Homemade Minerals

Do-It-Yourselfers BEWARE

By WHITETAIL INSTITUTE STAFF

Many Americans tend to be “do-it-yourselfers.” Maybe it’s because we are only a couple hundred years removed from the pioneers and settlers that cut out a life and existence from the wilderness with their own hands. This same Do-It-Yourself spirit is still living strong in the descendants of those early Americans. One only has to travel through any medium-sized city and you will find a Home Depot and a Lowes Home Improvement sitting oddly close to each other. Even in rural communities you will find some store where you can go pick up the supplies to build your new deck, lay tile or complete whatever project is on the agenda for that weekend. Heck, we even have restaurants where you can cook your own steak.

While I am a big believer in the do-it-yourself spirit and am a practitioner myself, there are certain things that are better left to a professional. For instance, let’s say you need to have your appendix taken out. Probably best to have a doctor do that. OK, so that is a little extreme but there are many other less gruesome examples. One of which is the attempt of some well-intended deer hunters and managers to put together their own deer mineral/vitamin supplement.

For the better part of my professional career, I have been designing, developing and formulating nutritional products for deer including mineral/vitamin supplements. From the first day I sat down to work on putting together a product, I had well-intentioned people calling me and asking me about how they could go about piecing together a “deer mineral” on their own. Knowing the pitfalls and problems that these folks could run into, I eventually developed an analogy to explain the difficulties of such a practice that I use to this day. Putting together a mineral/vitamin supplement is exactly like using a complicated and intricate recipe to prepare some kind of culinary dish. This recipe will call for very exact amounts of each ingredient, often times using specific brands of ingredients and putting them together in detailed sequences with exact mixing times and baking times. Failure to adhere to any part of this recipe will end up in a failed finished product. Putting together a mineral/vitamin supplement for deer is nearly identical to this procedure.

First, let’s examine some of the aspects of formulating a deer mineral/vitamin supplement. You must first know the levels of nutrients needed in the final product. You must then be able to put ingredients together in such a way that they meet the levels you are looking for. In order to do this, you will need to know how to convert percentages, ppm (parts per million), mg/lb, IU/lb and KIU/b. You will next need to know what ratios these nutrients need to be in proportion to each other in order for proper digestion and utilization to occur. Next, you must be able to determine the appropriate source of the nutrients, as some nutrient sources are digestible to deer and others are not. Finally you will need to be able to mix these ingredients, some of which are added in extremely small amounts, into a homogeneous mix.   

This sounds like a daunting task; and to be honest with you, unless you have had the appropriate training and education along with having the right equipment, it is indeed a daunting undertaking. More than a difficult task however, improper formulation and manufacturing can end in results ranging from little or no benefit to actual harm of the animal.

The following are a few of the more common examples of homemade mineral/vitamin supplements:

Cattle Minerals

A very common practice is to use a cattle mineral as a deer mineral. At first glance, this may seem to make sense as they are both ruminants and should have the same mineral and vitamin needs. In actuality, even though they are both ruminants, the two species differ greatly in their mineral and vitamin needs. You only have to look at the physical characteristics of deer and cattle to see the differences. First and most obvious, is that cattle do not grow, shed and regrow antlers every year. In fact, cattle do not have antlers at all but rather have horns which are made up of completely different substances than antlers. There are further differences including a higher concentration of minerals in doe’s milk as compared to cattle. In general, deer require much higher levels of minerals and vitamins than cattle.

Dicalcium Phosphate and Salt

Dicalcium Phosphate, commonly known as dical, is a compound containing calcium and phosphorus. Because many have read and have been told that both calcium and phosphorus are important to antler growth, dical is often used as the base ingredient in a homemade mineral mix. However, because it is very bitter and therefore unpalatable, it is mixed with high levels of salt to get the deer to eat it. Because of the salt, the deer will eat it but are the deer actually getting what they need? There is no question that deer need calcium and phosphorus for optimal antler growth. But they also need a whole host of other nutrients not found in dical including magnesium, copper, zinc, as well as several others. Furthermore, these nutrients need to be in the appropriate ratios. Minerals have complex interactions with each other and require exact ratios between them to be utilized properly. For instance, you may have all the calcium you need but if you do not have adequate amounts of zinc, you will get under-utilization of both. A simple mix of dical and salt does not have the appropriate ratios.

A Bit of This, a Bit of That

Yet another example of homemade minerals is putting a blend together using several different products and ingredients. Most of these start out with a livestock mineral of some sort and then other individual mineral and vitamin ingredients are added to it. Here is where some real problems can occur. Not only is there the chance that ratios and amounts will be incorrect resulting in under-utilization, but bigger problems such as toxic levels of minerals may occur. This threat arises from the fact that end quantities are unknown due to the nature of simply adding unknown levels of nutrients together. All minerals can be toxic and if you just start throwing a few things together because it “seems like it should work” you may be setting you and your deer up for some problems. Along with this, you should consider how well you will be able to mix the various ingredients together. In most professional mills, several thousand pounds is needed for proper and thorough mixing to occur. Many homemade minerals add up to a few hundred pounds at best and are mixed with a shovel in a big tub. These are commonly call “bath tub mixes”. Proper mixing simply can not be done in this fashion.

I am all for do-it-yourself. But as you can see, putting together a deer mineral/vitamin supplement when you are not trained and experienced to do so may not be the best way to practice this American tradition. It is best to use a product developed by a company who has a professional staff with years of experience and research in mineral/ vitamin formulation. Without question, the Whitetail Institute is the leader in this field with proven products such as Imperial 30-06, 30-06 Plus Protein and Cutting Edge Nutritional Supplements. So if you want to build on that deck, by all means take a trip down to your local lumber yard, call some buddies and get to work. But if you are looking to add a mineral/vitamin supplement to your deer management program, call the Whitetail Institute.