrote: »

It is not correct that Boluses only contain Trace Elements and Minerals.
For example 2 - Agrimin All-Trace Element Boluses for Cattle contain the following:
Copper 136.5 mg
Cobalt 2.9 mg
Selenium 2.1 mg
Manganese 69.4 mg
Zinc 111.5 mg
Iodine 4.1 mg
Vitamin A 4,580 i.u.
Vitamin D3 910 i.u.
Vitamin E 9 i.u.

Still short for in calf dry cows. A forage analysis would help tell you what you need

Cattlepen

I used to be throwing bags of powdered minerals into the diet feeder but began to wonder how much they were getting of it so I got brackets made up that would hold a heavy duty buckets in the pens. I used to fill them with the powdered minerals and they licked it when they wanted it and not just cause of molasses. It worked well

jfh

charolais0153 wrote: »

I use drenches, 6 weeks before calving and then again before bulling, fill up crush and get heads up,

Sucklers I presume? Fair play, was at tat craic for a few years but got a head scoop, still a few that wise up to the head scoop and won't be caught

Hard Knocks

jfh wrote: »

Sucklers I presume? Fair play, was at tat craic for a few years but got a head scoop, still a few that wise up to the head scoop and won't be caught

Did you try the cow katcher?
Wonder is it good