CALF_News_April_May_2020

7 CALF News • April | May 2020 • www.calfnews.net Can you guess which supplement they prefer? The research shows calves prefer supplements with IntelliBond ® trace minerals trace minerals www.micro.net (317) 486-5880 Smart minerals, smart nutrition... smart decision SULFATE FREE N o C o p p e r S u l f a t e • N o Z i n c S u l f a t e • N o M a n g a n e s e S u l f a t e • TraceMineral MADE IN USA Three studies confirmed it. When given a choice, beef calves are more than twice as likely to consume supplements with IntelliBond ® trace minerals compared to sulfate or organic sources of trace minerals. 1-3 Switch to IntelliBond trace minerals for better palatability, plus higher bioavailability, increased fiber digestibility, less leaching and less binding with antagonists. 1 Wiebusch, 2015. JAM. 2 Caramalac et al., 2017. J. Anim. Sci. 95:1739-1750. 3 Micronutrients trial #2017BC106USCZM. IntelliBond ® is a registered trademark of Micronutrients, a Nutreco company. © 2019 Micronutrients USA, LLC. All rights reserved. Check out the data and discover the benefits of a sulfate-free trace mineral program at micro.net/species/beef . “If you had a ranch with 1,000 cattle that was established by your parents or grandparents 50 years ago, the first 10 years that ranch produced new methane for the atmosphere,” Mitloehner said. “But after the first 10 years, the amount of methane produced by those cattle and the amount destroyed in the atmosphere equaled each other. Over the last 40 years, that ranch did not add additional warming to the atmosphere.” Plant- and cell-based food produc- tion leaders don’t tell that story,“they say animal agriculture needs to go bye-bye,” he said. In addition, GHG from livestock is different from fossil fuel use. Mitloehner said when livestock graze on grass, they remove forage’s cellulose, the most abundant biomass in the world.“What can digest cellulose – ruminants?” Mit- loehner said. The cellulose is produced by carbon from CO 2 ; the ruminant eats the grass that contains cellulous. “Some of that carbon becomes methane, which is either belched out or derived from the manure the animal produces,” he said.“That methane is in the atmosphere for 10 years, after which it is destroyed. “So the cow recycles the existing carbon over and over in a cyclical manner. If you have a constant number of livestock on a ranch, dairy or feedlot, you are not adding new carbon to the atmosphere. “We have just been able to get this narrative out there [published in scientific journals].We are now getting traction. Maybe pretty soon our ‘special friends’ will know that and will change their nar- rative from GHG to something else.” While cattle are upcyclers, GHG generated from fossil fuel users remains in the atmosphere. Through carbon recy- cling, livestock production actually helps offset GHG produced from burners of fossil fuel.“Major customers of animal ag products need to make this a top topic in their objectives,” Mitloehner said. Overall, only 3.9 percent of GHG is produced by animal agriculture in the United States. Only 2 percent comes Continued on page 13  The International Livestock Congress at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (HLSR) brought together producers, animal health professionals, government officials, domestic and foreign ag students and other allied industries. The congress was held the week before the massive HLSR was shut down early due to potential threat from coronavirus.