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What minerals do cows need?

What minerals do cows need? And – most importantly – what is the best source for mineral mixture for cattle? Particularly for dairy cows in transition?

Compared to sulfates, hydroxy chloride trace minerals are less soluble in the rumen, resulting in an improvement in rumen function and health. Selko® IntelliBond® contains hydroxy chloride trace mineral sources and is proven to be an effective source of essential trace minerals like copper, zinc, and manganese. Moreover, its hydroxy chloride form leads to higher milk production, superior health and fertility, and a reduction of the culling rate in dairy cows.

Interested to learn more about the impact of hydroxy trace minerals?

Many studies have shown that hydroxy chloride trace minerals are superior to sulfates6,7,8,9.
The most recent study by Professor Dr. Santos showed:

  • An increase of 2% in feed efficiency10
  • A 19% boost in colostrum yield10
  • A 1.5 kg increase in ECM yield10
  • A reduction of disease incidence12
  • An improvement of uterine health and fertility11
  • A reduction of the culling rate12

Watch the webinar by Prof. Dr. Santos:

The impact of hydroxy trace minerals vs sulfates

What minerals do cows need? Watch the latest webinar recordings where Professor Dr. Santos from the University of Florida presents the latest insights in trace mineral management of dairy cows during the transition to lactation.

Professor Santos started with discussing trace mineral metabolism around calving, after which he explained that differences in solubility of trace mineral sources can have an impact on bioavailability of trace minerals and that NDF digestibility differs between trace mineral sources. After discussing the technical differences between sulfate and hydroxy trace mineral sources for dairy cattle, he presented the results of a recent study on the impact of trace mineral source on health and performance of dairy cows. During the second part of the webinar, Professor Santos explained why trace mineral source can have an impact on cow colostrum quality, on production of Energy Corrected Milk and on the incidence of postpartum disease. He also explained how trace mineral source reduces the culling rate of dairy cows, having an impact on longevity of dairy cows. Lastly, he explained how trace mineral source can reduce the environmental impact of dairy farming. During a more recent podcast, Dr. Santos discussed the return on investment for a farmer of switching to Selko IntelliBond Hydroxy Trace Minerals, which he believes is excellent.

What trace minerals do cows need immediately after calving?

There are a lot of associations between mineral and vitamin status at calving and peripartum diseases. Immediately after calving, plasma levels of several essential vitamins and trace elements for dairy cattle decline1. They reach their nadir in the days following calving, because of output in cow colostrum and uptake by the pregnant uterus.

Plasma levels of trace minerals can quickly be re-established once feed intake of a dairy cow increases after calving. Transport mechanisms for copper, zinc and manganese in dairy cows are well characterized2,3,4.

How much can milk production, health and fertility be improved by using the hydroxy chloride form?

Sulphate TM Selko IntelliBond
Colostum amount and quality
Heifers Multiparous Heifers Multiparous
Colostrum at 1st milking 5.54 kg 4.89 kg 7.07 kg 5.45 kg
Immunoglobulin (g/L) 106 g/L 122 g/L 108 g/L 119 g/L
Lactational performance
ECM (kg/day) 36.3 kg 47.3 kg 38.4 kg 48.1 kg
Health and resilience
Retained fetal membranes 11.5% 3.8%
Metritis 34.5% 26.4%
Morbidity 52.0% 34.2%
Survival rate at 305 DIM 77.1% 88.8%

Table 1: Effects on colostrum production and quality, lactational performance, health, and culling rate of feeding Selko IntelliBond hydroxy chloride trace minerals to dairy transition cows compared to feeding sulphate trace minerals to dairy transition cows.

Figure 1: Plasma haptoglobin levels of dairy cows during transition, fed Selko IntelliBond hydroxy chloride trace minerals (HTM) or sulphate trace minerals (STM).

Professor Santos presented the results of a trial10,11,12 he carried out at the University of Florida in which he compared feeding hydroxy chloride trace minerals or sulfates to transition dairy cows from 30 days before calving until 105 days into lactation.

Some of the trial outcomes:

  • A higher production of cow colostrum, cows in the Selko IntelliBond group produced approximately 1.5 kilograms more cow colostrum10. There was no change in Brix value or in the concentration of IgG in colostrum, so because of the increase in colostrum yield, there was a numerical difference in IgG yield of dairy cows (see table 1).
  • A significant increase of production of 1.4 kg/day of Energy Corrected Milk10 throughout the first 105 days of lactation(see table 1).
  • A greater diet Net Energy for Lactation10.
  • A reduction of retained fetal membranes and a reduction of the incidence of uterine disease12.
  • Lower levels of haptoglobulin after calving (see Figure 1), which is associated with a lower risk of post-partum diseases in dairy cows..
  • A lower incidence of post-partum disease resulting in a lower level of morbidity12.
  • An increased survival rate at 305 days in milk. , the risk of culling of dairy cows was reduced as a result of feeding hydroxy chloride trace minerals12, so cows were more likely to still be in the herd at 305 days in milk.
  • A higher chance of being pregnant at 305 days in milk11.

    Interested in the impact of Selko IntelliBond hydroxy trace minerals in your feeding strategy? Ask your local Selko nutritionist.

The main reason why hydroxy trace minerals for dairy cattle
are superior to sulfates

Trace mineral sources differ in solubility in the rumen

Sulfates are still commonly used in dairy cow nutrition, but due to their structure, they are highly soluble in an aqueous solution. This can have a negative impact on consumption of a trace mineral supplement5, on bioavailability and on rumen microbes of dairy cows. In contrast, hydroxy chloride trace minerals for dairy cattle are less soluble in the rumen of dairy cows6,7 (see Figure 2).

Figure 2, Solubility of Selko IntelliBond hydroxy trace mineral sources (HTM) or sulphate trace mineral sources (STM) of zinc, copper and manganese in the rumen of dairy cattle.

Impact of trace mineral source for dairy cows on NDF digestibility

Figure 3: Effect on NDF digestibility of feeding Selko IntelliBond hydroxy chloride trace minerals compared to sulfate trace minerals to cattle on different diets.

In an experiment carried out in the Netherlands4,8 different trace mineral sources were tested in dairy cows in a Latin square trial design:

  • 100% sulphate trace minerals
  • 100% hydroxy trace minerals
  • 70% sulphate trace minerals in combination with 30% hydroxy trace minerals
  • 70% sulphate trace minerals in combination with 30% organic trace minerals
Trace minerals for dairy cows are stored in different parts of the body, so changes in metabolism of dairy cows included in the experiment were not observed by supplying in such a short-term type of experiment because there will be storage in the liver and other organs that can release trace minerals. However, total tract apparent digestibility of nutrients was 1.5 percentage units higher in the dairy cows fed hydroxy chloride trace minerals.

Barry Bradford and colleagues from Michigan State University carried out a meta-analysis of 12 peer reviewed studies9 to evaluate the effects of replacing sulphate trace minerals with hydroxy trace minerals on nutrient digestibility in bovines. They found that both digestibility of NDF (neutral detergent fiber) and the total tract digestibility increased by 1.5 percentage points (see figure 3).

Greater NDF digestibility means cows extract more energy out of the same amount of feed, This reduces feed costs and waste and stimulates milk production.

What will be the return of investment for switching a dairy herd from sulfates to hydroxy trace minerals?

During another recent podcast, Professor Santos and Professor Barry Bradford from Michigan State University discussed the financial implications and the potential return on investment of switching a dairy herd from sulfates to Selko IntelliBond Hydroxy Trace Minerals.

An average cow on a well managed dairy farm should be able to complete 3 lactations. In her first lactation, she is expected to produce 11 to 12,000 kg of ECM, in subsequent lactations 13 to 15,000 kg of ECM can be expected. On top of that, she will produce 3 calves during her productive life. Such dairy cow in a well managed herd will therefore generate an income of about 6 to 7,000 US$.

Moving from sulfates to Selko IntelliBond Hydroxy Trace Minerals will increase costs for the total lactation by about 1.50 US$. This is without taking relative bioavailability into account. Relative bioavailability of Hydroxy Trace Minerals in ruminants is higher compared to sulfates13,14,15,16. This will decrease the difference in cost. Improving health, fertility, lactational performance and longevity of dairy cows by switching to hydroxy trace minerals is therefore a good investment for a farmer.

Questions from the webinar

What minerals do cows need?

Minerals support biological functions that are required for proper immune function, reproduction, and growth. The macro minerals that cattle need are calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride, and sulfur. The trace minerals that cows need are iron, manganese, copper, iodine, zinc, cobalt, fluoride, and selenium.

Trace minerals are metal elements that are essential to optimize animal health, wellbeing, and performance. Cows need these trace minerals in very small amounts.

Figure 4: What minerals do cows need: impact of different trace minerals and vitamins on organ systems and essential body functions of dairy cows

Why do dairy cows fed hydroxy chloride trace minerals produce more cow colostrum?

Little is known in the literature about colostrum synthesis in dairy cattle. Typically, changes in production performance are related to the number of epithelial cells secreting milk or the secretory activity of the epithelial cells. So perhaps there are changes in mammary cell populations that are affecting colostrum production in dairy cows.

There were also effects of feeding hydroxy chloride trace minerals on health of dairy cows after calving. Maybe there was also an effect on some diseases which occurred already before calving. That would allow for nutrients to be partitioned more towards synthesis of colostrum and milk rather than being necessary to fight potential dairy pathogens that are circulating during the last hours of gestation.

Why do cows fed hydroxy trace minerals produce more Energy Corrected Milk?

Firstly, this may be related to the higher bioavailability of hydroxy chloride trace minerals in dairy cows. Bioavailability was not measured in the current trial. Concentrations of copper, manganese and zinc in serum and liver were tested, but that part of the experiment is currently under completion.

A second explanation may be that dairy cows fed hydroxy chloride trace minerals had less clinical disease and lower levels of haptoglobulin after calving. Disease has a heavy burden on a dairy cow and diseases can suppress appetite, although differences in dry matter intake were not observed in the current trial. It is possible that because dairy cows fed sulfate trace mineral had more retained placenta, numerically more metritis and had more morbidity, more nutrients were used to counteract the effects of disease as opposed to being partitioned towards lactational performance of dairy cows.

Lastly, feeding hydroxy chloride trace minerals also results in at least a 1.5 percentage points increase in total tract NDF digestion of dairy cows. Greater NDF digestibility means cows extract more energy from the same amount of feed, which reduces feed costs and waste and increases milk production. Cows that can better digest NDF also produce more microbial protein. This may also have contributed slightly as a component of the increment in energy corrected milk production of the dairy cows included in the experiment.

Why is the culling rate in dairy cows fed hydroxy chloride trace minerals lower
compared to dairy cows fed sulfates?

The reduction in culling rate of dairy cows in the trial is probably the result of a combination of three factors. Dairy cows fed hydroxy chloride trace minerals:

  • Had a lower % of morbidity in early lactation
  • Produced more milk
  • Had a higher chance of becoming pregnant.
The higher culling rate in dairy cows fed sulfate trace minerals reflects a poorer peripartum health, which resulted in a slightly lower milk production and a slightly lower likelihood to get pregnant. This resulted in decisions to cull more heavily in the group of dairy cows fed sulfate trace minerals compared to the group of dairy cows fed hydroxy chloride trace minerals.

Why did you see a different impact of feeding hydroxy chloride trace minerals on
lameness compared to other diseases?

There were significant reductions in retained placenta, clinical endometritis and subclinical endometritis and there was numerically less metritis in the dairy cows fed Selko IntelliBond trace minerals. There was also a reduction of overall morbidity from 51.7 to 32.7%.

Lameness on the other hand, increased from about 2% to 6% with 2 lame animals in the STM group vs. 5 in the HTM group. A cow had to be healthy, not lame, to be enrolled in the experiment. So somewhere between enrolment and 105 DIM, those 7 animals were diagnosed with lameness, based on a lameness scoring system of 1 to 5. Score 1 would be an animal that stands and walks with a straight back, score 2 would be an animal that stands with a straight back and when she walks, she arches her back, whereas score 3 would be standing and walking with an arched back. Lameness was defined as having a score 3 or greater.

It is hard to draw conclusions on just this experiment. In general, you would think that a more bioavailable zinc source which is important for tissue replenishment and integrity, would result in less lameness, as has been shown in other experiments, but we didn't see that in our trial.

What is the impact of feeding hydroxy chloride trace minerals on the environmental
footprint of dairy farming?

The work that was carried out with Professor Kebreab at UC Davis on the impact of feeding Selko IntelliBond hydroxy chloride trace minerals on the carbon footprint per kg of Energy Corrected Milk produced was mainly based on the change in NDF digestibility. If you would add the data from this experiment that showed a little bit less morbidity and an improvement of production, the footprint of dairy farming, whether that's carbon, water or any other resource, should be less. Improving production performance and health of dairy cows will therefore benefit the industry as a whole, by reducing the footprint of production.

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Selko IntelliBond, Improving fibre digestibility to optimize performance

Feed efficiency in dairy cows can be defined as kg of Energy Corrected Milk (ECM) per kg of dry matter consumed. Feed efficiency in lactating cows can vary from <1.3 to >2.0. There are a number of factors that have an impact on feed efficiency but improving digestibility of feed can have a huge impact on feed efficiency.

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References

  1. Goff, J.P, and J.R. Stabel (1990). Decreased plasma retinol, alpha-tocopherol, and zinc concentration during the periparturient period: effect of milk fever. J. Dairy Sci, 73(11):3195-9.

  2. Miroshnikov, S.A, Notova, S.V, Skalnaya, M.G, Sizova, E.A, Marshinskaia, O.V, Kazakova, T.V, Skalny, A.V, Michalke, B, Ajsuvakova, O.P. and A. A. Tinkov (2020). Speciation of Serum Copper and Zinc-Binding High- and Low-Molecular Mass Ligands in Dairy Cows Using HPLC-ICP-MS Technique Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., Sect. B Biol. Sci. 90:9-19.

  3. López-Alonso, M. and M. Miranda (2020). Copper Supplementation, A Challenge in Cattle. Animals 10(10):1890.

  4. Goff, J.P. (2018). Invited review: Mineral absorption mechanisms, mineral interactions that affect acid-base and antioxidant status, and diet considerations to improve mineral status. J. Dairy Sci. 101:2763–2813.

  5. Caramalac, L. S., A. Saran Netto, P. G. M. A. Martins, P. Moriel, J. Ranches, H. J. Fernandes, and J. D. Arthington (2017). Effects of hydroxychloride sources of copper, zinc, and manganese on measures of supplement intake, mineral status, and pre- and post- weaning performance of beef calves. J. Anim. Sci. 95:1739-1750.

  6. Guimaraes, O, Jalali, S, Wagner, T, Spears, J and T. Engle (2019). The influence of trace mineral source on fiber digestion, rumen fermentation characteristics, and mineral solubility in beef cattle fed a low-quality forage diet. J. An. Science. 97, Issue Supp. 3: 167.

  7. Guimares, O., Wagner, J.J, Spears, J.W, Brandao, V.L.N. and T. E. Engle (2022). Trace mineral source influences copper, zinc, and manganese distribution in steers fed a diet suitable for lactating cows. Animals. 16:1-9.

  8. Daniel, J.B, Kvidera, S.K. and J. Martín-Tereso (2020). Total-tract digestibility and milk productivity of dairy cows as affected by trace mineral sources. J. Dairy Sci. 103(10): 8081-9089.

  9. Ibraheem, M, Kvidera, S. and B. Bradford (2021). Meta-analysis to determine the impact of trace mineral source on nutrient digestibility in dairy and beef animals. J. Dairy Sci. 104: 97.

  10. Adeoti, T, Sarwar, Z, Marinho, M.N, Rasia, J, Oliveira, L.R.S, Simões, B.S, Perdomo, M.C, Griswold, K. and J. E. P. Santos. (2024). Effects of source of trace minerals on production performance in dairy cows. J. Dairy Sci: 107, Suppl. 1, 242.

  11. Sarwar, Z, Adeoti, T, Marinho, M.N, Rasia, J, Oliveira, L.R.S, Simões, B.S, Perdomo, M.C, Griswold, K. and J. E. P. Santos. (2024). Effect of source of trace minerals on conceptus development and reproduction in dairy cows. J. Dairy Sci: 107, Suppl. 1, 231.

  12. Sarwar, Z, Adeoti, T, Marinho, M.N, Rasia, J, Oliveira, L.R.S, Simões, B.S, Perdomo, M.C, Griswold, K. and J. E. P. Santos. (2024). Effects of source of trace minerals on health and survival of dairy cows. J. Dairy Sci: 107, Suppl. 1, 353.

  13. Spears, W, Kegley, E.B. and L.A. Mullis (2004) Bioavailability of copper from tribasic copper chloride and copper sulfate in growing cattle. Animal Feed Science and Technology 116: 1–13.

  14. Shaeffer, G.L, Lloyd, K.E, and J.W. Spears (2017). Bioavailability of zinc hydroxychloride relative to zinc sulfate in growing cattle fed a corn-cottonseed hull-based diet. Animal Feed Science and Technology 232 (2017) 1–5.

  15. Caldera, C.E, Weigel, B, Kucharczyk, V.N, Sellins, K.S, Archibeque, S.L, Wagner, J.J, Han, H, Spears, J.B. and T.E. Engle (2019). Trace mineral source influences ruminal distribution of copper and zinc and their binding strength to ruminal digesta. J. Anim. Sci., 97:1852-1864.

  16. VanValin, K. R., Genther-Schroeder, O.N., Laudert, S.B. and S. L. Hansen (2019). Relative bioavailability of organic and hydroxy copper sources in growing steers fed a high antagonist diet. J. Anim. Sci. 97:1375-1383.