14 April 2025

4 minute read

By: Lee Williamson

North America

Dr. Chance Farmer, Beef Technical Manager with Selko, spoke to The Cattle Site’s Sarah Mikesell in San Antonio, Texas at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association meeting, CattleCon 2025.

For trace minerals, more isn't always more when it comes to ROI. In fact, new research shows that feeding less of a mineral can sometimes generate a better return on investment. 

Tell us about your research, Chance.

It really comes down to not just the level of trace minerals you're feeding, but also the source that you're feeding. What we're referring to is the traditional use of sulfates that we've used for years to deliver copper, zinc and manganese to cattle. They have served their purpose for a long time, but we have better sources now like IntelliBond's hydroxy trace minerals. We know we do a better job of meeting the copper, zinc and manganese requirements of those cattle.

One thing that we've seen in the industry through the years is the overfeeding of sulfate-based trace minerals to make sure that we don't have a deficiency in copper, zinc and manganese. Often with the overfeeding of these sulfate-based trace minerals, we can hurt performance more than we help performance. 

What the research really shows us is that when you use a better, higher quality, more available source of copper, zinc and manganese like the IntelliBond, you don't have to feed as much as you do with a lower quality sulfate-based trace mineral. It really plays to the idea that there's a lot of feed tags out there that have what I like to call “tag dressing.” They have a lot of copper, zinc and manganese that are probably unnecessary for the animal, especially if we're talking about using those lower quality sulfate sources.

When you talk about being more available, it's more bioavailable in the calf’s system.

Absolutely, it's more bioavailable. What we found with the research we did at Colorado State over a three-year study through three calf crops is that using higher quality IntelliBond trace minerals at a lower level than what we fed the sulfate trace minerals, we've actually improved the copper, zinc and manganese levels in the liver of those cows. That translated to higher pregnancy rates to artificial insemination (AI). That happens year over year, and now we're seeing actual weaning weights of those cows on the higher quality mineral, like IntelliBond, that are better. It's really a great payoff for cattlemen these days just because of the value of the weight you can sell.

The fear in the industry has been not getting enough, so overfeed trace minerals. The research data says you don't have to worry with IntelliBond?

Yes, that's correct. We must remember, the reason the copper, zinc and manganese are called trace minerals is because they're needed in trace amounts. We know that they're very important, they're required by the animal every day, but overfeeding them can be setting us back further than just feeding the right amount particularly if you use the sulfate-based trace minerals. Meeting the requirement with a higher quality trace mineral like IntelliBond hydroxy trace mineral will make more money in the end, for sure.

What' IntelliBond's return on investment?

It's more than a return on investment. If you look at the price of the product, your input cost, it may be a little bit higher going in, like $2 to $4 a cow a year. The return on investment, at least in this study, has been anywhere from $20 to $30 per cow. That's just changing the copper, zinc and manganese level. 

Really the improvement in the pregnancy rate to artificial insemination with more cows coming back in heat earlier is allowing for more cows to get bred earlier in the calving season. Which has allowed for heavier weaning weights on those cows on the higher quality trace mineral program.

Everything costs more now than it used to; it should be no major surprise. There's no reason to spend more than you need to, particularly when it could become a problem from a nutritional standpoint. Just use the higher quality source at the right level to meet requirements and your return on investment will always be as good as it can be.