CALF_News_June_July_2021

17 CALF News • June | July 2021 • www.calfnews.net Still feeding sulfate trace minerals? How distasteful. www.micro.net | (317) 486-5880 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. © 2020 Micronutrients USA, LLC. All rights reserved. Smart minerals, smart nutrition... smart decision Calves prefer the taste of supplements with IntelliBond ® more than 2 to 1 vs. sulfate trace minerals. 1-3 Did you know cattle have 25,000 taste buds? That makes them extra-sensitive to the bad taste of free metals from sulfate trace minerals in the ration, and causes them to consume less feed. But when you feed IntelliBond ® trace minerals instead, calves keep eating. Studies show calves prefer supplements that include IntelliBond ® more than 2 to 1 vs. sulfate trace minerals . 1-3 Ask your nutritionist about the tastier trace mineral option. Learn more at micro.net/species/beef. Many BMG feedyards have access to farmland. They grow crops utiliz- ing manure from pens, which reduces the need for commercial fertilizer and increases efficiency. “Also, we regularly feed distiller’s grains in our rations,” Butler points out. “To further improve efficiency, we developed a partnership with an ethanol plant. Its co-products go directly back to the feedyards.” Electronic ear tags enable feedyards to tie information from the ranch to their record system. Yards can provide carcass data back to the ranch for any animal. BMG is also exploring new technolo- gies, including blockchain, to determine if there is opportunity to seamlessly and confidentially transfer information that could be valuable to participants in the supply chain. Industry Involvement Butler says partnerships and involve- ment across the beef cattle industry have been important to the Beef Marketing Group. In addition to PFG, Wendy’s, Where Food Comes From, Tyson and the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef have been strong supporters of BMG and Progressive Beef. In addressing industry issues, Butler points out the need to better accommo- date smaller producers. “We still need to address the cow-calf operator. There are huge numbers of smaller producers,” he says. “Improved trust is also needed among ranchers, feedyards and packers.” He believes BMG is on the right track in promoting and facilitating the pasture-to-plate philosophy. “Trying to connect a ranch in one part of country to the meat case in another can be difficult,” Butler says. “That’s why we try to look at the end before we start. We must know how we can impact that in a positive way.”  BMG cattle often graze wheat or rye before going on feed.