The voluntary intake of self-fed range
products can be influenced by at least six major factors:
Non-product Factors
Base diet: Possibly the most
important single factor influencing the intake of supplements is
the quantity and quality of the base diet. Obviously, if the
quantity of the base diet is inadequate and the cattle are hungry,
the intake of the supplements will increase, sometimes
dramatically. As a general rule, as the quality of the base diet
increases the intake of the supplement will decrease. However,
there are many exceptions, and the exceptions are difficult to
explain. Often experience and understanding of the local
conditions are needed to achieve target intakes. Knowing your
forage and feedstuffs quality is a critical factor for effective
consumption control. Test your feedstuffs.
Cattle type: The size and age
of an animal can influence supplement intake. Intake will usually
follow body size and age with larger, older cattle consuming
greater quantities of supplement than smaller, younger cattle.
New supplements: When cattle
are first given access to supplements, they will often over or
underconsume the supplement for the first two to three weeks.
Environment and other
factors: Weather conditions, hot or cold, wet or dry, etc.
can influence supplement intake over short periods of time. There
are a host of other factors that can influence supplement intake;
the direction of their affect is sometimes difficult to predict.
These factors include: feeder placement, pasture size, cattle per
feeder, previous diet, previous supplement, rainfall, alkali
soils, coastal areas, river bottoms, cattle health, etc.
Product
Characteristics
Product formulation:
Feed ingredients vary in their palatability or acceptability by
cattle. Products with similar nutrient contents can be produced
using different ingredients causing products with very similar
“tags” to have very different intake levels. As a general rule,
most feed products containing urea and biuret are less palatable
than feeds containing organic protein sources. Rumensin®* is known
to reduce intake in most situations and other feed additives can
also affect intake. Other feed additives such as IGR, GainPro®*,
MoorGuard®, and Bovatec®*, are thought to be intake neutral.
Product physical
characteristics: A product’s physical form can influence
intake by controlling “bite size.” In most situations an
individual cow will have a limited amount of time at a supplement
feeding station before she is replaced by another cow, or the herd
moves to a different location. Examples of physical
characteristics affecting intake include:
(1) The processed and block
form of ADM Alliance Nutrition’s Minerals, where intake of the
blocks is lower than that of the processed form, and
(2) The different hardness of
blocks, where the harder blocks are consumed at lower levels
than the softer blocks.
Management
Practices to Change Supplement Intake
-
If the base diet is not of adequate
quantity to meet the animal’s demand and the cattle are
overconsuming the supplement because they are hungry, provide
more forage.
-
In areas of severe mineral
overconsumption, salt can be mixed with processed minerals to
control intake. This process can be very effective in achieving
target intake, but requires close monitoring of intake. This may
require several changes in the salt to mineral ratio during the
season.
-
Changing the amount of access an
individual animal has to the supplement feeder can influence
intake. If intake is low, more feeders and moving the feeders
closer to water or loafing areas can increase intake. Increasing
the number of feeders will allow more animals to feed at one
time and moving the feeders to where the cattle spend time will
increase the time all animals have access to the feeders. The
opposite changes can be used for overconsumption. Fewer feeders
and moving the feeders farther away from the water source or
loafing areas can reduce intake.
-
Supplements with different intake
levels can be used at the same time. For example, a mixture of
Red and Brunette Mintrate Blocks can be put out and the ratio
adjusted to achieve the target intake.
-
Plan for intake variations that
occur when cattle are first offered supplements.
-
There are other management practices
that can be used in certain situations to gain more effective
consumption control. To start cattle on supplements, a palatable
pellet or grain can be placed around a block or on the top of a
tub to entice cattle to “try a taste.” A salt block or an inch
of loose salt can be place on top of a tub to reduce intake.
The bottom line is
that achieving proper supplement intake requires several steps:
1. Understand the non-product
factors influencing supplement intake.
2. When possible, control the
non-product factors to create an environment where the self-fed
supplement can be successful.
3. Choose the correct supplement
formulation and physical form to control intake in the
environment in which it is to be used.
4. Monitor supplement intake and
make needed changes in product selection or management.
|
Selection Guidelines for ADM Alliance Nutrition’s Complete
Protein & Mineral Supplements |
|
|
Mintrate XL 80
Roughage
Buster 100
XH
Mintrate Block
Range
Maximizer 20% AN or 25/17
Range
Fortifier 37/18 |
Prospector
32/16 Caramel
Mintrate XL 60
Roughage
Buster 80
Brunette
Mintrate Block
Range
Maximizer 20% AN or 25/17
Range
Fortifier 37/18 |
Prospector 20
Plus or 20/10 Caramel
Mintrate XL 30
or 40
Roughage
Buster 60
Red Mintrate
Block
Roughage Buster Plus 35
Range
Maximizer 20% AN or 25/17
Range Fortifier 37/18 |
Prospector 14 Caramel
Mintrate XL
20 or 30
Blonde
Mintrate Block
Roughage
Buster Plus 25
Range
Maximizer 20% AN or 25/17
Range
Fortifier 37/18 |
|
Forage Quality |
Poor |
Low |
Average |
Good |
|
Crude
Protein |
<4% |
4 – 6% |
6 – 8% |
>8% |
|
TDN |
<45% |
45 – 50% |
50 – 55% |
>55% |
