Emily Crunkleon

“Do you have cattle who aren’t your favorites because they don’t shed off well or quickly, take longer to breed back, stand in the pond more frequently than others, and maybe you see them panting a lot? They may have endophyte intolerance. If you have fescue grass, there’s a good chance there’s endophyte growing in it. This cow was one we bought who exhibited all the symptoms of fescue toxicity. She was panting with her winter hair still fully intact on August 3, and she was always standing in the pond. Someone told us about a mineral product called VitaFerm® HEAT®, and I thought we’d never be able to afford feeding our cows this mineral compared to feedstore brand mineral prices. But we decided to try it out. The changes in Phoebe weren’t overnight of course, but we saw a HUGE change in her over the next few months. She shed her winter hair fully, she bred back on her first cycle with the bull after that, no more panting, and very limited pond standing. We’ve continued to feed the VitaFerm HEAT mineral since then, along with a few of their other mineral products, and I’m definitely a believer.”