How Much Do Lick Tubs Cost?

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Last updated on November 10th, 2023 at 02:25 pm

What do lick tubs cost? That’s a very broad question, and it varies greatly between brands.

Have you ever wondered how companies come up with the prices of their tub or their mineral? I know I've asked it a million times, because you see tubs that will be less than $100, and then some that are a few hundred dollars! ... and I remember thinking, there is no way that that price difference is coming from the premium of a brand name. There's got to be something that's making those prices so different.

To break it down, we need to dig in and analyze the factors that drive costs either up or down so you can make the best decision for your ranch.

With most lick tubs, the cost is engineered to be right around the magic number of $100. The hundred dollar bill seems to be an average price point, and as soon as tub prices stray too far off of that, you probably start asking why.

It’s important to realize, though, that high-quality mineral tubs will be quite a bit higher than $100. When you see tubs that are well above $100, there are a few key factors to check for, to make sure the tubs are worth your money.

how cheap is cheap?

So, ranchers have asked what makes tub prices so different. Why are some tubs around $60 and other tubs around $400? The quick answer? Lower-priced products tend to have cheaper ingredients.

This allows the tubs to have a higher quantity of ingredients in there, while keeping that tub price low.

However, cheap ingredients mean less bioavailability to your animals. So that is actually hurting you, your pocketbook, and your ranch more than anything else.

Take minerals, for example. Oxides and sulfates are some of the most common trace minerals that are used in the industry. But again, they are cheap ingredients, and the cheaper the ingredient, the less bioavailable it is. At the end of the day, that is only going to hurt you and your operation because your animals have a hard time using that mineral. Cheap mineral has a higher chance of getting tied up in the rumen and never actually reaching the cow's bloodstream. That means it will have a harder time of increasing breed up, optimizing genetics, and getting more out of your existing land base.

There was some work done by North Carolina State that showed these cheap ingredients are actually pretty detrimental to the biology in the rumen, not to mention the biology in the soil too.

It's important to look at more than just the price tag of a product. Look at ingredients, and look at the quality of those ingredients. So many tubs that are priced lower also have cheaper ingredients.

important factor: digestion components

Another contributing factor that makes tub prices either go up or down is digestion components. Now, tubs that are on the lower-priced end of the spectrum probably don't have any added components for digestion.

Tubs in the middle of the road might have 2, 3, or 4 components, which is good, but keep in mind that there are some tubs that have close to twenty added components for digestion.

A quality tub should focus not strictly on protein IN the tub, but more importantly, optimizing the microbial protein. To do this, a good digestion package is key to stimulate and increase the microbe population so that your cattle can better-digest and better-utilize their forages and at the same time have more microbes that are being used as a protein source further down the GI tract. By getting the full potential out of existing forages, you will also be able to see an offset in cost with more hay savings.

Learn more about how to offset your supplement cost or how to squeeze more out of your existing forages.

Every time a digestion component is added, the digestion efficiency is going to improve, and with that, a slight increase in price.

tub concentration

Another component or aspect that will change the price of the tub is the concentration of the tub. In the lower-priced range, the tubs are typically not going to be very concentrated. The cattle will go through them faster because they contain fillers like salt. Salt is an extremely cheap commodity that can help keep the tub price low, but not provide much return on investment.

Tubs in the higher-priced range should be much more concentrated and dense. That simply means the cattle will not go through it as fast and you have more feedings per barrel, so it'll last longer.

It's no different than if you were to look at round-up. You can buy round-up as a concentrated product, or pre-blended. It's simply a different rate of application with the concentrated product, and you'll use way less round-up than you would with the pre-blended version.

number-crunching

Let's say we have a 250 lb. tub that costs us $200. If we put it out to 50 cows and it lasts 5 days, that is an average of 1 lb. per head per day consumption.

If this product costs $200, let's take that price divided by 250 lbs. That equates to 80¢ per pound of product. Now, multiply that by consumption, which was 1 lb.

Total cost: 80¢ per head per day to feed that $200 product.

Now on the other end of the spectrum, let's take a 250 lb. tub to 50 mother cows again, but this tub's gonna cost us $460. Additionally, because this tub is so concentrated, it will last 20 days.

So the average daily consumption is 1/4 of a pound. Now, this product costs $460, and again we divide that price by 250 lbs. of product. That's $1.84 per pound.

Then, multiply that by the consumption, 1/4 of a pound.

This time, the total cost is: 46¢ per head per day to feed.

So although it was a $460 product versus a $200 product, it is costing us just over half as much on a daily basis, which is your true cost to feed.

where does riomax fit in?

You'll find that the Riomax® tubs are going to be priced on the higher end of the spectrum when it comes to the price per tub.

But, you'll also find that Riomax® is fundamentally different than anything in the industry. Riomax® products contain key trace minerals that are 100% protected so that you have the most bioavailable products for your animals so that they can actually use those key trace minerals. Additionally, Riomax® has the highest number of digestion components, compared to other products on the market. Why's that? To really focus in on the efficiencies of your herd.

Additionally, Riomax® products are specifically designed to be highly concentrated to help you have a low consumption per head per day, which helps drive your cost to feed down per head per day. Plus, it's all backed up by a consumption guarantee!