I keep seeing people saying about feeding a good vit and mineral supplement. So what do people recommend?
Vitamin and mineral supplements
- Thread starter chunky monkey
- Start date
I like Top Spec Lite balancer, and if he's looking a bit podgy it's palatable enough that it can be fed on it's own. If I had something that wasn't a good doer and was working harder I'd probably go for Top Spec Comprehensive balancer instead as it has more protein.
I've had the Bailey's Lo Cal in the past for J. I'm not currently feeding one - I think ours probably get all they need (could be wrong on that of course) but between them they get Allen and Paige, Healthy Hooves, Dodson and Horrell Everyday Hi Fi cubes, Veteran Mix, Biotin (not all at once and not all get the same).
At the risk of thread hi jacking, but whilst we're on about minerals and vits - do you all feed a salt lick and a mineral lick? I've never managed to tempt any of ours to partake in licking them. I've tried both plain salt and a mineral one all get ignored.
At the risk of thread hi jacking, but whilst we're on about minerals and vits - do you all feed a salt lick and a mineral lick? I've never managed to tempt any of ours to partake in licking them. I've tried both plain salt and a mineral one all get ignored.
I was thinking that when people offer a vitamin or mineral supplement it was in the form of a block in a bucket or a powder they add to food. Like the horslyx. Which i know people dont rate as there molassed. Wasnt thinking they meant balancer.
@Trewsers Chunky would never touch a salt lick when offered it. I tried the yellow baby rockie. I was also given a Himalayan, which i hung out. In the end i dunked it in some water each day to dissolve it and added it to some soaked sugar beet.
Having tasted his food this year after him going off food i guess he is telling me he doesnt need salt in his diet. Yet my sheep go made for salt licks. I use the baby yellow rockies on my sheep. Not the pure salt ones or chelated ones.
@Trewsers Chunky would never touch a salt lick when offered it. I tried the yellow baby rockie. I was also given a Himalayan, which i hung out. In the end i dunked it in some water each day to dissolve it and added it to some soaked sugar beet.
Having tasted his food this year after him going off food i guess he is telling me he doesnt need salt in his diet. Yet my sheep go made for salt licks. I use the baby yellow rockies on my sheep. Not the pure salt ones or chelated ones.
Horses don’t generally do well with licks, minerals often don’t taste nice so there is normally molasses added to cover it up and they can’t self regulate on minerals (only salt).
I found Jess needs the protein of a balancer, I like the progressive earth range but am now back onto spillers daily balancer with baby coming as it’s easier to get and much more palatable.
In the past I always used Feedmark Benevit and was happy with the results but it does have some iron which I prefer to avoid now (adversely effects feet), it’s very cost effective.
I found Jess needs the protein of a balancer, I like the progressive earth range but am now back onto spillers daily balancer with baby coming as it’s easier to get and much more palatable.
In the past I always used Feedmark Benevit and was happy with the results but it does have some iron which I prefer to avoid now (adversely effects feet), it’s very cost effective.
Mine is licking her way through the rock salt on a string.
I was considering the paddock lick for minerals as she's not being fed anything except a banana skin.
But if it's got mollases on it she will go and get the shovel and dig it out!
What puzzles me about horse feed is they know to much sugar is bad but they all add it!
Bring back straights!
I was considering the paddock lick for minerals as she's not being fed anything except a banana skin.
But if it's got mollases on it she will go and get the shovel and dig it out!
What puzzles me about horse feed is they know to much sugar is bad but they all add it!
Bring back straights!
Lol does she actually eat the banana skin?! Hehehee, I've never tried ours with it.
@newforest to be fair a lot of straights are high in starch and sugar, it's just that back in the day we didn't worry about it. You can still buy them if you want to, most decent sized feed stores will stock them.
I can remember a friend bringing bananas to the yard for the horses. The majority either wouldn't try them at all or tried them and spat them out, Little Un ate his but wouldn't take another and he was the only one who ate more than a mouthful.
Both ours have a salt lick. Jack disposes of his (large) one very quickly. Raf's (small one) lasts months, maybe a year. I only know he's been licking it by the damp patch I occasionally see underneath it.
If we've been doing something strenuous that's made him sweat I offer him an extra bucket of water with electrolytes in, as well as his fresh water, so he has the choice. Guaranteed that if we've been out somewhere like on a PR he'll drain the electrolyte water (and I give him another if he does) before he goes for the fresh water, whereas normally he won't touch the electrolyte one. I prefer to put it in his water because he's easily put off his feed if anything unusual goes in it and after a hard day he's often slow to eat his tea anyway.
On a daily basis he has Saracens Stamm 30 balancer because this seemed to have the highest concentrate of vits/mins when I was doing my research (admittedly several years ago). It's a pellet which he has in his feed, but he'll happily eat it on its own. He also has extra vitamin E but that's specific to his individual needs.
Poor Jack (retired) doesn't get anything other than a token feed with his Danilon (plus garlic and brewers yeast in the vain hope they do something to put off the flies) but he looks so well on it it's hard to believe he's lacking in anything.
If we've been doing something strenuous that's made him sweat I offer him an extra bucket of water with electrolytes in, as well as his fresh water, so he has the choice. Guaranteed that if we've been out somewhere like on a PR he'll drain the electrolyte water (and I give him another if he does) before he goes for the fresh water, whereas normally he won't touch the electrolyte one. I prefer to put it in his water because he's easily put off his feed if anything unusual goes in it and after a hard day he's often slow to eat his tea anyway.
On a daily basis he has Saracens Stamm 30 balancer because this seemed to have the highest concentrate of vits/mins when I was doing my research (admittedly several years ago). It's a pellet which he has in his feed, but he'll happily eat it on its own. He also has extra vitamin E but that's specific to his individual needs.
Poor Jack (retired) doesn't get anything other than a token feed with his Danilon (plus garlic and brewers yeast in the vain hope they do something to put off the flies) but he looks so well on it it's hard to believe he's lacking in anything.
Mine obviously go wappy for molasses, I got them a low sugar mineral lick as an enrichment (they can't get enough off a lick to meet their needs anyway) and it's been out for almost a year and they hardly touch it. I also have rock salt blocks out for enrichment.
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