Last updated on April 7th, 2022 at 01:02 pm
here's why a hard look at your mineral program can save you money.
Making a switch in your mineral program may be one of the best management decisions you can make.
MEET JERED SHIPMAN
Shipwreck Cattle Company
Grandview, Texas
Remember that old cigarette commercial where the actor declared he’d rather fight than switch? Well, when it comes to your mineral program, you’re ahead to switch rather than fight.
That’s what Jered Shipman knows. And he’s not shy about telling customers for his show heifers and breeding bulls the best way to make the switch in their mineral program.
How’s that? Riomax® tubs. “I’m the best unpaid salesman Riomax® has,” he says, only half-jokingly.
Shipman was a ranch manager in the Texas Panhandle, then moved his operation to Grandview, south of Fort Worth, where he raises Angus and Sim-Angus cattle. He’s also an auctioneer and partner in a sales management company, so he puts plenty of miles on his pickup and talks to plenty of beef producers.
“I’ve always been a nutrition and health freak on the cowherd,” he says. “With mineral or health, if one increment is out of sync, it can be a disaster.”
He knows of what he speaks. Over the years, he’s used just about every kind of tub or loose mineral product on the market. Then years ago, he was visiting a ranch in South Dakota and saw the Riomax® tubs. He asked what they were and the rancher raved about the results he was getting.
At the time, Riomax® tubs weren’t readily available in Texas. Eventually, however, they were and Shipman says Riomax® showed up at a time when he was searching for a savior from a mineral standpoint.
He leases his pastures and some of the country can be rough and poor. “We’d been going down a road of poor conception rates. We went straight to Riomax® and the results were almost instantaneous from a conception rate standpoint,” he says.
“The other factors about Riomax® are from a foot health, a joint health standpoint, whether it’s bulls or donor cows or those females we’re feeding for the boys to show or getting a set of heifer calves ready to sell. We’ve eliminated a lot of minor health issues.”
In addition to solving his conception issues in his cows, he’s seeing similar results with the bulls he sells. From a bull development perspective, he says a good nutrition program is important. And a good nutrition program includes both good feed and good mineral.
“We’ve had really, really great results on semen checks and bull health in general. It’s done wonders for us and selling bulls private treaty, our customers have been happy.”
Shipman’s cow herd hovers around 100 head, but since he travels a lot, most of the day-to-day management falls on his wife and father-in-law. They appreciate that, with Riomax® tubs, they don’t have to check and fill loose mineral feeders every couple of days.
Now he keeps tubs in front of his cattle year ‘round. “It’s a product that keeps on giving and you’ve got to be religious about it and keep it in front of them.” Some ranchers, when they see the price tag, are reluctant to give it a try. That’s where Shipman turns into a Riomax® salesman.
He’s experienced what Riomax® can do with his cows and has seen similar results on many other outfits. “It pays for itself,” he says. Over the long haul, “It’s probably the best product with the most in it for the least amount of money.”
In West Texas, ranchers are just one rain away from a drought. A client in the Texas Panhandle recently went about 13 months with no recordable moisture, he says. “They were on another product and I said you guys need to look at this Riomax® program.”
They switched and combining Riomax® with ration from a mixer, Shipman says they got through the drought in decent shape until it started raining again. He visited the ranch recently and says the results speak for themselves.
Given those experiences, Shipman isn’t shy about spreading the good news about what Riomax® can do. “When we switched to Riomax®, a lot of things started happening in the right direction,” he says. And he’ll tell you that switching to Riomax® can do the same for your herd.