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Cattle can benefit from inject-able trace minerals

A veterinarian says managing mineral supplements for cattle can make a big difference in a producers’ bottom line.  Dr. Brad DeGroot, who spoke at World Beef Expo in Milwaukee, says copper, zinc, manganese, and selenium are some of the key minerals that make beef.  He says, “Without these trace minerals, then the tools, the enzymes that cattle use to work on those macro-nutrients, don’t get it handled as efficiently, and cattle can wind up either becoming sick as a result or not reproduce as efficiently.”

DeGroot has worked extensively with an inject-able trace mineral supplement, which he says stays with the animal better by bypassing the digestive tract.  “It’s absorbed from the injection site, mostly in about a day, and whatever doesn’t get used in the peripheral tissues in that first day then gets incorporated into the liver.  Copper and selenium get incorporated into the liver.  Manganese and zinc have other storage organs.”

DeGroot tells Brownfield antagonistic minerals like iron and sulfate can block copper and selenium in the digestive tract. “High sulfate inhibits both copper and selenium absorption, so even if there’s adequate copper and selenium in the diet, then the high sulfate levels prevent that from being absorbed.

He says it’s also wise to analyze feed and water samples to know what’s going into the cows.  He cited an Ohio farmer’s example of high phosphate water, which led to low gain rates, poor reproductive performance, and even death.

Dr. Brad DeGroot is a Wyoming veterinarian who now works with the developers of an inject-able mineral supplement called Multimin 90.