Maintaining optimal mineral status in cattle can be tricky for producers, especially for herds in pasture. This is why a lot of them implement mineral supplementation. Drovers just shared an insightful article that talks about recent studies done by the University of Illinois.

Animal scientists from the University of Illinois studied the effects of injecting Multimin®90, a trace mineral, on the reproductive performance of beef heifers. The first study was published in Translational Animal Science. Dan Shike, an associate professor, and his team injected heifers with the supplement at 1 ml for every 68 kilograms 33 days before artificial insemination. The heifers were spread out in Baylis, Champaign, and Simpson.

Shike says they had variable results in those three herds. Two herds had very good AI conception rates, so they did not see a response to the injectable. In one herd, however, the controls were below where they would have liked them to be, and after giving the injectable, there was an improvement in conception rates. "In that particular case, it appeared that trace mineral was limiting," Shike said.

The second study was published in the Journal of Animal Science.Shike and his team injected the supplement into heifers every 90 days. They began at weaning to final pregnancy confirmation. The amount of supplementation was provided at variable rates according to age, body weight, and also label specifications. The injections had no effect on reproductive performance, yet the status of both selenium and copper improved. This was compared to the animals who only received saline injections.

While the product does not make a huge difference with regard to reproductive performance, Shike believes there is value in the product, as trace minerals are crucial to overall cattle health. You can read the full article here.

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