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Small amounts of selenium are necessary in diet— important for muscle growth and development and for normal functioning of heart, liver, kidneys and other organs. Cattle deficient inselenium may have poor appetite, dull hair coat, and unhealthy hoofs. One of the most obvious signs of deficiency in a herd is weak calves or fatalities at a young age due to white muscle disease. In mild cases the calf may just have a stiff gait or spend a lot of time lying down—or may seem perfectly normal until he suddenly dies of heart failure after exercise.

Post mortem examination shows muscle degeneration, with large areas white or streaked with white. Muscles have less myoglobin—the red iron-containing protein pigment of normal muscles. Scar tissue often builds up in the heart, reducing its elasticity. To prevent white muscle disease and other problems related to selenium deficiency, supplementation with this important trace element is necessary in regions that have less than adequate amounts in soil.

Copper deficiency in cattle can create a wide range of problems and is sometimes hard to recognize. One of the more visible signs is change in hair color. Black animals may develop a red tint (usually behind the shoulder and on the lower quarters), brownish streaks or grey around the eyes, and red animals become bleached. The coat becomes dull and coarse instead of shiny. But sometimes there is no visible change.

Clive C. Gay, DVM, Director of Field Disease Investigation Unit at Washington State University, says many regions have problems with copper deficiency. “One indication is decrease in weaning weight. You might have 20 to 30 pounds less than normal on a calf and not realize it’s a copper problem,” he says.

Another sign is a less healthy immune system—more disease in calves. Incidence of scours is increased in calves born to copper deficient dams. Abomasal ulcers in young calves may be related to copper deficiency. Lameness and stiffness in gait is another indication; when calves are growing, the fetlock joints may become enlarged and painful. Pasterns may be upright and the calf might appear to have contracted tendons, walking on its toes. Bones become more fragile; calves have a high fracture rate when being run through chutes, or in other instances where you would not normally expect to see fractures (in the big bones of the legs, or even the shoulder blade).

Fertility in heifers may be impaired, especially when copper is tied up by molybdenum and essentially unavailable to the body. A study in 1987 showed that molybdenum in the diet delayed puberty in yearling beef heifers by 8 to 12 weeks, and dramatically reduced conception rates in cows.

Copper deficient impaired immune systems do not respond well to vaccines. When calves are weaned, vaccinated and go on feed, vaccinations may not be effective. There may be calves succumbing to respiratory diseases. Even if a calf is not obviously sick, it may not gain well—suffering from “silent” pneumonia.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY DEFICIENCY
“Primary deficiency occurs when copper levels in soil and forages are low. Secondary deficiency is when copper concentrations in forage may be normal, but utilization by the body is interfered with. This commonly occurs with presence of molybdenum, sulfur, or iron,” says Gay.

“In the West we have problems with deficiency associated with molybdenum. This is most common with alkaline soils, since molybdenum uptake by plants is influenced by pH of the soil. In the East, soils are more acid and producers run into problems with primary copper deficiency. Other soils that present a risk are peat, organic soils or soils with high water tables, depending on pH of the soil. Sulfur tends to combine with molybdenum to cause problems, but can be a problem by itself, especially in acid soils, or in conjunction with lime fertilizer. Molybdenum is often a problem in valley bottoms or on rangeland when cattle tend to graze in the swales. There tends to be more molybdenum in these soils than in the uplands,” says Gay.

In the South and Southeast many soils (especially in Florida) are low in copper. The problem can be accentuated by use of fast- growing species of grasses; they don’t have time to pick up as much copper from the soil as the slower growing grasses do.

A forage analysis from 18 states (352 samples) showed that 2/3 of 30 native grasses sampled were marginal to deficient in copper. These grasses also tend to be high in iron, which can interfere with copper absorption. In 109 grass hay samples, 14 percent were copper deficient and 50 percent were marginal. About 10 percent had enough molybdenum to push a marginal copper supply into the deficient category.

Copper deficiency is more likely to occur when cattle are grazing rather than when fed hay; availability of copper is often better in hay, says Gay. “Also, mineral supplement programs for cattle during the winter feeding period tend to be superior to those on range,” he says.

TESTING
“If you think you have a problem, test the calves before they are weaned and stressed. Weaning stress, especially if calves get sick, can disturb copper values and you won’t get an accurate test. They can be blood tested when you bring them in for weaning. There is some argument that liver tests (biopsies) are more accurate than blood tests, but we have found blood tests to be effective in diagnosis,” says Gay.

“If you put cattle on a problem pasture in April or May, they start to show growth depression by the end of June or early July. At that time, some will show low copper concentrations in the blood. Others will have normal amounts,” he says. By the end of August they will all be low, if you have a copper deficiency. You don’t want to wait that long to test, however, or it’s too late to correct it for those calves; all you can do is try to prevent the problem the next year. Testing too early in the season is not helpful, because deficiency may not show up yet. It’s best to do it in the middle of the grazing season, he says.

“To determine if you have a primary or secondary deficiency, look at pastures and forages rather than soil. We take a composite grass sample and composite legume sample, representative of the soil type. If there are two or three soil types in a pasture we take a sample from each. Molybdenum tends to be taken up in higher concentrations in legumes than in grass. We look at the copper to molybdenum ratio,” he explains.

The only true diagnosis is a response trial, to supplement the cattle with copper and see if you get better weight gains, he says. They should also be monitored and tested again the following year to see if you have, in fact, repaired the deficiency.

TREATMENT
The most common way to deal with copper deficiency is to put copper in the salt/mineral mix, but this is not 100 percent effective due to variable salt intake; some animals will consume enough and others won’t. “A better method is to use copper oxide needles—very tiny needles inside a gelatin capsule, put down into the rumen. The gelatin dissolves and the needles are released, lodging in the papillae of the rumen. They sit there awhile, then gradually pass into the abomasum, where they dissolve, and the copper is made available for absorption,” he says.

“You must have the correct dose, however. These were first put on the market 20 years ago with a dose of 4 grams, which was too low. You need 20 to 25 grams. One bolus, given to an animal at the beginning of the grazing season, will prevent copper deficiency for 6 months. In our experience this has proved to be 100 percent effective, unless your technique is poor in giving the bolus and the animal spits it out,” says Gay.

In recent years, products for treating with an injection (Multimin), or by drench, dosing each calf early in the grazing period or before going to summer range, have come into use. Individual treatment (by bolus, injection or drench) is the best way to make sure each animal gets the proper dose.

You can also treat copper deficiency with chelated minerals. “If you think you have a problem, talk with your veterinarian and nutritionist for advice. If you use supplements, it’s good to test the cattle afterward, preferably in August or September, to be sure the copper level you have added is sufficient to correct the deficiency. If you have high molybdenum concentrations, you will need substantially more copper supplement than if you have a simple copper deficiency; the latter is more easily corrected,” he says.

INJECTIONS
A growing number of producers are discovering the advantages of giving trace minerals via an injectable chelated product (Multimin) that contains copper, selenium, manganese and zinc, administered via subcutaneous injection on the neck.

Dr. Laird Laurence, a veterinarian at Fredericksburg, Texas, has been in practice 30 years. “In vet school they taught us that you can’t get nutrition via a needle—whether vitamins or minerals. After Multimin came out, I didn’t use it for nearly a year because I still thought that if cattle needed mineral you should put out a supplement for them to eat,” says Laurence.

“Sometimes, however, your clients educate you. I had a client with 35 heifers who’d heard about Multimin and that it helped heifers breed up better. He asked for some, so we ordered it and he gave it to his heifers. I palpated them 60 days after he put them with the bull, and all but one was bred. We live in a dry region and nutrition isn’t always the best, so this was an amazingly good concenption rate,” he says.

“The next incident, that got me thinking more seriously about it, was when a registered Angus breeder wanted some. He had 60 heifers that had been breeding for almost 90 days. About 18 were not bred yet, and it wasn’t due to age difference. We gave those heifers Multimin and checked them again in 45 days. Out of the 18, 17 were bred. Maybe half of them were going to breed anyway, but to have this many conceive was more than you’d expect,” he says.

He then tried it with several dairy herds. “In most dairies it takes 3 to 6 breedings per conception. Using Multimin dropped it to 2. This was very dramatic. Now in my practice we recommend that when vaccinating any cows or heifers pre-breeding, you also give a dose of Multimin at the same time. I was the biggest disbeliever at first, thinking it was just drug company hype, but now I have a lot of clients who use it routinely,” says Laurence.

Ten percent of his practice are ranchers who raise stockers. “We’ve been giving all these cattle a dose of Multimin upon arrival and I’d estimate that it’s helped their health by at least 50 percent. We’re also giving it to young calves,” he says.

“For breeding and fertility, I palpate enough cows annually to be convinced it makes a big difference. It’s the number one thing I recommend for any female that is to be bred. In our region, most ranchers generally have 10 to 20 percent open after the breeding season, but if they are using Multimin they can cut this down a lot. We see better conception rates, especially on heifers. When producers keep coming back and asking for it again, that tells me it must be working for them,” says Laurence.

Another vet who uses this product is Michael D. Bishop. He has a PhD in animal breeding and genetics and is general manager and part owner of 7L Farms and Land Company (Wiggins, Mississippi). “We run 500 registered Angus cows and heifers and do 300 embryo transplants per year. For us, use of Multimin made a difference in improving cows’ immune systems. They are healthier, and within about 3 weeks of the injection you see the hair coat change; you get rid of the rusty red tinge on black cattle. Appetite, alertness and general body condition improve,” says Bishop.
“We give 2 shots of Multimin to all our donor cows when they are vaccinated, and another shot when we set them up for flushing.” All their cows get Multimin twice a year, but the donor cows may get it more often, each time they are set up for flushing.

“We’re having very good flush results. I haven’t done a study to sort it out to say it’s all due to Multimin, but it’s part of the management that’s allowed us to get such good results. We’ve had flushes that averaged 12.5 embryos on 14 cows (grade 1 and 2 embryos). This is a phenomenal flush,” says Bishop.

“Those are the 2 big things we’ve noticed--fertility and improved immune response and general health. We also give Multimin to all the baby calves and hardly treat any for sickness anymore. No matter where you live, you are likely to have a deficiency in something, or a surplus of one mineral and deficiency in another. From my point of view as a producer, using Multimin gives me a feeling of comfort that I have covered all the bases and have compensated for what’s lacking,” he says.