Farms across America are inching closer to the warmer weather of springtime, and cattle health is especially important during seasonal transitions. Dr. Blaine Corners, PhD, Senior Nutritionist with Zoetis, sat down with our Jamie Johansen during the 2017 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show to give some nutrition tips for producers as they begin to move into the spring months.

“When we have forage-based cattle, the most important thing is knowing what’s in your pasture and knowing how much of it cattle can indeed get to,” he said. “I see some of these transition periods where we can get into forage dry matter availability issues, where they may have them overstocked, thinking there’s more out there than there really is.”

Dr. Corners also discussed the importance of having correct mineral and feed additive profiles as the weather transitions from winter into spring. “As the grass greens up you can get into issues of grass tetany and other mineral deficiencies, or interferences from minerals that interact with each other,” he said. “And once we get that right we look at the feed additive profile. That’s where we ask whether or not the are cattle being efficient, if they have proper gain and if they are on a program that will help them establish their goals leading into the summer.”

More information and tips can be found on the Zoetis website.

Learn more in Jamie’s full interview with Blaine here:
Interview with Dr. Blaine Corners, Zoetis

2017 Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show Photo Album