Eldon Cole, University of Missouri Extension  |   December 2, 2011

Salt has been used for years to limit the intake of a palatable concentrate feed such as cottonseed meal, corn or other mixes. It allows you to self-feed and reduce the labor of caring for your cattle.

The tricky part is figuring out at what rate to blend the salt into a feed. Rules of thumb indicate that for mature cows they may consume up to one pound of salt per day if pasture or hay is poor. If you wanted them to consume 2 pounds of a supplement you would mix it at a 2:1 ratio. For 4 pounds intake of a palatable feed mix at a 4:1 blend.

Now there are some cattle that don’t read and understand these ratios so it takes a little fine tuning, especially when they’re first exposed to it. At the introduction you will use less salt. Calves may only need 10% salt in their blends if you want them to consume around 1% of their body weight in a palatable concentrate. Just remember, any self-fed feed will have some unevenness in intake among cattle in the herd.

With the continued popularity of Dried Distillers Grains plus Solubles (DDGS) some have asked if you could limit intake with salt and the answer is yes. The important thing is to watch how it’s mixed and whether you get a good blend with DDGS or any feed. Of course it’s not very successful with pelleted or coarsely ground feeds.

Finally, be sure to always have plenty of water available for cattle on salt-limited feed supplements. This will be important this year as pond water levels are down and extreme cold weather will reduce water access.