iodine for cows.

[johnspeehs]

I see it mentioned in another thread on here but dont want to hijack it, is it just the 10% stuff people use ? how much do you give them and how often? do you just spray it on their backs?

 

[Limcrazy]

Bit off label use so probably no right answer. I've splashed on 50ml on front shoulders of bigish cows. Some of it is absorbed and some licked and ingested.
Have gone to bolus only now.

 

[choochter]

I just walk through them and give them a squirt on their rump every month-ish.
Do the bull as well - why should he be left out.
Our soils are selenium deficient.

 

[MrA.G.]

I see it mentioned in another thread on here but dont want to hijack it, is it just the 10% stuff people use ? how much do you give them and how often? do you just spray it on their backs?

No, don’t use the 10% iodine you use for navels etc. It is spirit based and can burn the backs of the cows when applied neat. Ask for aqueous based iodine such as Lugols
our vet recommend 7ml per week. I just use a dosing gun and walk along just after feeding them and squirt it on.

 

[Chae1]

We used to use it pre calving but stopped because of advice from vet.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002203021400383X

 

[som farmer]

well diluted iodine, and boluses here, we winter out on kale, alternative, teat dip as they go through parlour. If feeding kale, and cows pregnant, its really important.

 

[matthew]

No, don’t use the 10% iodine you use for navels etc. It is spirit based and can burn the backs of the cows when applied neat. Ask for aqueous based iodine such as Lugols
our vet recommend 7ml per week. I just use a dosing gun and walk along just after feeding them and squirt it on.

We too ran into trouble when manufacturers changed the base from aqueous to spirit, We add to water supply and put a squirt on the backs Monthly. So we changed to Lugols iodine, but make it up ourselves, buying concentrated iodine from a medical supplier and diluting 10:1.
Our soils and forage are high in molybdenum, which locks up iodine etc. so we also use Brinicombe Easy caliver pellets in the summer in water troughs, for selenium, .vit E and iodine.
Minerals are specials too, made up to match forage.
It’s still a struggle.

Any supplementation must be added in conjunction with analyses of forages. Over supplementing iodine is as bad as having a deficit In the diet.

 

[neilo]

We too ran into trouble when manufacturers changed the base from aqueous to spirit, We add to water supply and put a squirt on the backs Monthly. So we changed to Lugols iodine, but make it up ourselves, buying concentrated iodine from a medical supplier and diluting 10:1.
Our soils and forage are high in molybdenum, which locks up iodine etc. so we also use Brinicombe Easy caliver pellets in the summer in water troughs, for selenium, .vit E and iodine.
Minerals are specials too, made up to match forage.
It’s still a struggle.

Any supplementation must be added in conjunction with analyses of forages. Over supplementing iodine is as bad as having a deficit In the diet.

Are you sure molybdenum locks up iodine? I know it locks up copper, which is a problem we have here, but I’ve been trying to find out out what (if anything) might lock up iodine, and I’ve never found a reference to molybdenum.

 

[som farmer]

we only find a problem when feeding kale, but, if feeding kale, it's vital.

 

[matthew]

Are you sure molybdenum locks up iodine? I know it locks up copper, which is a problem we have here, but I’ve been trying to find out out what (if anything) might lock up iodine, and I’ve never found a reference to molybdenum.

We had soil analyses done when we moved here 35 years ago and high molybdenum plus very high iron levels were said to to be locking up a lot of trace elements. As you say, copper, but also we had problems with iodine and selenium with the usual still births, 'won't breathe' calves and retained afterbirths.
pms on the thyroid of a dead calf confirmed the iodine, so from that time on we've supplemented a lot.

Iodine deficiency is very difficult to diagnose as dams' blood samples were fine. But a ministry vet explained that at sometime during the preganancy they had been short , hence these floppy calves. He also said a liver biopsy was a safer way to check. When the dam was dead.

The levels of iodine and copper were OK in our forage samples - just unavailable: so maybe a combination of Molybdenum and iron?

 

[som farmer]

We had soil analyses done when we moved here 35 years ago and high molybdenum plus very high iron levels were said to to be locking up a lot of trace elements. As you say, copper, but also we had problems with iodine and selenium with the usual still births, 'won't breathe' calves and retained afterbirths.
pms on the thyroid of a dead calf confirmed the iodine, so from that time on we've supplemented a lot.

Iodine deficiency is very difficult to diagnose as dams' blood samples were fine. But a ministry vet explained that at sometime during the preganancy they had been short , hence these floppy calves. He also said a liver biopsy was a safer way to check. When the dam was dead.

The levels of iodine and copper were OK in our forage samples - just unavailable: so maybe a combination of Molybdenum and iron?

we don't really know how inbalances of trace elements effect things, the iodine, like selenium and copper, are all dependant on the 'balance' of all minerals. Iodine was only confirmed on thyroids of dead calves.