Take the guessing out of supplementing your stock with minerals – take some grass or silage samples and see what is lacking in your animals’ base diet.

Copper is an essential trace element, meaning it is required by animals in very small amounts (mg/d) for normal body functioning.  We often talk about copper as essential for cattle, but potentially toxic for sheep. Here, we will discuss this topic, to help you optimise copper supply [...]

When moisture is at high levels, nutrients can be lost from the soil profile through drainage as leaching will occur. It is no surprise that many sheep farmers are reporting seeing behaviours that suggest ewes and lambs are searching for nutrients, including digging up the soil [...]

Poor growth and increased susceptibility to infection are common features of copper deprivation in cattle (Thornton et al., 1972a,b; Whitelaw et al., 1984). Discolouration of the coat (black coat looks rusty) in an Aberdeen Angus, a brownish tinge can be given to the coat and the skin becomes mottled (Hansen et al., 2009) Diarrhoea is […]

Copper is an essential trace element as it is involved in many processes including the structure & function of skeletal, cardiovascular, nervous & immune system and normal cellular homeostasis Despite its importance, Bovine Cu deficiency is endemic in regions worldwide. A UK study (Kendall et al., 2015) showed that 16.3 per cent of cattle surveyed […]

It is very important when managing stock to manage their minerals! Our historic grass samples for March give a good insight into what minerals are typically lacking at this time of year and what we need to supplement our grazing livestock for optimum health & performance. Mineral shortages [...]