The value of supplementing grazing cattle with free-choice minerals has been well-established through years of research and experience. Mineral supplementation of forages improves the performance of growing and breeding cattle, resulting in improved profitability for the cattle operation. Consequently, many companies offer free-choice mineral products for a variety of grazing conditions.

With the variety of products and claims associated with mineral products, how does one select a range mineral? What characteristics can be used to assess the quality of different products? How can product characteristics, such as formulation, consistency, and weatherability, be used in evaluating products as part of a buying decision? The purpose of this article is to help answer these questions.

Aspects of Quality
When discussing quality, it is important to define the term so meaningful comparisons can be made. This definition should consider mineral supplementation of range cattle as a system, from formulation to consumption of the product. It’s not enough to have a quality product in the bag, it has to reach the target animal to be effective. For range minerals, a high-quality product is one that possesses the following characteristics:

• Properly formulated

• Consumed at the target rate

• Product consistency

• Unaffected by weather conditions

Proper Formulation
First and foremost, a quality range mineral is one that matches the nutritional needs of target animals with available forage when consumed at the desired intake level. The formulation should be based on carefully conducted research trials to ensure the proper balance between cattle nutrient needs and forage nutrient content is achieved. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to look at a mineral and determine if it has the proper nutrient composition. However, the product label, including the list of ingredients, nutrient guarantees, and feeding instructions, provides a wealth of information relative to the nutritional adequacy of the product. Coupled with a forage analysis, your mineral supplier’s representative should be able to readily determine if the product fits the specific situation for which it is being considered.

Target Consumption
Over- or under-consumption reduces the benefits of mineral supplementation by increasing costs or reducing animal performance, respectively. Achieving uniform target intake, however, is not as easy as one may think. Consumption control begins with product formulation. Many products use salt at various levels as the primary means of controlling consumption. Other ingredients may be added to enhance palatability or to further modify consumption patterns.

Not all grazing situations or groups of cattle respond in the same manner to a mineral. As a result, management of the product in the field is needed to fine-tune consumption. Practices such as relocating feeders closer to, or further away from, watering and loafing areas are used to achieve this objective. Adequate consumption should be demonstrated through feeding trials conducted over a wide range of pasture conditions and cattle types. Your mineral supplier should be able to provide accurate, reliable assistance in fine-tuning mineral consumption. Weather can also affect the consumption of the product (discussed within “Weather Effects” section).

Target consumption rates can and do vary from one product to another. Evaluation of a mineral needs to take this into account so mineral cost is compared on a per head per day basis rather than on cost per ton.

Product Consistency
Not only is it important to achieve target consumption, but the mineral consumed on each trip to the feeder should be balanced relative to the formulated level of each nutrient. Feed manufacturers strive to ensure the mineral going into the bag is uniformly mixed. However, this doesn’t ensure the product will stay uniformly mixed. The tendency of a product to segregate can be judged by close visual inspection and is affected by several factors.

Products that have a wide range of particle sizes and are dry and dusty tend to segregate readily. This can occur in the process of pouring the mineral into the feeder and is further enhanced by the sifting action that occurs as the animals bump and jostle the feeder. Many of the trace minerals are fine powders that become concentrated as segregation from the coarser macro-minerals occurs, which can lead to nutritional imbalance as the product is consumed.

On the other hand, products that are more uniform in particle size or that have been formulated and mixed in such a way that the product has a cohesive texture are less prone to segregation. Balanced intake of the entire nutrient package on each trip to the feeder is more likely to occur with products that exhibit these properties.

Weather Effects
Both wind and rain can affect the mineral once it’s in the feeder, leading to difficulties in achieving adequate consumption. Exposure of the mineral to prevailing winds can lead to significant losses through wind erosion, in much the same way that exposed soils are eroded by wind. These losses are more likely to occur if the mineral is dry in texture and contains a high percentage of fine and/or light particles.

The fine particles are often trace minerals that are critical to the animal’s performance. Light materials are generally organic ingredients, such as wheat midds or soy hulls, that are added to improve palatability or as a filler to help match target intake to the product formulation. Loss of these ingredients lead to imbalances in the nutrient intake of the product. On the other hand, minerals that have a more uniform, coarse particle size with a cohesive texture will experience little or no loss when exposed to wind.

Exposure of a mineral product to rain can modify consumption patterns due to leaching of nutrients and/or caking of the product. As with wind losses, minerals that are a dry blend of the individual ingredients are more prone to leaching when exposed to rain. Some of the trace minerals used in these products are fine powders that are highly water soluble, making loss of these key nutrients more likely. Salt losses can also be high in these minerals when exposed to rain. Upon drying, the remaining minerals may cake and become difficult for the animal to consume. Unlike the case of wind erosion, simply increasing particle size and processing the mineral to have a cohesive texture will not ensure reduced losses when exposed to rain. A “weatherizing” agent needs to be uniformly incorporated into the mineral mix to produce moisture resistancy that will minimize leaching. ADM Alliance Nutrition uses this approach to provide superior protection for many of their products.

In some areas of the country, minerals are typically fed in open box feeders. Losses due to wind and rain exposure can be significant in these situations. Covered feeders are often used to provide some protection from these elements. Your mineral supplier should be able to provide information relative to potential losses due to wind or rain and recommend appropriate feeding strategies to reduce these losses.

Summary
Evaluation of range minerals requires more than just reading the product label. While sound nutrition provides the foundation, a high-quality product is one that also reaches the target animal in the proper amount and in the proper proportions without being affected by weather conditions. Segregation of the product, over- or under-consumption, and losses due to wind and rain are factors that can create significant differences between the nutrition in the bag and what reaches the animal. A high-quality mineral is one that minimizes the effects of these factors, allowing the maximum benefit to be achieved from mineral supplementation.