Think you know about copper? Think you know about boluses? Did you know that some commonly held beliefs about copper, copper deficiency and nutritional supplements are not correct.
Click on the copper myths below to find out the facts.
Myth 1: If copper is showing up in blood tests, there is no thiomolybdate toxicity
Reality: Thiomolybdate (MoS4) binds to copper and makes it useless. However, this useless copper will still show up in blood tests.
Myth 2: Some copper is good, so more copper must be better!
Reality: More does not necessarily mean better. Where thiomolybdate toxicity occurs, it is vital that bolus copper is rumen-available. While some nutritional capsules may contain more copper, if this is in the form of copper oxide, it may only be available in the abomasum where it may simply be absorbed into the body and cannot stop the thiomolybdate uptake into the blood.
Cosecure and CoseIcure boluses contain ionic copper, which is active in the same pH range as the rumen.
Myth 3: If the animal’s coat/fleece looks healthy and the bald, spectacles eyes disappear after I’ve administered a copper supplement, it must have worked.
Reality: TMT can have both visible (clinical) and invisible (subclinical) symptoms and consequences. Examples of the visible symptoms are poor fleece quality, gingering coat, and bald spectacle eyes. However, some of the more damaging consequences of TMT are invisible, such as reduced fertility and impaired energy utilisation.
Just because and improvement in outwardly symptoms, such as coat colour, is observed, this does not mean the more severe animal health issues have been rectified.
However when ionic copper is readily rumen-available, it binds with Thiomolybdate in the rumen and prevents it from passing into the blood stream. This means thiomolybdate can not bind with copper co-dependent enzymes in the blood and this TMT is prevented.
Myth 4: All boluses are more or less the same. It doesn’t matter which one I pick because they all do the same job
Reality: Cosecure Cattle boluses are different to all other boluses. They contain ionic copper which is readily available in the rumen, as ionic copper is active in the same pH range as the rumen.
Some boluses deliver copper in the form of copper oxide. However, copper oxide requires a low pH to become active. As the normal range of rumen pH is higher, between pH 5.5 and pH 6.5, it is chemically impossible for copper oxide to become active here. Copper oxide only becomes active in the abomasum (which has a pH range of 2 to 4), where it may simply be absorbed into the body, and cannot stop Thiomolybdate uptake into the blood. Rumen-available copper is essential for the prevention of thiomolybdate uptake into the blood, and consequent Thiomolybdate Toxicity.