Think of our animal as an engine; the feed we offer is the fuel that drives the engine.

Minerals and vitamins are the nuts, bolts, screws, belts, coolant and engine oil – the minor components which the engine wouldn’t function without.

We are just over one month out from the onset of spring calving. Proper mineral and vitamin supplementation in the weeks leading into calving is absolutely crucial.

Calving difficulty, metabolic diseases such as milk fever, dopey calves and fertility slippages are just some of the potential effects of incorrect mineral and vitamin supplementation during this period.

Eight weeks

While an improperly conditioned cow’s risk of experiencing these problems will be high no matter how good our micro-nutrition is, minerals and vitamins have a huge role to play in their prevention.

Proper calcium nutrition will stave off milk fever and reduce the risk of calving difficulty too; getting selenium manganese, iodine and vitamin E right will help with calf vigour; whilst phosphorus, copper, iodine, manganese and vitamin E all play roles in cow fertility.

Mineral supplementation should begin eight weeks out from calving.

Barring excessively-poor quality, most of the country’s dry cows will be on an exclusively silage-based diet at this point. Where heifers or thin cows are getting an energy injection in the form of a concentrate, enquire in the mill about mineral inclusion and ask for an alternative that will meet their needs at your feeding rates if necessary.

For forage-fed animals, purchase a bag of purpose-mixed ‘dry cow mineral’ and offer approximately 100g-150g/head daily, sprinkled across silage at feeding time.

The table attached outlines target supplementation rates for dry cows. In high molybdenum areas, supplement copper at the upper level.

Target supplementation

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Tullamore Farm’s winter feeding plan

Watch: bedding cattle with miscanthus this winter