Vitamins’ Role in Animal Health | Bailey’s Bit About Nutrition

Vitamins are very tiny organic molecules but play a huge role in livestock’s normal body functions.
  • Vitamin A comes from beta-carotene, a pigment in green plants that animals convert into vitamin A. Cows need 30,000 to 50,000 IU of vitamin A per head per day.
  • Vitamin D is formed from exposure to sunlight or other ultraviolet light rays that animals convert into vitamin D through their skin. Cows need 20,000 IU of vitamin D per head per day.
  • Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin found in fresh, green, leafy forages and whole grains. Cows need 300 to 500 IU of vitamin E per head per day.
  • Vitamin B is a water-soluble vitamin that is synthesized by rumen microbes to meet the animal’s requirements.
 
All these vitamins play a key role within the animal’s body.
  • Vitamin A helps maintain healthy epithelial tissues including eyes, skin, and the lining of the respiratory, digestive, and reproductive tracts. It’s also essential for the proper functioning of the kidneys, and the normal development of bones, teeth, and nerve tissue.
  • Vitamin D is critical to the health of bones and the digestive tract. Vitamin D increases the absorption from the digestive tract and metabolic use of calcium and phosphorus. Also helps regulate blood calcium levels and the conversion of inorganic to organic phosphorus.
  • Vitamin E helps maintain immune function and animal health. Vitamin E aids in the prevention of muscular dystrophy. It is also involved with the control of nerves, muscles, and senses. Contractions of muscles allowing movement, heartbeat, rumen, and lung function are all influenced by Vitamin E as well as excretion of manure. Feed conversion efficiency, growth, and reproduction are also affected by Vitamin E.
  • B vitamins function through enzymes and are key in metabolism, as cows use them for glucose synthesis, fertility, and immunity.
 
Vitamins play such an important role in animal nutrition and normal body functions that when cows consume an adequate amount of vitamins there is a decrease in illness, and an increase in growth rate, milk production, and fertility.
 
Midwestern BioAg offers two products: “O” Top Cap and “O” Selenium & Vitamin Premix that provide enough vitamins to reach the nutritional needs of livestock.  
 
“O” Top Cap is a great mineral/vitamin blend to reach the vitamin requirements that cattle need. “O” Top Cap is a concentrated trace mineral and vitamin blend with sulfate forms of essential trace minerals. It contains high levels of vitamin A, D and E, and provides a complete B vitamin package.
 
Product Characteristics:
  • Contains sulfate forms of trace minerals.
  • Supplies daily vitamin needs, including vitamins A, D3, E and B complex.
  • Provides two sources of selenium.
  • Improves reproduction performance.
  • Promotes healthy immune system in livestock.
  • Increases production.
 
“O” Selenium & Vitamin Premix is formulated to supplement the nutritional needs of vitamins and selenium that the livestock need. Add “O” Selenium & Vitamin Premix to rations deficient in selenium and other vitamins. “O” Selenium & Vitamin Premix is especially helpful for animals in high-stress conditions or for use on farms with a written veterinary prescription calling for selenium.
 
Product Characteristics:
  • Contains selenium derived from selenium yeast.
  • Provides supplemental vitamins, including vitamin A, D3, E and B complex.

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Contact Bailey at nutrition@midwesternbioag.com