Connection Spring 2016 | Page 33

CATTLE perform at optimal levels. First, let’s address the cow herd. On the Gulf Coast of Texas, unfortunately, our period of high quality forage situations are very limited. Typically, our country is too wet, too dry, too hot or too cold for our warm season grasses to nutritionally perform at a high rate, thus supplementation of the cow herd is recommended to bridge the nutritional gap between what the forage provides and the nutritional needs of the cow herd. One of the best insurance policies to ensure proper cow herd nutrition is a great mineral program. Mineral is a necessity, and consumption of mineral is of the utmost importance. The Purina Wind & Rain mineral products are regionally formulated for our area, and these products offer a great solution for the cow herd to meet its nutritional requirements. These products are formulated to meet not only the macro mineral needs of the cow herd, but also the trace or micro mineral needs. The elevated levels of micro minerals in the Purina Wind & Rain products ensure that the cow meets its needs of normally deficient minerals in our area. The added copper and zinc are extremely important in both reproduction and immunity. Most of the minerals a