Back in November of 2013, I wrote a blog about how numbers change every day. We are still setting records for cattle prices 7 months later. I saw a video on YouTube where some 425# calves brought $301/cwt on a video auction. August feeder cattle have been over $200/cwt for more than a week now. The cattle markets are hot, and we best take advantage of them! Or as the old cliché says, “Strike while the iron is hot!”
Looking at these climbing prices for calves and feeder cattle always makes me think of the return on your investment, for the products we sell. An ionophore in your summer mineral program for yearlings has a very attractive return. Research we conducted in Oklahoma with pressed blocks showed that the mineral program alone increased gains by about 10%. It also showed that the ionophore (in this case Rumensin®) increased gains by another 10%. If your yearlings are gaining 2 pounds/hd/d and they are worth $2 a pound, the mineral program with an ionophore could add 0.4 lb/hd/d or 80 cents a day. The cost of that program in a pressed block is around 15 cents a day, a return of over 5 to 1 on your investment. Over a 120 day summer grazing season, you can be looking at an additional return of $70 per head.
If we look at the CRYSTALYX® Iono-Lyx® (Bovatec®) program, you can see similar responses on summer grass, for a cost of about 36 cents a day. Here, on that same 120 day summer grazing season, you can be looking at an additional return of $50 per head. An additional advantage with Iono-Lyx® is that, as grass matures and protein content drops, you can see even more improvement in gains due to its 28% protein content. Iono-Lyx® is designed to give you optimum self-fed mineral, Bovatec® and protein supplementation all in one blue barrel.
So when the rains stop coming at the end of July or August, you know it is the perfect time to roll out the blue barrels to capitalize on 3 time tested nutritional advantages that will work for you.
- Macro and trace mineral supplementation
- The number 1 grazing Ionophore = Bovatec®,
- Supplemental crude protein, when your grass protein content declines.
CRYSTALYX® Brand self-fed supplements are an excellent way to maximize your returns from a summer grazing program. They are available 24/7, and they minimize your investment in time, labor and equipment. Roll out the Blue Barrels while the markets are hot, and set back and let the additional quarters and half dollars pile up on every head, every day.
