Quick and timely considerations for your mineral program.
If using a mineral form of fly control, consistent intake is key. Consider using Wind and Rain Storm Fly Control Mineral with Altosid (IGR) in either granular or tub form.
To help achieve consistent mineral intake, use enough mineral feeders for your herd size. A good rule is to use one feeder for every 20 to 30 head.
Make sure all cattle, including calves and timid cows, have equal access to feeders. Placing feeders in multiple locations helps provide all cattle the opportunity to consumer the mineral
Use water as a tool to adjust intake. If mineral intake is lower than desired, move feeders closer to water sources. If intake is higher than desired, move feeders further from the water.
As grasses start drying, antagonists can block absorption of minerals. If antagonists are a concern, consider using a mineral with Availa 4.
If you plan to use a mineral with chlortetracycline to control anaplasmosis, a VFD will be required.
See Purina® Outlast Supplement in action. Watch as Dr. Robert Jacobs, Purina PhD research equine nutritionist, demonstrates how a horse’s stomach would respond to a feeding of Outlast Supplement.
In this short experiment, Purina® Outlast Supplement raises the pH level of a simulated equine stomach environment from a harmful pH of 2 to a safe pH level of 6.3 in just two minutes, outperforming alfalfa and competitive products on the market. Ready to put Outlast Supplement to the test? Start your Feed Greatness™ Challenge at www.feedOutlast.com.
Welcome to the Equine Research Unit here at Purina Animal Nutrition Center. My name is Dr. Robert Jacobs, a research equine nutritionist, and today, I’m here to demonstrate our new gastric support supplement, Outlast.
Outlast is designed to provide gastric support and help comfort the horse’s stomach. The horse is an herbivore, designed to consume forages eighteen to twenty hours a day. Modern management practices, however, require that we feed our horses concentrate and meal feed them throughout the day. Outlast is designed to support the overall health of the gastric environment in the horse.
So today what we’re going to do is we’re going to demonstrate how the horse’s stomach would respond to a feeding of Outlast. In this beaker here we have a constantly churning fluid at a pH right around 2, which is the constant pH of the horse’s stomach when they’re at a fasting state. Additionally, we’ve heated this environment to approximately 37 degrees Celsius, which would be the internal body temperature of the horse.
So what we’re going to do is we’re going to take Outlast, our gastric support supplement and grind it up as you can see what we’ve done here to stimulate the chewing that the horse would do before this supplement would reach the gastric environment or into the stomach of the horse, and we’re going to put this into that gastric environment, and we’re going to show you exactly what happens to the pH.
So what I want to do is focus on this pH meter. We put this gastric buffer into this gastric environment. So what we’ll do is we’ll simply put this in here. We’ll give it a little bit of a mix, again to help stimulate what would happen in the horse’s stomach, and we’ll set this timer here to about two minutes.
We’ve done a significant amount of lab work here at the Purina Animal Nutrition Center, as well as at universities throughout the country to better understand how Outlast buffers the equine stomach. We’ve done in vitro trials similar to what you can see in this setup here as well as in vivo trials, in which we’ve fed this supplement to hundreds of horses and examined what happens with the pH of the gastric environment as well as what happens to the overall health of the horse’s stomach.
So what we’re going to do is we’ll wait until this gets to its buffering capacity at about two minutes and we’ll take another pH reading to see exactly how this gastric support supplement works.
So you can see here, after two minutes we’re going to take another pH reading on our simulated gastric environment. So, we look here at this pH meter, and you can see after only two minutes, the pH has already risen to approximately 6.3. Well above the threshold of four which we generally consider a buffered stomach environment.
Now remember, a higher pH is indicative of a lower acidity in the stomach which is what we would want to see to provide the gastric comfort and the support that Outlast is designed to do.
Outlast gastric support supplement is different from some of the other products that are currently on the market, in that it acts quicker, in only two minutes you can see the pH rose substantially; it acts longer, as we saw in our in vivo as well as our in vitro trials; and has a significantly higher buffering capacity and buffering ability, as is demonstrated here in these test tubes.
In these test tubes, you can see a representation of how much acid a single serving of any one of these supplements including Outlast is able to buffer in a simulated gastric environment. You can see here in these tubes that Outlast is able to buffer a significantly larger quantity of acid than even alfalfa or some of the other competitive products on the market as is demonstrated by these different colored tubes.
J&N Feed and Seed is continually looking for products to help our customers conserve water while maintaining their gardens and landscaping. Dripping Spring OLLAS is a simple yet highly efficient way to conserve water and increase plant yields.
An OLLA is an unglazed clay pot fired at a low temperature. This allows the pot to remain porous. The OLLA is buried in the ground with neck exposed and periodically filled with water. The water seeps into the soil at a rate that provides adjacent plants with a constant water source at the roots.
The olla method is an ancient technique of low tech, low cost irrigation used in various environments around the world. Clay pot or OLLA irrigation has been the subject of university research documenting the highly efficient use of water and increased plant yields.
OLLAS can be utilized for vegetable, landscape, and container gardening. OLLAS are especially useful in arid climates but can be used any time a steady and efficient water source is needed. Once in place, the OLLAS will typically require refilling a couple times per week depending on soil and weather. Using OLLAS, leaves the soil surface dry resulting in fewer weeds and no soil compaction, a significant drawback of surface watering.
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Keep your newly planted trees and shrubs hydrated with Treegator Slow Release Watering Bags. With the scorching summer temperatures here to stay, it’s important to water effectively to keep trees and shrubs hydrated. J&N Feed and Seed proudly stock the Treegator® Original Slow Release Watering Bag. Treegator delivers water directly to your plant for 100% absorption and no run-off. Pick up a couple of Treegators today and save your beautiful trees and shrubs from the Texas drought.
Treegator® Original Slow Release Watering Bag for Trees & Shrubs
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New Purina Professional Performance Feed and Supplements are now available at J&N Feed and Seed. Pick up a bag see what premium nutrition can do for your horse.
Impact Professional Performance
Formulated with High-Quality Protein with desirable amino acid profiles to meet the needs of the equine athlete
Added Fat and Highly Digestible Fiber Sources provide fuel for sustained performance
Vitamin and Mineral Fortification to support bone strength, muscle, and immune function
Controlled starch and sugar
Impact Professional Senior
Complete Feed with high-quality forage built in to replace pasture or hay in your senior horse’s diet
Protein, vitamin & mineral fortification specifically to meet the needs of the aging horse
Added fat and highly digestible fiber to provide necessary calories for the senior horse
Controlled starch and sugar, formulated with no corn or corn by-products
Impact Professional Mare and Foal
Formulated with high-quality protein with added amino acids including lysine and methionine to support breeding mares and growing foals
Added Fat to meet the caloric demands of breeding horses and to support hair coat shine and bloom
Vitamin and Mineral Fortification specifically designed to meet the needs of broodmares and growing horses
Controlled Starch and Sugar, formulated with no corn or corn by-products
Outlast Gastric Support Supplement
Supports GASTRIC HEALTH for optimal performance
Designed to SUPPORT PROPER pH in stressful situations
FLEXIBLE FEEDING as a snack or top-dressed
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J&N Feed and Seed now carries the VetGun by Agrilabs,for cattle parasite control. The VetGun Insecticide Delivery System is a unique system for delivering insecticide-filled gel capsules (AiM-L VetCaps, sold separately) to control horn flies and lice on cattle. AiM-L VetCaps burst upon contact to deliver the insecticide. The VetGun is powered by CO2 and can be utilized from 15′ – 30′ away. Simply aim, shoot, and treat. It’s easy to operate, accurate, and reliable. Cattle are easily treated while milling around or feeding, without added stress or labor. Allows one person to easily apply insecticide from horseback, pickup, ATV, or while on foot. Saves time and puts you in control of when and where you treat your cattle. It’s more efficient, plain and simple.
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With our Texas temperatures heating up, J&N Feed and Seed is working to find low volume watering products that will help conserve water and provide an effective way to keep your landscape alive. We are now stocking Raindrip Automatic Watering System kits. These low volume, drip irrigation kits, are customized for different areas of your landscape and garden and can convert your sprinkler system to a drip irrigation system. Installing a drip irrigation system is simple.
Raindrip Automatic Watering Kits with Timer
The Raindrip Automatic Watering Systems are simple to use drip watering kit that waters flowers, shrubs, and trees in your landscape areas (not for lawn use). They’re water efficient, simple to install and most* include a battery-operated timer so you can set your system to water automatically. Click here to read more about Raindrip Watering Kits.
Expand & Customize
Water up to 75 plants at once with Raindrip add-on products.
It’s easy to customize or expand your system. You can add additional tubing, feeder lines and fittings to fit your system to your landscape.
May is the official start of mosquito hunting season. No hunting license is required, there is no bag limit and there is no magic bullet for controlling mosquitoes. The best battle plan is to eliminate the environment where mosquitoes live and breed.
Here are 4 Ways To Prevent Mosquitoes from taking over:
Stop the larva by eliminating standing water. Clean out your gutters so they drain properly. Keep the grass cut short and don’t over water your landscape. Check drain lines, along with rain barrels and saucers for potted plants, which often seem to have standing water.
Promote habitats for the purple martins, bats, and dragonflies. They don’t eat as much as you think but every little bit helps. Plant a variety of herbs (including citronella), as most have a repellant effect. Change outside lighting from white to yellow light bulbs or lenses, as they will not attract these flying vampires. Don’t forget the citronella Tiki torches and candles. They have a small effect on mosquitoes but you will get that island feeling.
Apply sprays and granule repellents to mosquito prone areas. One of the best all-natural sprays is a product called Yardsafe by Cedarcide. Others include citronella, garlic and orange oil sprays. Synthetic sprays include permethrin, cypermethrin, and lambda-cyhalothrin. Granulated cedar and garlic work as repellents. Permethrin granules are used as broad-spectrum insecticides. The all-natural repellent sprays will last about a day but the granules will last substantially longer. Synthetics, both liquid and granulated will last from two days to a month. The length of effectiveness for all products will hinge on the weather.
Apply repellents when outdoors. The last resort is to hose yourself down with a repellant of some sort. Products that contain cedar and marigold oils are on the all-natural side. Synthetics include Deet, permethrin and believe or it not, Avon’s Skin so Soft also contains synthetics. For better or worse, products containing Deet are the most effective.
Whether you buy a cattle mineral off the shelf at a retail store, walk into your local dealer and request their ‘standard’ mineral or work closely with your nutritionist to select a mineral supplement for your herd, sorting through the various mineral types can sometimes be a daunting task.
It may even be a purchase decision that’s so complex you simply cling to the generic or most popular cattle mineral available in your area.
But, the generic or popular option may not be the best choice for your herd’s mineral requirements. If you’re not feeding a quality supplemental mineral, you may see the consequences of mineral deficiencies later in the form of decreased calf weaning weights, small or weak calves, decreased milk production, reduced or delayed conception and even poor immunity.
Not all cattle minerals are created equal, and it’s important to recognize the differences in minerals that are out there. Even though mineral nutrition is complicated, you can easily evaluate or ask questions about a few different elements of a mineral supplement.
Here are three things to look for in your cattle mineral:
1. Balanced cattle mineral nutrition
A complete mineral should contain the proper balance and ratios of all 14 essential cattle minerals. Those minerals include: calcium, copper, cobalt, iodine, iron, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, sodium, sulphur and zinc.
A proper zinc-to-copper ratio is one of the biggest considerations when choosing a mineral, with a ratio of 3-to-1 being preferable. Zinc and copper are commonly deficient microminerals in cattle, and the ratio is critical because of how closely zinc and copper absorption are tied.1
2. Large particle size ingredients and rain protection
Rain and other elements can quite literally wash a mineral investment down the drain, or can alternately turn your mineral into a brick-type substance which cattle often refuse to eat.
A weatherized mineral should not just be water-resistant, it should be wind-resistant as well. You don’t want the particles to be so small that the wind picks them up and blows them away. A weatherized mineral that includes a larger particle can remedy this problem.
The biggest drawback of a non-weather resistant mineral is that cattle just aren’t going to consume it. Daily mineral needs to be consumed, and if you’re not seeing consumption because the mineral has been turned into a hard block or because the particles are being blown away, then your investment is a loss.
3. Organic, bioavailable mineral sources
Another important aspect when choosing a mineral is to make sure it has bioavailable mineral sources. The bioavailability of a mineral source alters the absorptive ability of the trace minerals eliciting their full benefit.
Mineral sources that are more bioavailable may be a bit more costly, but they can be a good fit for herds with marginal trace mineral status, consistent reproduction issues, overall herd health problems, foot problems or in areas with forage or water issues.
Some key trace minerals that you might look to for bioavailability would be zinc, manganese, copper and cobalt. These minerals are required for a variety of functions including, but not limited to, immunity, reproduction, growth and fiber digestion.
Watch the video below to see the difference between Wind and Rain® Storm® cattle mineral and a non-weatherized version.
Ted Perry
– Purina Animal Nutrition, Lead Nutritionist, Beef Technical Solutions
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Cattle nutrient requirements can vary by season and stage of production – and now is a great time to evaluate your cattle mineral program and map out a plan to maximize impact.
While minerals are a relatively small portion of the diet, they control many vital functions in cattle and impact everything from cattle reproductive and nervous systems, to feed efficiency and overall herd health. That’s why it’s so important to make sure the mineral needs of your cattle are being met year-round.
Producers should consider these three steps to develop a solid mineral strategy:
1.Analyze annual cattle mineral needs
Mineral needs throughout the year can be impacted by a variety of factors, including cattle production stage and ration nutrient composition. Start your plan by considering how these factors change in your herd during the year.
Production stages such as gestation, calving, weaning and breeding are especially important. During gestation and calving it’s critical to have a good mineral to get cattle through that stress period. Cows that are mineral deficient can create a calf that is deficient at birth, which can result in ‘weak calf syndrome,’ loss of vigor or scours.
At weaning, calves need an onboard reserve of minerals in their system as stress is often elevated and feed consumption may decrease temporarily. Bulls have special needs during breeding season – zinc, manganese and Vitamin E help to ensure sperm quality and vitality.
Producers should also consider the overall nutrient composition and seasonality of their feedstuffs. For instance, areas with high growth, cool season grasses commonly have a need for higher magnesium in the spring to prevent milk fever or grass tetany.
2. Choose an optimal mineral source
Don’t let the mineral label completely drive your decision making. More is not necessarily better, and it’s important to identify the source of the mineral, not just the concentration.
Producers should work with a nutrition consultant or Extension personnel to identify the levels of macro and micro nutrients needed in their herd and compare those nutrients to the amounts available in their rations or forage. Mineral product labels will list concentrations of each nutrient, so calculate anticipated intake and choose a mineral that sufficiently supplies lacking nutrients.
Not all sources of minerals are utilized equally. Oxides are virtually unavailable to the animal – forms like chlorides and sulfates are better, and organics or chelates are usually the best. Most oxide formulations are less expensive for manufacturers to include in a product, but they simply aren’t going to have the impact.
Finally, consider expected seasonality when choosing a mineral source. During snowy or rainy seasons, water-resistant and weatherized products can provide protection from mineral caking or from wind blowing it away.
3. Make the most of mineral consumption
While planning and choosing a quality mineral source are key, it takes proper management to have an effective mineral program.
First and foremost, producers should be tracking mineral consumption to make sure the cattle are getting the minerals that have been put out. To calculate consumption, producers should follow this simple formula:
(Pounds of mineral distributed ÷ Number of cows) / Number of days mineral was available
Producers can encourage or discourage consumption by placing mineral feeders near or away from water sources, and in areas with ample room for access and rotation.
Cows can’t tell if they do or don’t need mineral, but they do seek out phosphorus and salt, which can offer management tactics. Salt can be used as a limiting factor, or if the cows are salt deficient, as a driver of intake. Overconsumption of mineral should be regulated. Although it is likely not dangerous, it can be costly.
A well-planned mineral program means considering a variety of factors from cattle needs and nutrients, to mineral sources and management strategies — that planning can pay off in the long-run.
You might not see changes overnight, but the return on this investment can be long-term. More cows bred back, less calf health challenges and any number of factors could result from a well thought out mineral strategy. Planning a strategy now can pay-off later on.
Choosing a mineral can be challenging. Learn tips to help you select a mineral.
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Quick and timely considerations for your mineral program.
Impact Professional Performance
