I’m Dennis Nuzback, and I’m the ruminant technical manager for Novus International. As the name infers, trace means they are in the concentration of the diets in very small amounts. But that doesn’t mean they are any less important than some of the other minerals or nutrients that we provide to both beef and dairy cattle. Trace minerals are required for activation of enzymes within the body to allow them to work optimally. For instance, there are enzyme systems and white blood cells within the immune system that require trace minerals in order for them to be able to recognize invading pathogens, help engulf them, mount antibody responses and keep the animal healthy. And if you’re copper or zinc deficient, you’ll have impaired immune system function Another critical system that requires trace minerals is the reproductive system. We need to get that embryo transplanted in the uterus, and that requires specific enzymes that require these particular trace minerals. And if the dairy cow doesn’t have a calf every 14 months, in order for her to come back into milk production or if the beef producer doesn’t have cows with a high conception rate, they won’t have one calf a year, and that’s all he sells is one calf crop each season. So even though trace minerals are required in very minute amounts in the diets, they’re just as important as a lot of the other nutrients that we balance diets for beef and dairy cattle for.
