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For Terry Ellis, the proof of how well CRYSTALYX^® is working comes each spring when he holds his annual replacement heifer sale. "Brigade^® builds them up and slicks them up," the Medicine Hat, Alberta, cattleman says. With their slick and shiny coats, and muscled but not fatty body condition, the heifers just "looked good to the buyers."

For the past several falls, Ellis has put the heifer calves on to Brigade^® and irrigated pasture after weaning. He leaves a couple of older cows in with the heifers to train the calves how to lick the barrels.

After freeze-up, Ellis moves the heifers into a feedlot situation where they're fed silage and Brigade^® through the winter. He believes Brigade^® provides a healthy package that encourages the heifers to grow.

"In our country, there's usually something lacking," he explains. "Brigade^® enhances their growth by providing what our feedstuffs are short of." He's seen the payoff in both better calves and lower vet bills. Ellis can't remember the last time he treated a calf for anything. "You can tell the difference between a pen of calves that are on Brigade^® and those that aren't," he asserts.

He became interested in feeding CRYSTALYX^® products because he was unhappy with the liquid supplement he had been using. CRYSTALYX^® gives him more consumption control than he had with the liquid where the cattle would "lick and lick and lick and lick until it was gone."

Ellis sells all his steer calves at weaning. He feeds Mineral-lyx^® to the brood cows over the winter. Compared to loose mineral supplement, Mineral-lyx^® is quite reasonable cost-wise, he says. "I can't prove it, but the cows seem to utilize their feed better with Mineral-lyx^® than without it."

The combination of Mineral-lyx^® to winter the cows and Brigade^® to grow the calves is working for Ellis.