With housing fast-approaching, farmers should consider the trace element needs of their cattle to maintain their health and condition over winter.
Having the correct trace element status in your cattle is critical to optimise health through pregnancy and foetus development. Trace elements are also key in helping optimise fertility and conception rates.
Particularly at housing, when cattle move from a fresh grass-based diet to a forage-based diet, cattle could be lacking in the appropriate levels of trace elements. Forage can contain less than half the quantity of trace elements, compared to grass. According to AHDB data for a feed intake of 10 kg DM cattle, grass contains 1.5 mg of iodine, 1 mg of cobalt and 0.7 mg of selenium, as opposed to hay that contains only 0.8 mg, 0.5 mg and 0.3 mg respectively:
The recent wet summer will have significantly affected the quality of the grass as increased rainfall will have led to the leaching of trace elements from the soil. This subsequently will have affected the quality of the conserved forage.
With the correct amount of trace element nutrition delivered through a bolus, such as Essential Cattle, farmers can ensure that the correct balance is achieved, and the health and condition of their cattle plus offspring is maintained.
Find out how Essential Cattle boluses can help to maintain cattle condition through winter by contacting your local territory manager.