21/07/2026
Mineral protocol for my fresh calves
My fresh calf protocol is fairly simple, pick up often, into a clean pen, navel sprayed, colostrum fed, multimin given, then a green velcro collar goes on to show those first jobs are allcomplete, so I know when I go in for twice a day "teaching" where each calf is up to.
A few years ago, our vets started to recommend multimin as a fresh calf product on the back of some strong trial data.
Multimin provides zinc, copper, manganese and selenium by injection. Those minerals are involved in immune function, wound healing, antioxidant protection, enzyme activity, growth and energy metabolism.
The injectable part is useful because it delivers a known amount without relying on how much the calf is eating, what is present in the milk, or how well minerals are being absorbed through the digestive system at that point.
That does not make injectable minerals the only option, or automatically the best option for every farm. Minerals can be supplied through CMR, added to milk, calf meal, pasture, drenches, boluses and other supplementation programmes. This is simply one part of how I build the overall mineral picture here on our farm.
That wider picture matters because New Zealand soils can be low or variable in some trace elements, particularly selenium, while copper availability can also be affected by other minerals in the diet. Taranaki farms can vary a lot, so it is never as simple as assuming every calf has the same mineral status.
The type of milk fed also makes a difference. Many calf milk replacers are fortified with vitamins and minerals, so check out what might already be in those.
Calves fed mainly whole milk may not receive that same added mineral package unless it is being supplied elsewhere, so that is also worth thinking about. There's a few products on the market, one of which is a liquid that can be added to whole milk, that type of thing would be great for this type of system.
And there is always the risk of doubling (and tripling) up on minerals if you are not careful about looking at where they all come from. Selenium is a particular one that can get to toxic levels especially if it is included in on farm fertlizer as well as meal, milk powder and then you also inject or supplement it. The margin of safety in selenium dosing is very small and selenium toxicity can lead to rapid death.
One of the reasons Multimin has stayed in my protocol is the data behind it. A New Zealand trial followed 971 calves across four commercial Canterbury dairy farms. The calves were randomly split into treated and untreated groups. The treated calves received Multimin within 24 hours of birth and again at around 35 and 70 days. By 140 days, the treated calves had around 52% lower odds of disease and 58% lower odds of death.
That is enough of a difference to take notice of. It was not just a small shift in a blood result. The effect showed up in practical outcomes under commercial farm conditions. The trial did not show a dramatic growth boost, and it does not prove every farm will see the same result. It also tested a three-injection programme, not just one injection at birth. My calves receive minerals via milk powder and calf meal on an accelerated growth plane, so I'm not rushing to supplement them again after birth to resist overdoing it, so realistically I'm choosing not to replicate the trial exactly.
The data does suggest is that trace-mineral status may have a meaningful role in how calves cope with disease pressure during those early months.
Multimin still only supplies four trace minerals. It does not cover every mineral or vitamin requirement, and it does not replace colostrum, good nutrition, hygiene or a wider mineral plan. It's useful if you are buying 4 day old calves and the farmer states "has had multimin" (which I do see on occasion) to know what it's benefits likely are.
For me, it is one targeted way of making sure zinc, copper, manganese and selenium are part of the calf’s early support system, rather than assuming those needs will automatically be met somewhere else at a later date.
Potentially, just another tool in the toolkit to get a few more calves over the line.
