Optimal health, growth and reproduction of animals can be achieved by the use of licks for cattle, sheep and goats. Licks are, however, an expensive part of any farm practice, but mixing your own licks with Yara Animal Nutrition’s recipes might be an effective way of overcoming this problem.

Green summer pastures

Green summer grass contains enough protein and energy to meet the animal’s requirements, but is normally low in phosphorous. This deficit may hamper growth and milk production. Phosphorous, a macro mineral, plays a major metabolic role and has more known physiological functions in the animal body than any other element. The development and maintenance of the skeleton, growth, appetite control, fertility, energy, and feed utilisation are just some of the basic functions involving phosphorous.

By making use of a product such as Kimtrafos 12 Grande or PhosSure 12 mixed with salt, phosphorous as well as trace minerals can easily be supplemented during the summer to optimise animal production (see Table 1 for mixture).

Dry winter pastures

The main feed component for cattle, sheep and goats during the dry season is low quality grass. This grass doesn’t contain all the nutrients needed by the animal and animals tend to lose weight during winter. To reduce the weight loss, we need to supplement the grass with licks that can supply the nutrients the grass can no longer supply. It is, however, very important for producers to understand which nutrients to supply and to also understand that a lick is not a feed and that it can under no circumstances be used to replace grass or other sources of roughage. If there is no grass or roughage available, licks – especially licks containing urea – cannot be fed to animals.

Protein licks for the dry winter season

The first nutrient lacking in dry winter grass, is protein. If ruminants graze on this low protein grass, there is not enough protein for the microbes in the rumen to grow and multiply, and we have a decrease in digestibility of the consumed grass. The grass moves slower through the rumen, intake starts to decline, and animals start to lose weight.

Licks containing urea (a protein supplement for natural proteins such as oilcakes) can be fed to animals to increase the digestibility of the dry grass and to stimulate grass intake. Urea consists of 46% nitrogen (that is a 287% equivalent protein) and is broken down in the rumen to ammonia which is used by rumen microbes to produce microbial protein and also to grow and multiply. The more microbes there are in the rumen, the better and quicker the grass will be digested, preventing animals from losing weight.

Mix your own licks

Table 1 shows summer and winter licks that can be mixed on a farm. When you mix your own lick, it is important to consider the pros and cons of doing so.

The following licks can be mixed on the farm for cattle, sheep and goats:

Pros

• It is less expensive than buying ready mixed licks.
• You can use some of the raw materials produced on your own farm, such as maize.
• You know exactly what is in the lick.
• You can mix a lick with raw materials available to you.

Cons

One of the biggest cons of mixing your own lick is that you can make a mixing mistake, especially when mixing a urea-containing lick, as urea can be poisonous to animals. But, by knowing your recipe and the possible mistakes that can be made, this can easily be overcome.

Warning

The licks below contain urea and animals must be adapted to these licks. Only use half of the urea for the first two weeks and thereafter all of the urea. Enough grass must be available at all times when feeding urea-containing licks. Protect lick troughs against rain as urea easily dissolves in water and animals drinking such a mixture can be poisoned.

For more mixing guidance or information, contact a Yara animal nutritionist at +27 (0)82-322-0333.