Cattle feeding is a high risk, highly rewarded profession. With good knowledge of the markets, proper tools and good resources, it can also be a high-reward profession. At BioZyme®, makers of vitamin and mineral supplements for all species, we appreciate the cattle producers and feeders who care for the land and feed the cattle. We know the risks. We know the hours and devotion these men and women put into feeding cattle that ultimately become a safe, delicious product that feeds their families and ours.
That is why we made it our priority to develop Gain Smart®, a line of vitamin and mineral supplements for stocker cattle that promotes healthy, economical pounds. That’s right, another mineral supplement for cattle.
But what is the best mineral supplement for cattle?
Let’s Compare
We know that you have choices. And, yes, there are various mineral supplements out there for stockers and backgrounders. Let’s look at a few of the leading brands and their key selling points.
ADM AminoGain
ADM has sound options for mineral supplementation for cattle. Their products offer minerals, amino acids and a proprietary protein source.
Purina® Wind and Rain® Storm® All Season
Purina Wind and Rain Storm All Season minerals contain the proper balance and ratios of all 14 essential cattle minerals. That might be just right for your operation.
Nutrena
Nutrena’s cattle mineral, NutreBeef, is for all stages of production and, thus, has utility for a variety of livestock setups, not just for stocker calves.
Gain Smart
But, our personal favorite is Gain Smart —a brand at BioZyme, makers of VitaFerm—a line of vitamin and mineral supplements for stocker cattle. It was created with one goal in mind: to promote healthy, economical pounds.
Added Benefits of Gain Smart
Surprise, surprise, we think Gain Smart is something special. But, there’s a reason we’re so invested in our products: we don’t just sell it, we use it.
We know from experience that when you feed Gain Smart products, you’re doing more than giving your cattle the best vitamin and mineral package possible. You are also supporting their immune health and helping enhance their digestive system with the research-proven prebiotic, AO-Biotics® Amaferm®.
Amaferm is backed by 70 years of research and more than 110 research studies. When we tell you that feeding a mineral supplement with Amaferm will promote feed intake and help your cattle gain at least .25 pounds per head per day, we mean it.
We know that 70% of the immune response starts in the gut. If you can feed your cattle a research-proven prebiotic that helps keep the gut healthy, then the rest of the animal should also remain healthier. Consequently, this should lead to an overall healthier herd.
A healthier animal not only tends to eat better, but it will also gain and perform better. If you can feed your cattle less feed due to the enhanced digestibility of Amaferm, yet gain more, doesn’t that make economic sense?
Cowboy Math with Gain Smart
What is the best mineral supplement for cattle? The kind that helps your bottom line. Because we like to see real-world examples, here is one of the cost-saving benefit Gain Smart offers in a summer grazing scenario.
A backgrounder runs 2,000 calves in the Kansas Flint Hills while feeding a mineral from the local feedstore that costs $20/bag delivered. The average death loss is 2% or 40 calves.
The local BioZyme dealer convinces this backgrounder to feed Gain Smart at an investment of $32*/bag delivered, a difference of $12, with $5 of that the Amaferm advantage. Each bag has 200 servings, and the feeder plans to graze for about 110 days, so he or she will need 1,100 bags. Thus, he or she will spend about $13,200 more on the mineral program this year than in the past.
Healthy, Efficient Pounds
But wait. Using this mineral, calves will be healthier, and the death loss will be cut to 1% or 20 calves. Now, let’s look at where the feeder is financially. (*suggested retail price may vary due to freight)
Initial investment: 1,100 bags x $12 more than previous mineral = $13,200
Saved 20 calves due to increased health: $1600 each x 20 head = $32,000
$32,000– $13,200 = $18,800 profit in live calves
Another way to look at it is if you save one live calf at $1600, at $32 per bag, that one calf pays for 50 bags of Gain Smart. With 200 servings per bag, that one more calf paid for 100 calves’ minerals over a 100-day backgrounding period—healthy, efficient pounds.
Your initial investment has more than paid for itself, plus the Amaferm advantage will help your calves gain potentially fewer days on grass. Your calves should stay healthier, meaning fewer dollars spent on treatments. It’s an investment that will continue to offset the cost of gain in challenging times.
“Gain Smart will improve feed efficiency and health, which is more money in your pocket,” said John Jeffrey, Director of National Sales.
What is the Best Mineral Supplement for Cattle in the Gain Smart Program?
So, what is the best mineral supplement for cattle that Gain Smart offers? What do you need? Well, it depends on your goals. Not only are there are variety of mineral supplement options out there, but backgrounders and stockers have several choices with the Gain Smart, too. Gain Smart is a great way to get the research-proven prebiotic Amaferm AND vitamins and minerals into your calves to keep them healthy and growing.
Gain Smart is available in 4 formulas for a variety of management scenarios. The 4 different free-choice vitamin and mineral supplement formulas for stocker cattle include:
1. Gain Smart Stocker
Gain Smart Stocker helps your herd maximize efficient gain.
It is designed for those feeding a medium to high forage diet and works well for both cool—and warm-season grasses. It is the most versatile and can be fed in multiple places under multiple conditions.
2. Gain Smart Stocker Wheat
Gain Smart Stocker Wheat maximizes efficient gain on wheat or small grain pasture.
This product is formulated for a higher-quality forage diet rich in protein and nitrogen, such as wheat, small grains , and legumes. It includes extra magnesium to help balance the nutrients in the diet and should be fed in spring and early summer.
3. Gain Smart Stocker HEAT
Gain Smart Stocker HEAT® maximizes efficient gain when temperatures are above 70 degrees Fahrenheit. It contains HEAT technology, a combination of essential oils and garlic, to support animals when heat and insects are a challenge.
Gain Smart Stocker HEAT is ideally suited for backgrounding and yearling cattle on grass and also contains plant extracts to help maintain circulation to support animal performance and gain in both heat and fescue situations. The plant extracts are research-proven to support animals’ ability to maintain normal body temperature. This mineral is ideal in the hot summer months or any time fescue is grazed. It also includes garlic to deter insects.
4. Gain Smart Stocker Balancer
Gain Smart Stocker Balancer RU 1600 maximizes efficient gain and balance high-grain diets when mixing TMR rations. It includes rumensin for improved feed efficiency.
Gain Smart Balancer RU 1600 is designed for calves being backgrounded or fed in a dry lot situation on a mixed grain ration. It complements the co-products, such as distiller’s grain and cereal byproducts, and works well with fermented feed like silage. It contains no phosphorus but does have rumens. Gain Smart Balancer can be fed to heavier weights, and it is a good selection when trying to improve feed efficiency.
The Gain Smart Difference
All Gain Smart formulas offer the following key benefits:
- Powered AO-Biotics Amaferm, a prebiotic research-proven to enhance digestibility.
- Include organic copper, iodine, and zinc for maximum bioavailability and hoof health.
- Provide nutritional support for a healthy immune system.
Components of an Ideal Mineral Supplement
What is the best mineral supplement for cattle? Well, it’s actually a question of what ingredients make the best mineral supplement. A vitamin and mineral supplement for cattle should contain a balanced and complete supply of the nutrients that cattle need to thrive, grow and perform. Ideally a supplement should contain macrominerals, trace or microminerals and a balanced suite of vitamins. A supplement should be free of contaminants and any metals.
Macrominerals
- Calcium: Calcium is a vital component of skeletal makeup. It is needed for the formation of bones and teeth.
- Phosphorus: Phosphorus plays critical roles in metabolic processes that impact structural development, growth, reproduction and lactation.
- Magnesium: Magnesium plays many crucial roles in nerve and muscle function. It also helps with immunity. The most common deficiency of magnesium is known as grass tetany.
- Potassium: Potassium serves a significant role as an electrolyte to maintain acid-base balance and regulate osmotic gradients. It plays important functions in the nervous and muscular systems.
- Sodium: Like potassium, sodium also acts as an electrolyte to help maintain acid-base balance and regulate osmotic gradients. It also plays vital roles in the nervous and muscular systems.
Trace Minerals
At BioZyme, we pride ourselves in including industry-leading organic trace minerals in our products.
- Copper: Copper acts as a fundamental component of many enzyme systems in cattle. It is involved in various processes that impact cattle productivity, including the immune and reproductive systems.
- Iodine: Iodine plays an integral role in thyroid hormones in cattle. Therefore, it is vitally important to energy metabolism.
- Zinc: Zinc is important year-round as it promotes skin, hoof and foot health. More importantly it plays a role in reproduction.
- Iron: Iron is primarily required for the formation of hemoglobin. It is an essential component in the structure of proteins involved in transportation and utilization of oxygen.
- Selenium: Selenium acts as an antioxidant and helps with both immunity and reproductivity. A deficiency in selenium can lead to white muscle disease and retained placentas.
- Manganese: Manganese plays a critical role in key metabolic functions. These include fertility, maintaining pregnancy, growth and skeletal formation.
Vitamins
Vitamins are closely linked to mineral metabolism and absorption. The most commonly added vitamins are Vitamins A, C, D & E. Let’s explore their functions.
- Vitamin A helps skin and mucous membranes stay healthy.
- Vitamin C assists in the absorption of iron.
- Vitamin D aids the absorption of calcium and phosphorus from the intestine and their deposition in the bone matrix.
- Vitamin E is helpful for short-term periods of stress that may occur when calves are co-mingled and transported at weaning. It is also vital to reproduction. Selenium deficiencies can also lead to Vitamin E deficiencies.
Balanced Ratios
It is important to ensure that some minerals are properly balanced in order to optimally benefit the cattle. For instance, you need a calcium: magnesium ratio of about 2:1 in order for both minerals to function. The proper zinc-to-copper ratio is about 10:1.
If you read a mineral tag, you will find that a vast majority of them contain the above ingredients. So, what is the best mineral supplement for cattle? We believe the answer is simple: Gain Smart. Why? As our cowboy math explained above, with the addition of Amaferm, you are getting more gain for the forages and feedstuffs you are providing.
Give your Calves Benefits of Gain Smart
Hopefully we’ve answered your question, “what is the best mineral supplement for cattle?” You should know without a doubt, the answer is Gain Smart. If you want healthy, high-performing cattle that gain weight with the most ROI? Look no further. You can achieve your financial goals, keep your cattle healthy, and perform with Gain Smart.
Gain Smart‘s combination of organic trace minerals and Amaferm will help your calves put on healthy, efficient pounds. Gain Smart is available at one of our local BioZyme Dealers. Locate the dealer nearest you.
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