Here's the thing. Summer is on its way, and the summer sun has other ideas. In a few short weeks, all that lush green feed will be dry and tired. When it turns, the menu changes almost overnight.

So the real question isn't how much grass you've got. It's how much of it is turning into weight on your animals right now. Every mouthful your stock get full value from today is money in the bank later.

Green Feed Isn't Always As Good As It Looks

Lush, fast-growing pasture looks like a feast. But to the bugs in your animals' rumen, it can be a bit of a dog's breakfast.

The rumen is where the real work happens. Billions of microbes break down the feed, and those microbes are what turn grass into energy and protein. Keep them well fed and your animals thrive. Leave them short of something, and growth stalls.

Rich green feed tends to let them down in a few ways:

• Not enough of the right carbs. Fast-growing feed is often low in the simple carbohydrates rumen microbes need to work at their best. That can mean poor growth and scours.
• Nitrates. These reduce the blood's ability to carry oxygen, which puts strain on the heart and lungs. In severe cases, they can kill.
• Too much potassium. High potassium makes magnesium harder to get at. That raises the risk of grass tetany and bloat, and of milk fever in calving cows and lambing ewes.
• Too few vitamins and trace elements. Lush feed is often a poor source of the vitamins and trace elements animals need for immunity and for turning feed into growth.

Warning Signs To Watch For

If you're seeing any of these on green feed, your animals are probably not getting full value from it:

• Scours
• Lameness
• Bloat, whether acute or the slow, simmering kind
• Runny eyes or nose
• Staggers or grass tetany
• Shortness of breath or faster breathing

All of these cost you productivity, and some of them cost you animals. And because the paddock looks so good, they're easy to miss until the damage is done.

‍Get More Out Of Every Mouthful With Grazemax

Grazemax fills the gaps that lush green feed leaves behind. It's a range of vitamin and mineral supplements made for sheep and cattle grazing rich pastures and forage crops.

It works in four main ways:

• Feeds the rumen. The right carbs help the microbes make more energy and protein, and help reduce scours.
• Feeds the brain and nerves. Zinc, magnesium, B vitamins and carbs support energy and metabolic health.
• Primes the muscles. Magnesium, Vitamin D, zinc and carbs support a healthy heart and lungs, and help animals expel built-up rumen gas.
• Protects the feet. Zinc and B vitamins help build harder hooves and healthier skin between the claws in wet, cold conditions.

Put simply, a better-working rumen gets more out of the same grass. That means more weight gain, better feed efficiency, and less bloat, scours and grass tetany. And because each mouthful goes further, your green feed lasts longer too.

Grazemax Ultra: Pastures, lucerne and fodder crops

Grazemax Xtreme: Times of extreme bloat, scours and grass tetany risk

Grazemax Beetguard: Beet, swede and turnip crops with acidosis risk

Grazemax Protect: Pastures contaminated with mycotoxins

Grazemax Sorghum+: Sorghum crops with a prussic acid challenge

‍A Few Tips For Putting It Out

• Give them a test first. Stock that haven't used a powder lick before may need a little encouragement. A sprinkle of raw sugar or grain on top usually gets things going.
• Use enough containers. As a guide, put out one container for every 15 ewes or 50 head of cattle. That way, every animal gets a fair go.
• Spread them out. Place containers around water or where stock camp but keep them apart from each other and from the water. That keeps stock moving, so all of them get a turn.

‍Get Them Finished Before The Grass Is

This green feed is a gift, but it won't last. The sooner your stock are getting full value from it, the more of it ends up as weight on their backs, and the less you'll need to buy in when summer bites.

‍Keep grazing in the green. Ask for AIM Grazemax at your local rural store. Or, if you'd like a hand working out which Grazemax best suits your situation, talk to our team on 1800 106 006. You can also find us at aimcentral.com.au. We don’t charge for talking and we're always happy to have a yarn.