Trace minerals are a critical element of animal nutrition, and they are essential to maintain and enhance health and fertility.
The grazing season is an important time to consider trace mineral supplementation as pasture often has a deficient supply.
This is at a time when the dairy cow is faced with especially high mineral demands due to her lactation and reproduction. Boluses are an ideal way to supplement cows with daily trace minerals over a long administration period.
What are trace minerals?
Trace minerals copper, selenium, iodine, cobalt and zinc are minerals that are required for the body to function, but they are needed in relatively small quantities.
They have important roles supporting the body’s immune system, regulating growth and energy metabolism, strengthening skin integrity and maintaining reproductive function.
Optimising trace minerals in the cow using boluses is one important way to ensure your herd has optimal immunity, productivity and fertility this season.
What causes trace mineral deficiencies?
Trace mineral deficiencies can occur due to decreased availability in the diet. This is common in Ireland with rain leaching minerals deep into the soil away from the plants.
Many pastures in Ireland are deficient in copper, selenium and iodine. Modern farming practices such as slurry spreading have further exacerbated deficiencies on grass.
Decreased availability due to competition among minerals within the rumen is very common as well.
Molybdenum and many metals will compete with copper and necessitate additional copper supplementation to ensure the correct amount is available to the cow.
Significant, chronic deficiencies can result in obvious clinical signs and disease in animals, such as leg defects in calves with manganese deficiency. Subclinical deficiencies are when trace mineral levels are low and result in poor performance but there are no obvious signs of disease, and the condition is silent to the farmer.
Subclinical deficiencies may result in decline in immunity, reduction in milk yield, reduced fertility and delayed growth.
Why use the Super Grazing 250 bolus?
The Super Grazing 250 bolus provides optimal levels of essential trace minerals designed to complement the deficiencies on grass.
Patented bolus technology acts like a sponge with continuous water circulation through the bolus and precise diffusion of the minerals.
Extensive quality testing ensures an accurate, daily dose of trace minerals, which are provided on the label, continuously for 250 days. You can feel confident the bolus administered will dissolve slowly and last the full 250 days.
How to use Super Grazing 250 bolus
Super Grazing 250 bolus is recommended to use at turn out to pasture in the late winter and spring to cover the entire grazing period with a single bolus administration.
Alternatively, cows can be bolused at drying off to cover with trace mineral supplementation through the dry and transition periods as well as early lactation.
One bolus should be administered to cows over 400kg.
This single handling will provide long-acting, 250-day, controlled trace mineral daily release, giving you assurance that your herd is accurately supplemented with trace minerals this grazing season.
Speak to your PharVet territory manager about how trace mineral supplementation with Super Grazing 250 can improve your herd’s health and fertility today.
By Dr. Lauren Popiolek, veterinary technical advisor, PharVet
