Minerals in Balance: More isn't always better

Providing the correct level of trace minerals is crucial for maintaining dairy cow health, fertility, and performance. Following the NASEM 2021 guidelines helps prevent deficiencies, while also ensuring excess supply is avoided.

Over-supply is common. Studies show that 90% of farms exceed recommended levels, leading to unnecessary costs, potential toxicity, and environmental risks. Why does this happen? Many diets don’t account for minerals already present in forages and by-products. The guidelines are based on total diet—so it’s important to include all sources.

Benefits of getting it right:

Lower feed costs

Better cow health and performance

Reduced mineral waste and environmental impact

Using high-quality sources like Selko IntelliBond can further boost results and sustainability.

What are the risks of over-supply:

Over-supplying dairy cows with trace minerals on the other hand, can lead to:

Increased feed costs

Trace mineral toxicity in cattle

Increased reactivity towards vitamins in premixes, supplements and in a TMR

Antagonist effects with other minerals

Decreased dairy performance

Trace mineral ions being excreted into the environment, leading to trace mineral soil contamination

The goal of trace mineral management is to achieve optimal mineral supply, avoiding trace mineral deficiencies in cattle, but also avoiding trace mineral toxicity in cattle through excessive mineral supplementation and avoiding higher costs without a return on investment.

Recognizing the risks of oversupply in cows

Click on the icons below to find out more.

Feed
Sulphate trace minerals are highly reactive in feed, and can react with vitamins in feed, reducing vitamin supply and wasting resources.
Rumen
Feeding sulphate trace minerals can negatively impact NDF digestibility of feed, reducing overall feed efficiency.
Liver
Feeding dairy cows too much copper—above NASEM guidelines—can lead to liver accumulation and chronic toxicity; a UK study showed 38% of cull cows had toxic liver copper levels.

There are three key steps to ensuring your mineral supplementation is optimal for your herd:

1. Understand the mineral requirements of your herd:

Your Trouw Nutrition representative can interpret NASEM 2021 published requirements, alongside recent R&Dwhich models the variation in milk yield, liveweight, dry matter intake, diet, forage mineral analysis etc to ensure the variation within a herd is taken into account when balancing a mineral. The NASEM guidelines for dairy cattle serve as benchmark for formulating diets that meet the specific needs of lactating and non-lactating dairy cows. The NASEM guidelines are based on total diet.
Consider any issues you may have on farm, such as high SCC, fertility, poor rumen environment etc, these can be taken into account when recommending the most suitable mineral supplement for your herd.

2. Determine the level of mineral supply in the basal ration

Forage mineral analysis is a helpful tool in assessing your basal ration mineral supply and can highlight if there are likely to be any issues with mineral interactions or antagonism.
Consider the feeding groups on farm to get the most appropriate mineral supplements for the whole herd. Where there are different lactating groups on farm it is important to consider the different feeding regimes to ensure appropriate supplementation.

3. Meeting the shortfall with Maxcare farm minerals

Maxcare farm minerals have been formulated to contain Selko IntelliBond trace minerals for optimal performance and reduced environmental impact. The complete mineral package is formulated to ensure a balanced overall supply.

Impact of Optizming Your Mineral Management