A significant proportion of the global dairy and beef cattle population is lives on pasture. In the summer of 2021, almost every continent experienced widespread flooding. Heavy rainfall and excessive flooding occurred in Western Europe, China and parts of the USA. These bad weather conditions presented a huge challenge to dairy and beef farmers, particularly if their cattle were living on pasture. A recent report published in the Journal Science Advances[1] suggests that most communities can expect that each degree of temperature rise will bring even more extreme wet conditions in the future.

Selecting a less soluble trace mineral for cattle– one that does not dissolve when it contacts moisture in the feed and from the environment – will reduce clumping issues and reduce the risk of leaching to the environment. Sulphate, organic and hydroxy trace minerals are known to differ from each other in terms of solubility. Research carried out at the University of Florida[2] compared the effect of rainfall on leaching between these three different sources of trace mineral.

Hydroxy trace mineral sources are known to less soluble compared to organic trace mineral sources and sulphates. As a result of this, the loss from initial concentration after exposure to 3 periods of rainfall within a period of 1 week was much less compared to the other two sources of trace minerals. This effect was more pronounced in simple salt-based trace mineral formulations for cattle as compared to complete free-choice mineral formulations for cattle.

2. Wiebusch, A. T., Silveria, M.L, Caramalac, L.S, Fernandes, H.J, and J. D. Arthington (2015). Effect of Cu, Zn, and Mn source on preferential free-choice intake of salt-based supplements by beef calves and precipitation-impacted metal loss. J. Anim. Sci. 93: 824, abstract 711.