The Truth About Cattle Health in a Severe Drought

It really kind of shocked me because I wasn't that wasn't in the my mind at the time. You know, there's been years where I've had to treat up to twenty head of calves out of my weaning time. The year before, I I don't remember the exact number, it was actually down probably five or six. And then last year there was no calves that I didn't have to doctor a single calf. I grew up on this ranch. Drought's one of our biggest issues that we run into. The cattle out here, we don't get a lot of sickness unless they're weaning calves. That's when we usually run into sickness, but these cows are pretty hardy. The grass is kinda short, but it's really stout. So I was kinda looking to lower my feed costs in the wintertime. I'd heard about Riomax to a friend and so I started trying it and I kinda backed off on my caking in the winter. This is my third year to do it. And the first year the cows really did good on it. Calves did really good when I weaned them. This last year when I weaned my calves, they were really gentle, they did real good. I put tubs out for them. They went right to the tubs, went to licking on them, they didn't walk the fences. I didn't doctor any calves this last year, everything was very healthy. Makes me feel like the investment is worth it. Know, per tub it is kind of expensive, but when I shipped my calves, they were about thirty pounds heavier than they were the year before. And so if you pencil it out, it comes back and profits your investment. This last year's market, it's worth a lot of money. Obviously, when you don't have sick calves, when you don't have the stress we weaning them, a cow's conditioning, even in drier years, kind of like we're having now, The cows stay in good shape and they're producing more milk, which also helps with your calves, weaning your calves. So I think just the overall picture of what these cattle are doing is is a big plus. I did try some just some loose minerals. It didn't seem as profitable as as the Riomax has in the last few years. The loose minerals, they seem to eat more of it, and so it just seemed like we were going through a lot more of it. Know, it just, I didn't see the overall health of the cattle improve like I have with the Riomax. When they're not stressed at weaning, they eat better, they'll gain a little, and you just don't lose as much weaning weight as you would we weren't on it. They're utilizing the grass better, their gut's working better, everything just is in a better place. I cut my feed the first year I cut it in half. What I usually do is I get four pounds a day, three days a week. I cut that back to about eight or nine pounds a week and now we're doing about two pounds every three days is about what we're feeding them along with the Riomax. And when you're looking at four hundred and a quarter a ton for feed, you know, that cuts back way back on on your cost of your feed. Just getting that gut working and and they're utilizing more of the protein and energy that they're getting out of that cake, and it makes them healthier and and do better. This last year when I preg checked, we had a better breeding rate. You know, actually this year I did notice like these cows in this pasture did calve a lot more uniform calves, more in a tighter window. I feel like the cost is way more worth it than I initially thought it was gonna be. I mean, you can't just invest one time and then it doesn't seem to work. So all of a sudden you're thinking, I can't do that anymore. These cows, it's whether whatever you're putting in them, you know, you gotta give it some time to see what you're doing, just whether it's working or not. Ninety days is not long enough. There's things that you invest in that are actually worth the investment, and thankfully this is one of those that has paid off for me. It's really impressed me how well it's worth for these cattle.