Rehydrate. Recover. Perform. Hydration is the key component to herd health and performance. As a palatable, buffered, electrolyte, Bovine BlueLite provides the right nutrition at the right time to aid recovery from dehydration and other health challenges. Bovine BlueLite Sources & Benefits: • The trusted electrolyte package that your used to working with • Very palatable to help boost water and feed intake • Buffered • Provides energy sources and a broad spectrum of vitamins • Contains an osmolyte that helps to maintain cell volume and fluid balance • Additional potassium provides quick replacement of the essential electrolyte Veterinarians, nutritionists and cattleman agree that Bovine BlueLite can be used in many ways and is one of the most effective hydration products on the market. Bovine BlueLite is effective: • For starting feedlot cattle • At arrival into the yard • To help increase dry matter intakea • During hot weather and for heat stress • In hospital cattle • In long haul cattle • Prior to shipping • During sorting • After acidosis For over twenty years, Bovine BlueLite has been the first choice for cattle in the feedyard to ensure that cattle maintain body weight, reduce shrink loss, and encourage dry matter and water intakes. Field trials have shown the potential for increased profitability by using Bovine BlueLite as a way to improve carcass quality, reduce shrink loss, and reduce the potential for dark cutters. Bovine BlueLite—exactly the kind of nutrition cattle need, delivered at just the right time.
Directions for Use
Receiving Cattle: Pelleted BlueLite Mix into the TMR or top dress to provide 1/4 - 1/2 pound per head per day for the first 5-7 days on arrival.
Beef Brief
BlueLite Powder Drinking Water: Mix 2 pounds of Bovine BlueLite in 128 gallons of drinking water. TMR Option 1: Mix with grain, 2 ounces per head per day. One 6 pound bag feeds approximately 50 head. TMR Option 2: Mix appropriate amount of Bovine BlueLite in 5 gallon pail of warm water. Add to TMR for even dispersion. Heat Stress Cattle: Pelleted BlueLite Feed 1/4 pound 2 days prior to heat event and throughout the event. Continue to feed for 2-3 days after the event has passed or until intakes have returned to normal. Certain feeding and heat stress scenarios may warrant longer feeding periods in addition to varying feeding levels of Bovine BlueLite Pellets. Contact your TechMix representative to determine the best option for your operation. BlueLite Powder Mix 1 ounce two to three days before heat stress event daily, then when heat starts, increase dosage to 2 ounces per head per day. When heat lowers, decrease usage to 1 ounce per head per day until event passes. In times when heat remains high for an extended period of time, Bovine BlueLite can remain a continuous part of rations for heat abatement. Pre-harvest Cattle: Pelleted BlueLite Feed 1 pound per head per day for 48 hours prior to shipping. BlueLite Powder Mix in water, 2 ounces per head, per day for 48 hours prior to shipping.
A nutritional solution to improving beef quality and profitability.
QUESTIONS? We’re always available to answer any questions you may have. Email info@techmixglobal.com or call (877) 466-6455.
Rehydrate. Recover. Perform.
Rehydrate. Recover. Perform.
TechMix, LLC • 740 Bowman St • PO Box 221 • Stewart, MN 55385 • 877.466.6455 • techmixglobal.com 0500102013
Beef Brief Factors affecting performance and meat quality can directly influence your bottom line. Beef quality is at the core of boosting bottom line profits. While there are many factors that can affect the health and performance of cattle, we’re going to outline a nutritional solution to help mitigate three of the key issues as they relate to performance and meat quality. 1. Receiving Management (reducing stress and getting cattle on feed) 2. Heat Stress Management (helping cattle maintain hydration, weight, and health) 3. Pre-Harvest Management (reducing incidence of dark cutting beef and preserving the quality of beef sold) Management protocols at the feedyard impact the amount of pounds sold and the quality of those pounds sold. Bovine BlueLite is an electrolyte and nutrition product that is a key tool the cattleman can rely on for mitigating the negative effects of these issues and helping to improve marketability.
Rehydrate. Recover. Perform.
Tip 1 :
Receiving Management
Preventing shrink with Bovine BlueLite®
The weight loss of cattle during transport is commonly called shrink. There are two types of shrink. One is exudative, meaning the loss of urine and feces. The second type of shrink is tissue loss. Tissue loss is the loss of critical fluid from cells required for transporting nutrients. Any disruption can create a cascade of circulatory and digestive challenges which lead to potential health and performance issues. Additionally, loss of fluids from cells is largely responsible for the compromised body condition. This second type of shrink is one that cattle require much more time to recover from at a high cost to the feedyard. The following are five factors that affect amount of shrink: 1. Time 2. Distance 3. Age 4. Sex 5. Type-Condition Age, sex, and type-condition are interrelated because the real factor is fat composition of the animal. The fatter the cattle are, the less shrink encountered because fat contains less water than muscle. Well-balanced water supplemented with Bovine BlueLite provides the electrolytes and nutrition sources required to help maintain nutrient flow and re-establish hydration following stress events. This is especially important during off-feed and off-water events due to transport. We recommend having Bovine BlueLite supplemented water readily available at receiving to ensure incoming cattle get nutrients right away. During stress events, Bovine BlueLite is proven to help: • For starting feedlot cattle • At arrival into the yard • To help increase dry matter intake • During hot weather and for heat stress • In hospital cattle • In long haul cattle • Prior to shipping • During sorting • After acidosis
Commercial feedyard data, 2007 TechMix, Unpublished, 1998 c Kern et al., 2011 d Hoffman et al., 2012 a
b
Tip 2 :
Heat Stress Management
Tip 3 :
Pre-Harvest Management
Maintaining performance with Bovine BlueLite®
Maximizing profits with Bovine BlueLite®
During heat stress events, the combination of heat and humidity can compromise the body’s ability to dissipate excess body heat. Cooling systems and heat abatement programs are important. But even with summertime cooling techniques in place, animals undergo stress that they still cannot handle. This is especially true for incoming and outgoing livestock—at nearly any temperature. As a result, nutritional strategies that can help re-establish health and performance due to stress should be implemented.
The period of time immediately prior to harvest has a large influence on beef quality. During the last few hours prior to harvest, cattle are removed from feed, gathered from their home pen, moved to the load out area, loaded, shipped to the packing plant and held in a new environment. All these activities pull energy from a physiologic system that already has a high-energy demand.
How heat stress affects health and performance • Decreases water intake, increasing dehydration • Decreases dry matter intake • Negatively impacts feed efficiency • Reduces animal’s ability to absorb essential nutrients • Increases body temperature (can damage sensitive proteins) • Increases risk of acidosis due to fluctuating rumen pH • Increases risk of dark cutting beef • Reduces profit potential Hydration and gut integrity are the key components for health and profitability. For more than twenty years, Bovine BlueLite has been the first choice for cattle in the feedyard to provide specific electrolytes, multiple energy sources, and essential vitamins and nutrients to help cattle cope with heat stress challenges. Decades of field trials have shown that Bovine BlueLite is an effective way to ensure that cattle maintain feed and water intake and recover quickly from heat stress challenges. An easy-to-administer electrolyte, Bovine BlueLite is very palatable, buffered, and provides added energy sources and vitamins needed during periods of dehydration. How Bovine BlueLite can help improve performance During periods of heat stress, administer a few days before temperatures rise and continue to use during the heat stress period. Bovine BlueLite® is proven to help: • Encourage water intake • Improve dry matter intake • Replenish electrolyte balance • Re-establish positive energy balance • Improve carcass qualitya • Reduce shrink lossb • Preserve performancea • Support rumen function
Cattle require glucose to function yet do not absorb glucose from their intestinal tract as a monogastric animals does. Instead, glycogen is the primary storage vehicle for glucose in cattle. When glycogen resources are depleted, an increased chance for dark cutting carcusses is realized. The net result is dark cutting beef that becomes less desirable in the marketplace. Economic impact of dark cutting beef (DCB) • 1.9% of carcasses sold were discounted as DCB (2005 NBQA) • Dark cutting beef costs the industry over $6.22/hd if spread across all carcasses sold (2005 NBQA) • Costs producers $165 million in 2010 due to poor retail display, shorter shelf-life and poor quality beef (NBQA 2005) • Packers need to sell them to alternative channels at a 20 - 40% cost reduction due to poor eating quality and lower shelf life • 2005 BQA indicated dark cutting beef at a - $38.18/cwt discount - the highest discount there is - equal to hard bone discount • Can easily be over a $250 discount to any one producer Factors affecting dark cutting beef • Biological type • Sex • Season • Production practices • Animal handling • Muscle glycogen • Transport Bovine BlueLite can help: • Improve the amount of glycogen in the musclec • Reduce dark cutting beefd • Maintain metabolic homeostasis • Improve carcass parametersd • Preserve pounds sold and qualitya • Improve marketing bottom line