An exhibitor at the Lethbridge Ag Expo was helping producers ensure they have the right minerals and vitamins for calving time.

Southern Alberta Territory Manager for Kane Vet Supplies, Tammy Monk, says selenium is important in preventing white muscle disease during the calving season.

She says, vitamins A and D, which help with the cattle's immune system, are also important this time of year.

"Anytime your cattle have a good supply of mineral in their system, and they're all topped up so to speak, it prevents any kind of cleaning issues after calving, it improves conception, and you cows just do better. They raise healthier calves, which then healthier calves aren't going to get as sick. They do just better all the way around."

However Monk says, a fire at a BASF citral manufacturing plant last October in Germany has made it difficult for producers to get their hands on vitamins A, D and E.

"It is a bit of a concern, because a lot of guys like to inject vitamin A and D into their baby calves when they're first born, so that's been a major concern, and that's actually a concern we've been facing since about this time last year. So it was in short supply last year, and now there isn't any of it. So they're really looking toward mineral blocks, loose mineral, those kinds of things to help out their cows."

Monk says, she thinks there's allocation for these vitamins in loose mineral, but the price has sky rocketed, meaning producers are not wanting to buy it.

 

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