Spring Grazing
The grass is greening up, and stocker calves are out grazing. Green grass sprinkled with cattle paints a pretty picture across the countryside. Spring grazing is a great way to add economical weight to the weaned calves before they enter the feedlot phase. However, grazing spring pasture doesn’t come without challenges.
At BioZyme®, makers of Gain Smart® and VitaFerm® vitamin and mineral supplements, we know that cattle producers rely on pastures for their nutritional and forage needs. Proper pasture management for long-term sustainability is vital to both the cattle and the land. That’s why we created this resource to discuss providing balanced nutrition during spring grazing.
Nutrients Needed During Spring Grazing
During spring grazing, your calves benefit from fresh, lush forage, but their nutritional needs still require careful attention to support healthy growth, immunity and development. Your calves are growing fast and need protein, energy, vitamins and minerals to support that growth. Additionally, you will want to ensure they have an adequate water source with clean, fresh water. Although lush grass is high in moisture content, water intake drives appetite, and appetite drives growth.
Protein
Protein is necessary for muscle development and immune function. Most calves typically require 18-20% crude protein, which the spring grasses will carry. However, rapidly growing pastures might have excessive protein, so you will need to balance it with an energy source like grain.
Minerals
- Phosphorus (P): Often low in spring forage. Essential for bone development and energy metabolism.
- Magnesium (Mg): Prevents grass tetany, especially in lactating cows, but it is still important for growing calves.
- Calcium (Ca): Important for skeletal growth; usually adequate in green forage.
- Selenium (Se): Vital for immunity and muscle function; often deficient in soils.
- Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn) Manganese (Mn): Essential for immune health and growth.
Vitamins
- Vitamin A: Fresh green pasture usually supplies plenty but may need supplementation if forage is mature or dried.
- Vitamin D: From sunlight exposure—spring grazing helps meet this need.
- Vitamin E: Important for immunity and muscle function; may be deficient in fast-growing or high-moisture forage.
So, what is the best way to provide balanced nutrients? We suggest one of the Gain Smart® mineral formulas.
Gain Smart for Balanced Nutrition
Providing access to vitamin and mineral supplements is essential during spring grazing to optimize health and nutrition. Ensure that cattle have access to a balanced mineral mix containing critical nutrients such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and trace minerals.
Gain Smart is a line of vitamin and mineral supplements for stocker cattle that promotes healthy, economical pounds. Gain Smart offers 4 different free-choice vitamin and mineral supplement formulas to fit any feeding scenario. All formulas consist of the following:
- 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.
The 4 Gain Smart formulas for stocker cattle include:
- Gain Smart Stocker, designed to maximize efficient gain.
- Gain Smart Stocker Wheat, designed to maximize efficient gain on wheat or small grain pasture.
- Gain Smart Stocker HEAT®, designed to maximize 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 Balancer RU1600 maximizes efficient gain and balances high-grain diets when mixing TMR rations. It includes rumensin for improved feed efficiency.
The Gain Smart mineral is part of a 3-step program to help producers and backgrounders increase gains and keep calves healthy. Include the VitaFerm® Cattle Drench and VitaFerm® Stress Tubs as the first 2 steps of the program on fresh-weaned or just-received calves to maximize your results. Supplementing cattle on pasture with Gain Smart mineral is a great way to gain healthy, efficient pounds.
Get your Cattle Gaining the Smart Way Today!
Have we convinced you that Gain Smart, powered by Amaferm, is the best way to supplement cattle during spring grazing? We hope so!
The Amaferm in the Gain Smart supplements helps calves absorb and digest the nutrients in all grasses and feedstuffs. Furthermore, it contains balanced vitamins and minerals to help your calf perform. The Gain Smart HEAT formula contains technology to help mitigate heat stress.
Finally, research proves that cattle fed Gain Smart powered by Amaferm gain .25 pounds more per day. That’s something to get excited about!
Now that you know about Gain Smart, you can get your calves gaining today.
Gain Smart is available at any of our local authorized BioZyme Dealers. Locate the dealer nearest you.
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