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Spice Feeding Study
I’ve had several questions this summer and last year about the value of providing spices for beef cattle so far as gains are concerned and for external parasite control. In this month’s Kansas State beef newsletter they carried their findings on a study.
The trial looked at the effect of feeding spices on heifer gains and as a control method for ticks. The heifers were observed from March to November. The treatment was a control mineral to a mineral containing spices which include garlic plus four, blended spices which were not identified.
Ticks were counted and removed from every heifer. Average daily gain was increased by 0.15 lb. per day with the spice/mineral mix. This added up to 33 lbs. more over the entire grazing period than heifers on the control mineral. Lower tick counts appeared to result after a minimum of 4 weeks of consumption by the heifers. There was no mention of costs for the two treatments.
On a similar note, the Southwest Research Center, Mt. Vernon started a trial in the last few weeks to look at difference in heifer performance when given apple cider vinegar. No results yet. ∆
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