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for healthier dairy livestock
Perfectly sized pellets are an effective and palatable way of getting calcium, magnesium and trace elements into your cows, goats and sheep to improve animal health
Discover why Jon and Hayley Dampney chose Vitalise for their 1080 cows on a system 3-4 farm in the heart of Mid-Canterbury
Key features
Accurate
Pressing high elemental calcium and magnesium into a pellet makes it easy to feed. Vitalise can be delivered directly to the cow during milking times via your in-shed feeding system
Concentrated
We produce Vitalise without grain by pressing ultra-fine lime into a pellet using our unique manufacturing process. And adding Mg, DCP, monensin and trace elements to meet your cow's needs
Reliable
Mineral supplements minimise the wastage that comes with dusting lime flour and Mag Oxide. And in-shed feeding makes each Vitalise dose precise and palatable
Convenient
We designed Vitalise to relieve the workload in an already busy operation whilst all-natural products support the health and well-being of your animals
How Vitalise works
A calcium and magnesium mineral supplement for healthier cows
Calcium is vital for animal health and development. As a significant mineral in the body, calcium helps circulate blood, move muscles, and release hormones. It influences production, reproduction and feed conversion efficiency.
More than calcium goes into Vitalise; our most popular product Vitalise CalMag combines magnesium and ultra-fine lime to help support animal health and reduce the occurrence of milk fever. You can choose a standard dairy trace element premix for your dairy cattle, goats and sheep, or talk to us about customising supplements depending on your herd’s needs.
These trace elements are an example of our standard dairy premix:
• Copper 220 mg/dose
• Zinc 400 mg/dose
• Cobalt 8 mg/dose
• Iodine 12 mg/dose
• Selenium 8 mg/dose
Half rates of Cu are also available for PKE users
Trace elements are typically included at a 100gm feed rate
With the growing trend of feeding fodder beet to cows on the season’s shoulders, adding phosphorus (DCP) to the Vitalise pellet has been popular and is now one of our standard products. DCP is added at 20gm/cow/day, making the overall feed rate 120gm/cow/day.
Ionophores (monensin), toxin binders and seaweed can be added to the pellet. Salt can be blended in with the pellets post-production if requested. The inclusion of monensin with the Vitalise pellets is dose-dependent and needs to be fed at the labelled feed rate. Alternative feeding rates can be created on advice. All our pellets are manufactured in New Zealand, and can be certified organic.
Product | CALCIUM
(per 100g*)
| MAGNESIUM
(per 100g*)
| OTHER
(per 100g*)
| TYPICAL DOSE RATE
(per cow per day)
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
Vitalise Calcium | 36g | N/A | N/A | 100g |
Vitalise CalMag | 23g | 8g | N/A | 100g |
Vitalise CalMag + DCP | 23g | 8g | Phosphorus 3.6g | 120g |
Vitalise CalMag + Rumenox | 23g | 7.7g | Monensin 300mg | 100g |
Vitalise CalMag + Trace Elements | 23g | 7.7g | Trace Elements (Cu, Zn, Co, I, Se) | 100g |
Vitalise CalMag + Trace Elements + Rumenox | 23g | 7.7g | Trace Elements (Cu, Zn, Co, I, Se), Monensin 300mg | 100g |
Vitalise Custom Blend | Custom | Custom | Custom | As per mineral needs |
* Excluding Product Vitalise CalMag + DCP. The calcium, magnesium and phosphorus values are per 120g.
We require a minimum order of 10 tonnes for custom blends.
Hi I’m Alex, for a hassle-free quote
give me a bell on 027 322 4450 or drop me an email at alex.lond@optimise.net.nz
How to use
Vitalise
Easy to use and to feed
Using Vitalise improves animal health, reduces labour, time, and repairs and maintenance on gear.
We developed Vitalise as an alternative to dusting lime flour and MagOxide. Vitalise improves efficiency with in-shed feeding and flow through augers. A mineral supplement has many advantages over dusting, providing a far more accurate and reliable dose with minimal wastage.
Vitalise works in-shed feeding systems. A core-less/centre-less auger is the preferred delivery mechanism so that the integrity of the pellet is maintained. Because the pellets are approximately 2.5mm in diameter, conventional augers can crush them. A lead feed ensures the dairy cows consume the pellets.
Feeding equipment options include:
- A Mineral Additive Dispenser – a small unit (about 50-60kg) with a variable speed motor that feeds the pellets up to a conduit in the main feed line
- 1Tonne silos with a separate feed line into the dairy parlour and a variable speed core-less auger
- When using existing silos, we recommend that a "blower truck" is used to load the pellets, so they don't get crushed
How much
does it cost?
The cost of Vitalise CalMag at 100gm/cow/day is approximately 7.6 cents/cow/day (excluding freight).
When and where to use Vitalise
- Being a lime-based supplement, it is best to start feeding Vitalise after calving.
- Treat Springers separately until they enter the milking herd.
- Sometimes, late Winter herd management requires the springers be brought into the milking parlour for training or when they won’t be separated from the milkers. If your nutritionist advises, we can add sulphur to the Vitalise lime-based pellets to help prevent any metabolic disruptions during this time.
- Vitalise works throughout the milking season. The versatility of Vitalise allows you to adjust the feeding rate according to the demand and production of your herd.
- Some farmers choose to feed Vitalise all season, and others stop after mating or at Christmas time, then reintroduce the pelletised mineral supplements in the Autumn.
Where is Vitalise available?
You can have Vitalise delivered directly to your farm, merchants depot, or local freight company. We dispatch Vitalise from our manufacturing facility to ensure that you get the best product available.
- You can order from us directly or from your local farm merchant.
- Vitalise is dispatched mostly in 1T bags. We can send out bulk loads, and we recommend a blower truck so that the pellets don't get crushed
- We'll happily help organise delivery using your preferred local transport company or a freight company en-route.
Minimum order 500kg. Contact your local farm merchant for 25kg bags
Who uses
Vitalise?
We have customers from Southland to Waikato
Dairy cow and goat farmers alike use Vitalise, from large scale to family-owned and operated. Farmers have had good results using Vitalise, particularly if they have had a high incidence of milk fever cases. We can put you in touch with other local farmers in your area to hear about their experiences using Vitalise.
Depending on the severity of metabolic issues, some farmers have been able to stop dusting lime flour and MgOxide on paddocks when they introduced Vitalise to the milking herd. Typically, Mag Chloride or Mag Sulphate are still offered through the water supply.
“Using Vitalise has been a game-changer for us. We no longer have to spend time dusting paddocks, cleaning and fixing spreading gear or worry about getting calcium and magnesium into the cows, particularly on rainy days.”
5th year Vitalise user
Frequently asked
questions
The typical feed rate is 100gm/cow/day. However, this can range from 50-200gm/cow/day. Higher producing cows may need a higher feed rate of Vitalise. Seek advice from your Vet or Nutritionist to confirm your herd’s calcium, magnesium and trace element requirements.
The majority of our clients maintain good levels of Ca and Mg in their herds at the typical feed rate of 100gm/cow/day. The complete dose rate can be fed all at one milking time or split between two. However, some augers may not be able to dispense the smaller amounts, such as 50gm.
Yes, even the fussiest cows will eat Vitalise!
Vitalise pellets are slightly sweet to taste. Being sweet helps to encourage cows to eat what would otherwise be a very chalky and bitter combination of lime and magnesium A lead feed ensures the cows consume the pellets.
We produce Vitalise without grain for a high concentration mineral pellet that keeps costs down and provides greater feeding flexibility. The availability of minerals has a lot to do with heat treatment and particle size. Our milling and pelletising process makes the feeding of finely ground particles easy with minimal waste, resulting in improved nutrient uptake and utilisation by the cow.
At 100gm/cow/day, 1T of Vitalise contains 10,000 doses. A 1T bag will last approximately 10 days for 1000 cows at 100gm/cow/day, or approximately 6.5 days at 150gm/cow/day.
Vitalise should be kept dry and stored inside (preferably on pallets) to protect it from the weather, birds, vermin, and other foreign contaminants. Vitalise also needs to be kept dry to prevent slaking, setting and clogging. If the pellets get wet, the moisture can cause them to break down.
Vitalise pellets break down and dissolve quickly once in the rumen. You can test the breakdown of the pellets by immersing them in water - they should feel soft to the touch and showing signs of breaking down after 5-30 minutes.
All our products are batch tested for dissolution before leaving our plant and are traceable by batch number.