19 August 2011

4 minute read

North America

Monty Kerley, a Ph.D. in animal nutrition with the University of Missouri says the days of overfeeding minerals to meet an animal’s nutrient requirement should become history.

“Once you meet the nutrient requirement, any extra minerals don’t matter. They don’t provide extra returns,” explains Mr Kerley.

“Beef producers don’t receive extra benefits by feeding excessive amounts of minerals to their cattle anymore. Organic trace minerals, which have better bioavailability, don’t react with other particles like sulfur in distillers grains and become unavailable. The animal’s mineral needs can be met with less product, which can be cheaper than supplementing with inorganic mineral products on the market.”

Utilising improved mineral technologies, Novus International Inc. is launching the BioOptimised Trace Minerals Programme.

With greater bioavailability, BioOptimised Trace Minerals from Novus are so effective at mineral delivery that beef producers can use less mineral product and have less mineral waste through loss in excretion without sacrificing any performance expectations.

Therefore, Novus proposes a three-step plan for beef producers to use less mineral: Reduce, Replace, Reformulate.

“In addition to optimised mineral delivery, BioOptimised Trace Minerals from Novus support immune system function, reproductive efficiency, carcass quality, hoof and bone strength, connective tissue strength, multiple enzyme activities, and oxidative balance,” says Stephanie Gable, Global Marketing Manager with Novus.

“These are results you should expect from trace minerals. The distinction is that with BioOptimised Trace Minerals, you can see those results with less product. That’s better, more efficient beef production.”

Novus is a global developer of nutrition products for better health. Its research team is committed to making beef production more efficient and profitable, from cow-calf to backgrounding to feedlot. The BioOptimized Trace Minerals Program includes two product options: MINTREX ® chelated trace minerals and MAAC ® chelated trace minerals.

Both are minerals that have the ideal ligand for better bioavailability and greater results.

Are trace minerals necessary?

Kerley says the mineral availability in an animal’s feedsource is not necessarily the determining factor of whether or not a beef operation should use supplemental trace minerals. Instead, it’s the intake level.

For example, pasture grass may have an ideal concentration of zinc and copper to meet an animal’s nutrient requirement, when the cow’s intake is at the 2.2 per cent body-weight level. But in summer, when a cow’s intake level drops closer to one per cent of its body weight, the amount of zinc and copper in the animal’s diet is below the nutrient requirement.

For cows and heifers, mineral deficiency can mean reproductive losses. For calves and feedlot animals, lower intake without effective trace mineral supplementation can mean lower average daily gain and reduced immune system function.

To prevent reduced production performance by cattle, supplemental minerals should be supplied to meet the animal’s optimal mineral requirement.

What separates Novus BioOptimised Trace Minerals from other mineral sources?

Distinct from other trace mineral products on the market, Novus BioOptimised Trace Minerals are chemically and structurally defined chelates with the right ligands.

Many other mineral sources aren’t stable at low pH levels and release the minerals in the upper GI tract. Released too soon, these minerals are prone to absorption by antagonists, which leads to loss through excretion.

MINTREX and MAAC are chelated trace minerals optimised for mineral delivery: The trace minerals are protected from release and from antagonists in the upper GI tract while still available for absorption in the small intestine.

Because MINTREX and MAAC have higher bioavailability, beef producers can feed less mineral but with more consistent performance than with other inorganic, non-chelated trace minerals.

Revolutionise your mineral approach.

Beef producers can integrate a more efficient trace mineral program in their operations through three steps:

1. Reduce current inclusion levels of inorganic trace minerals.
2. Replace minerals with Novus BioOptimised Trace Minerals: MINTREX or MAAC.
3. Reformulate rations based on the greater bioavailability of BioOptimised Trace Minerals.

“The BioOptimised Trace Minerals Programme is designed to provide the animal with the right amount of trace minerals without the waste,” explains Ms Gable.

“In addition to providing a solution to overfeeding minerals, the BioOptimised Trace Minerals Programme offers flexibility. For beef producers who value the effect of methionine on protein synthesis in their herds, they can choose MINTREX. If solubility is more important, MAAC is the right fit.”

To experience how less is really more with the BioOptimised Trace Minerals Programme, beef producers should contact their nutritionist or a Novus representative. Learn more about the BioOptimised Trace Minerals by visiting www.novusint.com/beef.