Friday, 25 August 2023 07:55

Potential mineral deficiencies in pasture-based systems

Written by  Chris Balemi
Investing in pasture and feed analysis is the most accurate way to ascertain mineral and trace element levels in your herd’s diet. Investing in pasture and feed analysis is the most accurate way to ascertain mineral and trace element levels in your herd’s diet.

Spring brings heavy demands for our dairy cows, with calving, peak milk, and successful mating all crucial milestones for a profitable season, and all in a climate that is becoming increasingly volatile each year.

In an ideal world, our dairy herds would have access to ample amounts of high-quality pasture containing sufficient nutrients, vitamins, and minerals to drive optimum performance. However, reality is far from ideal and we need to be aware of potential mineral deficiencies presented by our pasture-based system.

Low levels of trace elements in pasture

Trace elements are commonly found to be deficient in grazing dairy cows.

Also called micro minerals, these are copper, cobalt, selenium, iodine and zinc, and all work together to play a crucial role in cow health and performance.

Low copper absorption in cows, combined with low copper content in pasture easily results in deficiency. Copper is key for proper immune development and deficiency can mean cows are more susceptible to infection.

Cobalt is required for the synthesis of vitamin B12, which is essential for energy metabolism, fibre digestion, and immunity. With our soils generally high in manganese, cobalt uptake by the plant is restricted, resulting in inadequate cobalt levels.

Selenium is vital for immunity, milk production, reproduction, and calf viability. In general, pasture tends to be low in selenium and fertilisers do not sufficiently correct this.

Iodine is essential for energy metabolism, milk production, and reproduction. Not only is pasture uptake of iodine usually low, it is also easily leached in wet spring weather.

Zinc levels are commonly low in pasture, but this trace element is required for production, reproduction, animal growth, long-term hoof health, and immunity.

Efficient mineral dosing

While dusting and water dosing is common, we know that mineral supplementation through feed systems is the most effective way of getting minerals into your cows, whether through an inline feed dispenser or mixer wagon.

It’s important to note that not one single feed provides the perfect balance of macro and micro minerals, of which adequate levels are vital for optimum production, successful mating, and pregnancy maintenance. Investing in pasture and feed analysis is the most accurate way to ascertain mineral and trace element levels in your herd’s diet, resulting in an effective mineral supplementation plan this season.

Chris Balemi is managing director of Agvance Nutrition

More like this

Still feeding minerals like its 1991?

We've come a long way in dairy farming over the past couple of decades. Genetics are better, sheds are more modern and we have more data at our fingertips than ever before.

Keeping cows stress free during transition period

It's common to look at reproductive challenges through the lens of the mating season. If cows aren’t cycling, if submission rates are low, or if too many come up empty, most farmers will dig into their mating programme to figure out what went wrong.

Dry cow management is key

OPINION: We need to stop treating the dry period as just a rest between lactations and understand that it’s a significant biological reset that impacts the health and productivity of the next lactation.

Featured

Big return on a small investment

Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.

Editorial: Sensible move

OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.

National

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Cuddling cows

OPINION: Years of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its…

Bikinis in cowshed

OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter