Rumensin

[Oxankle]

Quarterly Ag. bulletin from our county agent (or whatever they call them now) came out this week. Hay being in very short supply he said that we might consider using Rumensin to improve the digestive efficiency of poor quality hay.

Anyone here have any experience with Rumensin? I did not even know it was available outside the feed lots.

How is it packaged and sold? Blocks, feed mixes?

[Allen W]

It will probably be mixed, it will have to be mixed with some thing to feed any way the daily amount need is very small. With low quality hay the first thing to worry about would be added protein. I've heard of some crp hay here being tested at slightly over 2% protein.

[Oxankle]

We have to feed Protein/energy cubes anyway, but the Ag agent told us that the addition of Rumensin made about a fifteen percent increase in digestibility for poor hay. I'm going to make inquiries. It will show up in some feeds if it is available to growers.

[oneokie]

It is available from several feed co's. by special order in the range cube form, also in pellet form. The ones I have dealt with have a 5 ton minimum order.

Or, if there is a feed mill in your locality that custom mixes bulk ingredients, they should have it available as an additive.

[tinknal]

Blocks, pellets, cake, lick blocks and tanks, etc.

Rumensin is urea, which is a source of nitrogen. Nitrogen is protein. What this nitrogen does is give a boost to the flora and fauna that lives in a cow's rumen. Cows really do not digest their food, the creatures that live in a cows rumen digest food and then the cow digests those creatures. This little bit of magic is what allows ruminants to survive on feed that common sense tells us that they should not survive on, let alone thrive.

Be sure to feed in a way that you can control intake, especially with hungry cattle. too much can kill. Never allow horses to consume rumensin.

[Allen W]

Oxankle

This looks like it could be worth while reading http://oces.okstate.edu/garfield/upl...ingOptions.pdf

ETA the link isn't what I thought it would be, sorry about that.


Rumensin was actually being tested for fly control on cattle when it was discovered for feed efficiecy improvement, some was being inadvertantly spray on the test animals feed.

[springvalley]

Originally Posted by tinknal

Never allow horses to consume rumensin.

For those of you that run livestock together I would not use this stuff, it will and can kill horses. > Thanks Marc

[bruce2288]

Rumensin is not urea. The active ingredient is monensin, an ionophone that shows antibiotic andbiologic properties. One of the main uses is to rid cattle of coccidia. It does improve feed efficiency. It is mixed in a carrier for use. At use of 5 to 40MG/ton of active ingredient it is not a protein scource.

[tinknal]

Originally Posted by bruce2288

Rumensin is not urea. The active ingredient is monensin, an ionophone that shows antibiotic andbiologic properties. One of the main uses is to rid cattle of coccidia. It does improve feed efficiency. It is mixed in a carrier for use. At use of 5 to 40MG/ton of active ingredient it is not a protein scource.

I believe you are correct. I was thinking of triuret, a feed produced by Mormon feed that combined monensin and urea.