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Supplementation programs for beef cattle:

Matt Poore

When your first start thinking about this subject it is important to define what you are talking about. In general the word “supplementation” as applied to beef cattle in forage-based programs refers to providing feed separate from the forage to produce a desirable performance response. These “supplements” may be providing minerals, energy, protein, or any combination of the three. You could also include vitamins in that list, but it is so rarely that we have a vitamin deficiency in our forages in the Carolinas, I will leave that one out for this discussion.

The broad concept of supplementation needs to be further defined because we often have very different strategies and forage scenarios depending on the season and the farm in question. In an ideal situation forage alone with no supplements would be used. This sometimes is possible, but in most situations cattle will at least need a mineral supplement. Unfortunately, we rarely in the ideal situation and sometimes will have forages that are low in protein, energy, or both. We might also be in a situation where we just simply have inadequate amounts of forage and need to use supplements because they are the cheapest source of nutrients available. Last year’s drought is a good example of that kind of situation.

In general, we need to be providing a supplement based on either a known deficiency determined by a forage analysis, or a generally understood limitation in forage nutrients known to be present across the region. The need for supplementation is also related to the level of animal requirements for a nutrient. For example, without a forage analysis I can tell you that first cutting fescue hay cut before the first of June probably will be more than adequate in both protein and energy for a dry beef cow. However, the same hay may or may not be adequate in protein and/or energy for a lactating cow. Because of that, you need to know both the estimated nutrient value of the base forage and the nutritional requirements of the animals in question to make a good supplementation decision.

Mineral supplements. In this first article I will update you on mineral supplements. I have written many articles on mineral supplements and will follow up with more on that later, but right now we are getting a lot of questions about minerals because of increased prices. Just a few years ago you could get a good quality custom mixed high magnesium mineral with 4% phosphorus that worked very well for about $7 per 50 lb bag. The same supplement today will cost you about $18 per bag! With a $7/bag price, it was possible just to provide that mineral year-round for about $10 per cow per year (assuming average intake of 3 oz/day).

Given today’s ingredient costs, especially for phosphorus, it makes sense to rethink those formulas. Recent decreases in phosphorus prices will help moderate the prices some, but it is unlikely that prices will decline enough to change our new thoughts on mineral phosphorus levels. Most of the state has plenty of phosphorus in the soils and the forages, so phosphorus can likely be removed from our cattle minerals with little if any impact on performance on any farm. We also need to reconsider giving high-magnesium mineral year-round in all systems. Systems with high fertility (poultry litter application) still need that high-magnesium year-round, but many of our producers could use the high-mag from about 2 weeks before the start of the calving season until the end of May, and use a good quality trace mineralized salt during the rest of the year.

One of the keys to selecting a mineral supplement is to make sure it has adequate trace mineral levels. Copper, zinc and selenium are low or marginal in many of our forages in the Carolinas so it makes sense to provide them at a good level in all supplements. Our general recommendation for major and trace minerals are in the following table.

Mineral levels needed in trace mineralized salt (1 oz.day) , regular (2 oz/day),

or high magnesium (4 oz/day) mineral supplements

Mineral	Trace Mineralized Salt, 1 oz/day	Regular, 2 oz/day	High-mag, 4 oz/day
Calcium, %	-	12-24	6-12
Phosphorus, %	-	0-12	0-6
Magnesium, %	-	0-4	10-14
Salt, %	90-95	15-30	15-30
Zinc, ppm	10000	5000	2500
Copper, ppm^1	5000	2500	1300
Manganese, ppm	3000	1300	700
Iodine, ppm	104	52	26
Selenium, ppm	104	52	26
Cobalt, ppm	72	36	18
Vitamin A, IU/lb	400,000	200,000	100,000
Vitamin D, IU/lb	48,000	24,000	12,000
Vitamin E, IU/lb	600	300	150

¹Copper can be 900 ppm in 4 oz minerals and 1800 ppm in 2 oz minerals, and zinc can be 1800 ppm in 4 oz minerals and 3600 ppm in 2 oz minerals when cattle are predominantly of British breeding and minerals interfering with copper absorption are expected to be low.

There are a number of mineral supplements available that deliver an ionophore, either Rumensin or Bovatec. This is an important technology we need to consider using, and either product would be profitable in most situations. Bovatec is not approved for beef cows, but Rumensin is, while both are approved for growing cattle. Based on current feed prices and the increased efficiency and performance you get with ionophores, their use is something that is easily recommended to a majority of producers. Ionophores are toxic to horses, so producers that have horses grazing with the cattle, or where they might get access to the mineral supplement would be an area where the producer might not want to have an ionophore product on the farm.

Once you have decided which supplement or supplements you will use, there still is a lot of management involved in having a good mineral program. Most products need to be fed from a covered feeder and while there are many on the market there most have one or more limitations. My favorite is one made from a large tire and barrel (see photo). I have put a video on You Tube showing how to make one of those feeders. Either go to this specific link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlnDfWWeJd8 or just go onto www.youtube.com and search for mineral feeder and you can watch that short video.

Another very important thing you need to do is to monitor mineral intake. Most products are targeting 4 oz of intake for high-mag products and 2 oz of daily intake for low magnesium products. That essentially means 2 lb/cow (for 4 oz) weekly, or 50 lb for a herd of 25 cows. Make it a habit of writing down when you put out a bag and see if you are near the target intake. There are considerable differences in intake from farm to farm and from season to season, so monitoring intake and doing something to increase or decrease it as needed is very important to a successful program.

Take the time to reevaluate your mineral program. Our livestock agents have had training on this particular topic and are well equipped to help you evaluate various products you have available to you and to help you put into place a more efficient mineral program. Next time I will follow up with a discussion of supplementing the cow herd with protein and energy.

A practical homemade mineral feeder.