Transcript
ANNOUNCER: Welcome to the latest “Block Talk ” podcast, brought to you by CRYSTALYX® Brand supplements. Weaning is a stressful time for calves that can lead to reduced feed and water intake, and that can ultimately mean poor nutrition. CRYSTALYX® Brigade® Stress Fighting Formula is a nutrient dense, self-fed supplement that can help overcome the nutritional stress associated with weaning, shipping, grouping and the breeding period. Mark Robbins is a nutritionist and the research and nutrition services manager for CRYSTALYX. He had a conversation with a customer recently about how well Brigade works on stressed calves at weaning time.
Mark: The customer had a saying, he was trying to give, give an overview to some other people that were in on the conversation. And, he says, there are only two problems with Brigade. He says it doesn’t cost enough and it’s too easy. You know, when you look at those, those aren’t really problems. But they are aspects of Brigade that are very true, and the fact that they exist, it makes it seem too good to be true. It is a very simple program to use…what it really comes down to is, those calves are healthier, so you see all of those aspects. Less calves to treat, less calves die, better feed consumption, better feed conversion and then higher average daily gain.
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Related article: Brigade - It doesn't cost enough and it's too easy
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ANNOUNCER: So what can producers do to ensure more profit on their weaned calves. What else can they do to see that happen?
Mark: That’s a good point. We’re in a kind of a period in the cattle cycle where we’re trending up in the cattle numbers and down in the profitability. With Brigade, if you have sick calves at weaning time, which most people do, it may very somewhat in the severity of the sickness. And, the nice thing about Brigade is, the sicker the calves are, the better the response is that you see from it…as far as profitability goes, at a time when we have seen lower profitability in the cow/calf industry, you have an opportunity with Brigade to ensure a little extra profit on those calves that you’re weaning at home.
ANNOUNCER: So, what should producers do when they’re considering purchasing decisions that will have an impact on their investment?
Mark: Well, the nice thing about Brigade is it pays for itself quite easily. A couple of examples I might give there, if you’re weaning a hundred calves and you save one calf from dying, you basically double your investment. It’s going to cost you about 450-dollars or so to buy Brigade for those calves, a hundred calves for a 28-day period. You save one 900-dollar calf, you’ve just basically doubled your investment….the fewer calves you treat means the more healthy calves you have. The healthier calves are going to gain more than the calves that you have to treat. And then you’ll have to treat some of them twice and you’ll cut back on the number of calves that you have to treat a second time as well.
ANNOUNCER: My dad, when someone asked him what he did for a living, liked to say, “I’m a professional gambler, I’m a farmer”. Do you see Brigade as a tool to hedge your calves?
Mark: Exactly. It’s a great safety net even if maybe you don’t have a lot of sickness in your calves typically. You don’t always know what the weather can bring. About four years ago or so this first week of October in the western South Dakota area, we had a terrible blizzard. They called it the Atlas Blizzard, and nobody could see that coming. At the time, people were weaning calves. If people would have weaned calves a week ahead of that, things were really nice for a few days and then all of a sudden we got a lot of rain, and the next day we got a day of a blizzard. And a couple days later, before things really warmed up again…the dealer told him, you really ought to try Brigade. You ought to put these Brigade barrels out, it will really cut down on the number of sick calves that you have. And he really resisted that. After a couple years, the dealer finally said, you know I’m going to give him eight of these barrels to put out and just show him what it will do. So he gave him the eight barrels, didn’t hear anything from the gentlemen for a couple, three weeks. And, pretty soon he came in and told the dealer, and he says, yeah, I’ve got to have some more of those Brigade barrels. I don’t care what they cost, just put them in my pickup Charge it to my account, because they work. That’s a lot of what we’ve seen with people. It is surprising how well it works for no more than it costs, and for as easy as it is to do.
ANNOUNCER: So if a producer wants to learn more about Brigade Stress Fighting Formula, what should they do?
Mark: The easiest thing for a lot of us to do is to go to the CRYSTALYX website, crystalyx.com. You can find some information there. Or contact your local CRYSTALYX dealer and they will also be able to get you some information as well.
ANNOUNCER: Or you can talk to that guy who thinks it doesn’t cost enough and it’s too easy.
Mark: That’s right. We can tell you that the guy says the only problem is it doesn’t cost enough and it’s too easy. It really is a great product. It’s one of the products that we have that most people selling it are very bulletproof about selling it; they know it’s going to work. They know it’s going to give a great return to the customers that use it.
ANNOUNCER: That’s it for this Block Talk Podcast brought to you by CRYSTALYX Brand Supplements an easy way to provide self-fed protein, vitamins and trace minerals in a low moisture supplement formulated for all types of feeding situations from low quality forages to fly control and everything in between. Learn more about all Brigade Stress Fighting Formula has to offer by going to www.crystalyx.com. It all adds up to Results by the Barrel.
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