Reviews

‘I think there’s a lot in this whole area of micro-nutrition and supporting the animal at key stages of the breeding cycle,’ Sion says ‘People tend to think of trace elements only being relevant if there is a deficiency, but if you can get the delivery side of things right, there’s a growing body of evidence suggesting that maintaining the correct levels throughout the breeding cycle can produce distinct advantages too’

‘Blood tests showed that there were inconsistencies in selenium and copper and after talking to other farmers and our vet, we decided to use Agrimin’s boluses, which even 25 years ago were technically advanced in the market place. These boluses provide an extremely efficient technology and are now a standard part of my herd management’

‘Our problems arose from course sandy soil over sandstone rock that can produce good pasture in spring and autumn but is droughty in the summer and has inherent mineral deficiencies. Having decided to use Agrimin’s sustained release ALL-TRACE® HIGH IODINE CATTLE boluses we have seen in the last year a reduction in retained placentas from 20% to just 2% and numerous health and fertility benefits. This has convinced me that I now have the upper hand’

‘Although there are no specific trace element problems known on any of the land used, ensuring all ewes have adequate levels of key trace elements at all times throughout the breeding cycle is a critical part of the system. From just available grazing and by-product feeds supported by a cobalt, iodine and selenium trace element bolus last year we had less barren ewes, the sheep were fitter despite being on very poor grazing and I reckon we saw a 15 – 20% improvement in lambing percentage overall. For a pound a bolus I reckon that’s pretty good going, particularly when you can spend £1000 very easily on bagged minerals and not know which, if any, animals are getting enough’

‘We were suffering a great deal from slow calving and ‘sleepy calves’. Our vet identified shortfalls in iodine and selenium and recommended Agrimin boluses. Since then we have seen easy, clean calvings and have been very pleased with the vigour of the calves’