Finishing beef cattle is all about efficiency. The overall target when it comes to finishing beef cattle is to achieve the maximum weight gain, over a minimum number of days, at minimum cost.
There are a lot of factors that can affect the thrive of beef animals, including: animal breed; animal age; the quality of forage available; and the overall health of the animal.
As an industry, we put a lot of focus on getting the right amount of the right feed ingredients into a beef finishing diet to ensure maximum thrive.
The level of cereal, the starch content, the protein content and the fibre content required are all important factors to consider when formulating a beef finishing diet.
However, if you formulate a beef finishing diet using only the best-quality ingredients and forget to balance the diet with a mineral package that improves rumen function, promotes hoof care and herd health, you will never achieve maximum thrive.
In intensive feeding situations, the mineral package that is included is every bit as important as the compound feed being fed.
Quinns of Baltinglass Ltd. has included its RumiGain complete mineral package in all of its Supreme range of coarse rations and pellets for a number of years; it has now also formulated a farm pack suitable for farm mixing.
The RumiGain farm pack targets three key areas to ensure optimum beef production:
- Rumen function;
- Herd health;
- Hoof care.
To optimise rumen function, RumiGain includes both Yea-Sacc® and Acid Buf.
Yea-Sacc® is a live yeast culture that has consistently been proven to help rumen function by stimulating bacteria that utilise fibre and lactic acid, thus reducing the risk of acidosis and leading to more efficient total digestion of both forage and feed.
Published trials have shown that Yea-Sacc® can:
- Maximise daily live weight gain (increase daily live weight gain by 11%)*;
- Produce this beef cheaper (8% increase in feed efficiency)*;
- Produce higher grades (10% increase in carcass weights)*.
*Teagasc Research Centre, Grange, 2004.
Acid Buf is a unique, highly-efficient rumen buffer made from calcareous marine algae. It breaks down slowly in the rumen to stabilise pH and, as a result, improves the performance and profitability of your herd.
It helps to improve daily live weight gain and also reduce the risk of acidosis. Trace minerals, such as copper and zinc, play important roles in many metabolic processes supporting animal health.
To support herd health, RumiGain includes Bioplex Copper plus a full vitamin package.
Copper
Copper (Cu) plays an important role in collagen and blood cell production, fertility and immunity. Copper deficiency can cause many issues, such as: poor growth; reproductive problems; impaired immunity; diarrhoea; bone fragility; and depigmentation.
When analysing the diet, looking not only at copper content but also sulfur, molybdenum and iron content might be recommended, as these minerals can interfere with copper’s intestinal absorption.
Vitamins A, B1, D3 and E
The vitamin package in RumiGain ensures: a strong immune system; aids tissue growth; promotes breakdown of fats and carbohydrates in the rumen; and ensures strong bone development and growth.
To ensure proper hoof health, RumiGain includes multiple sources of zinc (ZN). Zinc is a co-factor for over 200 enzymes involved in protein, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism.
Signs of deficiency include: skin trauma; impaired growth; and dermatitis (lameness issues). Zinc is particularly important in beef cattle production, due to the high growth rate and increased stress on the claws of the hoof.
Compared with inorganic forms, feeding these trace minerals in an organic form makes the mineral more bio-available – creating a reserve for times of increased physiological need.
The RumiGain farm pack contains Bioplex® Copper and Zinc – organic chelated minerals that are highly bio-available and have been proven to support animal health such as hoof health.
The combination of all of the above ingredients ensures optimum performance and maximum efficiency within an intensive beef finishing unit.
More information
Quinns of Baltinglass Ltd. will be officially launching the RumiGain farm pack at this year’s Tullamore Show this Sunday, August 12, 2018.
The company’s stand will be in the livestock area – stand L17 and L18. For any visitors to the stand, there will be an opportunity to win 20 x 25kg bags of the RumiGain farm pack.
The RumiGain pack will be available in all Quinns Agri stores. Please contact Quinns at: 059-6481266 or contact your local Quinns branch for more information. Click here for more information
