Why is Mineralization Important?

To build a vibrant healthy ecosystem on our homesteads that produces truly healthy and healthful food, we must work literally from the ground up. Mineralization and the restoration of soil biomes is a key goal in producing food that not only looks healthy but is fully nutritious to the body. Your home dairy cattle (cows, goats, sheep, etc.) are a great place to start this process of mineral supplements as they will provide not only direct food products to your table but also a copious amount of food in the form of saliva, urine, and feces to your microbiome and indirectly to your plants.

Don’t skimp on providing nutrients to your girls in the form of free-choice loose minerals. Your girl knows what her body needs (what the soil on your homestead is missing) and will consume what she needs to maintain optimum health for herself and thus, eventually optimizing also the soil health and mineral balance of your entire homestead.

What Form of Mineral Supplements Should I Use?

Cattle mineral supplements come in three basic forms.

Salt Blocks

These guys vary widely in their content based on what kind of salt is used as the base and whether minerals have been added. They are typically difficult for animals to dose from because they cannot easily adjust their mineral intake without also consuming more salt then they are likely to want. Some animals, like goats, may also struggle with being able to get enough even of the salt as the blocks are typically designed for a cow’s rougher and stronger tongue.

Steer clear of the white and yellow blocks as they are straight-up salt (which your animals also need but which are typically present already in other mineral supplements). If you’re going to offer only a block, choose one that has un-processed salts containing natural trace minerals, or at least a manufactured block that has some added minerals in it.

Pre-Mixed Loose Minerals

These are usually typically top-dressed on food and are easy for the animals to consume. Many of them come with carefully formulated trace minerals to provide what your girls need. However, they don’t, of course, take into account what is already plentiful in your soil and sometimes your girls won’t eat the supplements if they feel they are overloading on one of the minerals. This means that they also won’t get the trace minerals that they DO need.

If you know your soil is deficient in specific nutrients (selenium is a common deficiency in many areas can cause numerous developmental problems) you can shop for a specific mixture with that element to counteract the deficiency. This is certainly preferable to not providing any mineral supplements.

Free Choice Mineral Supplements Cafeteria Style

The gold standard for mineral supplementation is offering the minerals individually to your girls in a buffet style where they can eat as much or as little of any mineral as they feel is needed.

Most animals have a keen instinct to provide their body with the things they need in order to maintain good health. When you first provide your dairy girls with the buffet of minerals you will see them wolfing down certain ones and you may think that you’ll go broke on supplements. However, as they balance their bodies, they will tone it down to a maintenance level and the over-all consumption will decrease to a manageable level.

In the long run, as the excess is excreted from their bodies and makes it way through the closed loops of your permaculturally-informed homestead, your soil levels will also regain balance which will also translate into more nutritionally dense browse, garden vegetables, etc.

Why should I spend SO much money on minerals?

We need to remember that the dairy producers on the farm are mineralizing not only the food we put on our table but also many of the other animals which consume the byproducts of dairy (pigs, chickens, etc.). They also are re-minerlizing our land by depositing droppings, urine, and saliva everywhere they go.

In addition, a properly mineralized dairy animal has many fewer instances of disease. Even an array of the best starter packs of free-choice organically-sourced minerals are cheap compared to an emergency vet visit or two. Our post on mastitis also stresses how well-balanced cows, coupled with some other preventative measures, often avoid this frustrating and costly disease altogether.

Properly balanced minerals allow your girls to produce optimally. The milk will be plentiful and nutritious, the fountain of health and blessing it’s intended to be to the homestead community.

When you also consider that the financial investment is also saving you many dollars and hours analyzing your soil, testing, and re-testing for deficiencies of all these minerals, it really starts to look pretty minimal. Goats and cows know what minerals they are deficient in because the plants they’re eating don’t contain them. They’ll eat dirt, plastic, bark or lick rusty metal to try and get the minerals they need. If you offer them an assortment of minerals to choose from, they eat what they need to maintain optimum health and will begin to replenish the missing minerals on your homestead.

Conclusion

So, well-mineralized dairy producers are a cornerstone of your homestead and provide the basis of what will be a gradually improving biodome that supports the health of all your other animals and your garden plants as well!

Prioritize getting to the gold-standard of loose minerals a-la-cart with your mineral supplementation regime. Do it a piece at a time if you need to. Your girls will tell you which ones they need by gobbling them up quickly. As they get into a balanced state, though, the consumption will return to maintenance levels and the cost will come down so that you can continue adding minerals to their buffet.