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Where cows are due to calve from early to mid-February, they should now be offered pre-calving minerals.
Silage diets are generally low in mineral content, as are grazing forage brassicas used for winter grazing.
Cows will need a good mineral product that is high in iodine, vitamin E and selenium, with low or zero calcium included.
A well-balanced pre-calving mineral will help to cut down problems such as lethargic cows at calving time, or animals that are slow to clean post-calving.
Good mineral supplementation will also cut down on “lazy” calves that are slow to rise and suckle their mother.
A well-balanced pre-calving mineral will help to cut down problems such as lethargic cows at calving time.
Review
Think back to previous years. How many of the outlined problems did you encounter?
Some farmers will put almost every calving problem down to a hard calving stock bull, but a lack of mineral supplementation may well have been the cause.
Options
Pre-calving minerals can be offered by dusting on top of silage, lick buckets or a bolus. All methods have their merits, so go with what works best for your system.
Feed rates should be around 150g/head on a daily basis if using a powdered mineral. There are also merits to spraying 5ml of iodine on the flank of the cow every week in run up to calving.
Cost
As with everything, you can work smart to be cost effective. Although many farmers will feed minerals to all cows throughout the housing period, the basic requirement is to offer minerals from around six to eight weeks pre-calving.
If cows are batched in groups based on expected calving date, then the introduction of minerals can be staggered.
For example, group cows in two batches starting with all animals calving in the first six weeks. The second group should have all cows in the next six weeks.
This means you only need to feed minerals to the first group now, and start feeding the second group in late January.
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