Are your Animals Starving for some Essential Nutrients?
Nutrition can be any ag producer’s best friend or worst enemy. Providing your stock with the best possible nutrition is essential to growth, reproduction, maintenance, and ultimately, your bottom line. With good nutrition, you will see faster growth in calves, quicker breed-back rates in mother cows, and larger profits at the end of the year.
The six essential nutrients: Protein, Carbohydrates, Fat, Vitamins, Minerals, and Water. You can probably name the majority of these nutrients but may not fully understand their role and importance to animal health.
Protein is a conglomerate of amino acids that function together to provide the structural integrity of cells and tissues. Proteins are also important for building and repairing body tissues. There are 23 principal amino acids in the body, but nine of these amino acids are considered essential amino acids, They are ‘essential’ because the body cannot synthesize them. Consequently, they must be ingested as part of the diet.
Carbohydrates are the body’s main form of energy and may more easily be labeled as ‘brain food’. Without adequate carbohydrates (glucose), the brain cannot function properly, thus compromising the entire body’s function. Carbohydrates most commonly come in the form of ‘fiber, sugar, or starch’ in your animal feed, or in the form of fruits, vegetables, sugar, and grains in your own diet. Carbohydrates provide quick energy to animals and humans, but excess carbohydrates are converted to fat to be used later.
Fat is the body’s main storage tank for energy. In times of need, the body will first draw energy from carbohydrates and then from its fat stores. Only after the body has depleted its fat supply will it resort to its protein supply (muscles) for energy. Fat, unlike carbohydrates, provides slow-release energy rather than the quick, get-up-and-go type of energy. Fat is also essential to the body because of its function in vitamin metabolism. Certain vitamins are only soluble in fat, so without fat, these vitamins/minerals are rendered useless.
Vitamins and Minerals are essential to proper body function and support and MUST be ingested. They not only act as the structural support of bones, ligaments, and cartilage, but also play a critical regulatory role in metabolism, fluid transport, and immunity. The main difference between vitamins and minerals is that Vitamins are organic compounds produced by plants and animals. Minerals, on the other hand, are inorganic compounds that come from the soil and water. Though you (and your animals) only need small amounts of vitamins and minerals to meet your daily requirements, getting them into the diet is essential.
Lastly, and most importantly, is Water. Water helps transport nutrients around the body. It also aids in waste removal and homeostasis (stability on internal variables, such as temperature and pH). As mentioned above, some vitamins are fat-soluble. Others are water-soluble; thus, water is necessary for metabolism of these vitamins.
All six of these essential nutrients should be provided in yours and your animal’s daily diet.
With regard to your animal’s diet, with the exception of water, all can be found in your animal’s forage (hay). The quantity and quality of these nutrients in your hay may vary, however. It is important to know how much of each nutrient your hay provides. Once known, you can adjust your supplements (protein blocks, salt blocks, etc…) accordingly to verify that your animals are meeting their daily nutrient requirements.