What is the real cost of mineral supplementation?

For some management practices calculating the return on investment is straightforward. Unfortunately, determining the cost vs. benefit of mineral supplementation is not always clear. This is why it seems when input costs go up, the mineral is one of the things that can be easy to cut out or replace with a less expensive, lower quality option. The problem is that early signs of mineral deficiencies can be hard to identify and often go unnoticed. Eventually, in cases of severe mineral deficiency, producers could see widespread issues throughout the herd that has us making phone calls to…