Cattle grazing summer pastures; it is late in summer and pastures are beginning to dry off now. The recent rain will definitely affect the mineral content of the dry pasture as it tends to leach the soluble minerals out of the plant back into the soil. The general rule is the more rain on your dry pasture the more nutrients are expected to be leached out leaving you with a pasture which is more like straw. If your cattle and sheep were growing well a month ago and look like they are going backwards now then there is a good chance that this is the problem.
We have observed an increasing number of cattle which have large stomachs full of feed but are losing weight. This is not uncommon for this time of year and for this we recommend a protein supplement. What is happening is that the population of rumen bacteria is low therefore reducing the efficiency of fibre breakdown and digestion. This has come about by a reduction in protein, energy and essential minerals in the dry summer pasture, which are required for good rumen health. StockGro – HiPro helps to provide a good environment in the rumen for these bacteria to reproduce and enable the cow to digest fibre more effectively.
Creating a healthy rumen environment for bacteria growth and reproduction is extremely important for cattle maintenance and growth as the bacteria themselves are an extremely rich source of protein and, when the rumen is operating at full capacity, account for a large amount of digestible protein. When a healthy rumen environment is created the bulge in the animal’s stomach will reduce and the cattle will start to put on weight. StockGro – HiPro + Bovatec® is similar to HiPro but has Bovatec Lasalocid added to help promote growth more efficiently.
