Good nutrition is vital to keeping your livestock healthy and happy. Good nutrition directly impacts body condition score, fertility, and milk or egg productivity. A healthy diet also contributes to the ability of your livestock’s immune system to fight disease. Keep in mind your species, age, and health needs. Your climate is a factor too. Your animals will need more calories during the winter than during the summer months. Protein is another critical portion of the diet. Having enough protein is vital for building muscles and STRONG immune systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nutrition can seem overwhelming. Working with a nutritionist familiar with organic and alternative operations is a great place to begin. Working with someone who understands your local area is also helpful. Knowing what nutrients are in your soil and forages and what supplements neighboring farms use to make up for any deficiencies is also valuable information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nutritionists may suggest having your pastures and soil analyzed. That way you know what you might need to do in the way of micronutrient supplementation for your livestock. Some important micronutrients include cobalt, zinc, iodine, manganese, iron, copper, and selenium. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Make sure you provide easy access to clean water. Water is often the last thing that crosses the producer’s mind when thinking about nutrition. But it is the most essential nutrient an animal can receive. Animals must always have access to clean, fresh water. This may mean scrubbing tanks in the summer when algae forms or chipping ice off in the winter when it gets cold. Providing a heated water tank in the winter often entices animals to drink more, preventing problems that arise due to dehydration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oregon Tilth-Feed and Supplements for Organic Livestock<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n ATTRA-Small Scale Livestock Production<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n ATTRA-Managing Internal Parasites: Success Stories<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n SDSU Extension-Cow Mineral Nutrition: Trace Minerals and Managing Interactions<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n UGA Extension-Mineral Supplements for Beef Cattle<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Good nutrition is vital to keeping your livestock healthy and happy. Good nutrition directly impacts body condition score, fertility, and milk or egg productivity. A healthy diet also contributes to the ability of your livestock’s immune system to fight disease. Keep in mind your species, age, and health needs. Your climate is a factor too. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[7,9,8,6,10],"class_list":["post-474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feed-and-water","tag-alternative","tag-feed","tag-livestock","tag-organic","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfsph.iastate.edu\/thelivestockproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfsph.iastate.edu\/thelivestockproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfsph.iastate.edu\/thelivestockproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfsph.iastate.edu\/thelivestockproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfsph.iastate.edu\/thelivestockproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfsph.iastate.edu\/thelivestockproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":476,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfsph.iastate.edu\/thelivestockproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474\/revisions\/476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfsph.iastate.edu\/thelivestockproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfsph.iastate.edu\/thelivestockproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfsph.iastate.edu\/thelivestockproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfsph.iastate.edu\/thelivestockproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}