PRACTICAL NUTRITION SOLUTIONS 

By Jevan Eady  

Almost everything relating to animal health and productivity circles back to nutrition. The old adage “you are what you eat” reigns true for our cows. But nutrition is a complex issue. It’s not just what you eat, but when and how it’s eaten, and who is actually eating it. Add in the complexity of, changing requirements, herd dynamics, hierarchies, individual animal preferences, and a limited time to eat a massive quantity of feed and you’ll see it takes more than an apple a day to keep the vet away. 

I recently looked at some cow collar data from a local herd and found the average cow spent about: 

• 7 hours a day grazing,  

• 9 hours a day ruminating 

• 10 hours resting  

• 6.5 hours a day moving.  

Assuming she does all her ruminating while resting these core tasks take up 23.5 hours of her day! 

Trying to get 20KG DM (100KG wet weight grass) down in 7 hours means consuming 14KG of wet feed down the throat every hour. Pile this much grass up on your dinner plate and you’ll see this is a monumental task! 

Now I know most of you reading this feed more than just grass to your cattle and that adds yet another layer of complexity, but for good reason. This supplemental feed is a great opportunity to address the nutritional needs of your animals whilst also perhaps giving them a bit more time in the day to just relax (or perhaps just eat even more!).  

This why we have partnered with Activity LTD to offer practical feed and mineral solutions for your herd. We can now offer formulation and competitive pricing on: 

• Custom feed blends 

• Mineral concentrate pellets 

• Soluble minerals 

• Anionic springer mixes 

• Loose lick minerals 

Get in touch with your vet if you would like to learn more about how we can help feed your herd.