# Goat likes the horse minerals!



## hammerithot (May 31, 2010)

No, that's not a rock she's licking! It's a new brand of horse mineral block. This 5 month doeling loves it. Every evening when I let her and her mum out to play while I care for the horses, she spends a good 10-15 minutes pawing at it and licking it. I presume she paws it to loosen it up. After the morning walk she eats the loose minerals in her pen and makes no effort to seek out this block. I'm thinking about whacking the block with a hammer and breaking off a section to put in the goat pen!
(my apologies if this manages to post twice; I am having glitches!)

[attachment deleted by admin]


----------



## cariboujaguar (Feb 9, 2009)

That much licking might point to defficiency, when mine are that obsessed with it I go look over my copper/BOSE etc records and see if I'm due. Cute picture!


----------



## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

Aw, sweet little goat. What kind of loose minerals does she have in her pen?


----------



## hammerithot (May 31, 2010)

I know I need to copper bolus them. I need to order that from Whitney, since I can't get the stuff locally. The loose minerals in the pen are the Purina goat minerals.


----------



## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

I would have to go and look again but I believe Purina doesn't have enough copper or selenium. It's time for me to bolus again also.


----------



## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

There is a loose mineral that smells like flowers that my goats love...can't think of the name of it at the moment....ugh!


----------



## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

All goats like most minerals because they crave salt. Put out anything with molassas in it and they will prefer it over their minerals they need. Except Purina minerals  It would take way more licking that a goat can do to glean anything off this block, but at least it won't hurt them. My mineral is for horses, cattle and goats. Vicki


----------



## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

I also found that sometimes a good loose horse mineral is better than any goat mineral especially purina


----------



## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Purina is high in salt too. So they don't eat much of it.


----------



## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

My goats love the minerals in the horse stalls, too. It is something like "XXX 100". I get them at either Rural King or TSC. My only concern is that it has iron it. Our water has huge amounts of water. As I do not have a good handle on when to copper bolus (adult does done early spring this year), can someone suggest how often and when I should bolus? When should I start the kids?

On a side note, everyone enjoys their loose minerals, too. I use Manna Pro goat minerals.


----------



## Feral Nature (Oct 26, 2007)

Ashley said:


> Purina is high in salt too. So they don't eat much of it.


Yes, I agree with this. I used Purina Goat Minerals until I started reading lables. It is VERY high in salt and the goats get their salt needs satisfied and then have no desire to keep taking in more. They don't get enough of the minerals that way. I really, really do not like Purina. So then I started looking for something I could use locally. The best around here is "Cargill Right Now Onyx" for cattle. If we can't find that, we use "Cargill Right Now Emerald" for cattle. It is a LOOSE mineral and the goats just gooble it down. I really go through a lot of it.


----------



## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

MF-Alpines said:


> Our water has huge amounts of water.


Sorry. I meant our water has huge amounts of iron.


----------



## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Heehee


----------



## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

And when you have high amounts of iron in your water, don't forget about your health also! Iron blocks copper, calcium and selenium in our diets just like it does in our goats....my husband and I were just talking about it today that we are going to capsule up my techmaster minerals that has done such a good job on the goats  Vicki


----------



## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

MF-Alpines said:


> As I do not have a good handle on when to copper bolus (adult does done early spring this year), can someone suggest how often and when I should bolus? When should I start the kids?


Anyone care to advise me on this?


----------



## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Usually every 5 months.


----------



## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Kids need to be ruminating well. It's simply eaiser for me to copper bolus the whole herd prebreeding, so Feb kids will get a bolus at about 12 weeks, and then again when 9 or 10 months old. Then I bolus after kidding, since I so rarely get to dairy clips until after the doe has kidded, I usually copper bolus their first day up on the milkstand after kidding, they get wormed, feet trimmed, shaved and copper bolused. I try to make sure everyone is done twice a year, but every 5 or 6 months is pretty normal. I am very careful to stay within the guidelines of amounts of grams per pounds, via saanendoah.com because my copper liver biopsies were done on that program. And those who use more don't test. I also have an excellent mineral. Vicki


----------



## Feral Nature (Oct 26, 2007)

I am so glad Vicki said she does not get her dairy clips done on time. It takes off a lot of pressure! :rofl


----------



## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I just get so busy Diane, picking up every piece of poop in the barn so Jana can tell people my goats don't poop  :rofl Vicki


----------



## Feral Nature (Oct 26, 2007)

Goats poop?


----------



## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

I've used the loose type of equine minerals for my goats for years. They seem to like it better and they do better on them. Plus, with my small place and limited storage area, it's easier on me to have 1 container of loose minerals for both the horses and the goats. I found that the horse minerals are higher in the minerals I need for my area than the goat minerals are, so my goats eat less of them and get better results.


----------



## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Sully most would find this. Whatever is the quality animal in your area...horses here, they not only have better quality minerals but also grain for sale. Why I feed horse grains and feed a horse, cow, goat minerals. Vicki


----------



## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Can you mention brands please? I am about to be out of techmaster and sick to death of chasing it around.
I have got to find something that is always available without 20 phone calls and false starts.
Has anyone used any of the Evergreen Equine line? That is what will more than likely be available here.
Thanks!


----------



## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

Vicki McGaugh Tx Nubians said:


> Why I feed horse grains and feed a horse, cow, goat minerals. Vicki


What does this mean? Does it mean that it is why you feed horse grains and feed a horse cow or goat minerals? Or feed "something" horse, cow or goat minerals.

Ugh. It's not computing for me unless there are full, complete sentences. Sorry. 

I don't mean to be difficult. I'm just not getting that lingo.


----------



## hammerithot (May 31, 2010)

I used the Purina because that's what I can get here. I was naive at the time. I was just going to get loose minerals and loose salt, but the feed store guy said, hey we have goat minerals, so I bought them. *sigh* I was/am quite naive. The mineral block pictured is a new brand that's been put out. It doesn't have as much salt! My horses get electrolytes every day, and this block doesn't throw them off. I noticed on the Purina bag that the selenium and copper levels seem low, but that didn't seem like a big deal at the time since I knew I'd need to copper bolus and give BoSe.


----------



## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Yes the base of my milkstand grain is a horse all grain, dry mix that contains no molassas, just grains. It also has an excellent mineral in it which isn't what is found locally in goat feeds. All goat feeds in my area are extruded pellets, or corn and an extruded pellet. I feed loose minerals, Bluebonnet Tech Master Complete that is for Horses, Cattle and goats. Most products specifically for goats came out when the boer goats hit the area, and is more about marketing than it is what nutritonally a goat needs. Vicki


----------



## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

Thanks for the explanation. It's starting to make sense to me.


----------



## KJFarm (Oct 26, 2007)

Cargill Right Now Onyx would be a good second choice for a mineral. I've been told that Vigortone has a mineral with good copper levels, just haven't run across any locally to check the tag.


----------



## prairie nights (Jan 16, 2009)

Lee, you could have said something I would have hauled some Techmaster to drop off at Sandy's.

Vicki, I didn't know Complete was also for horses, here I am chasing a horse mineral, glad I can use it for my one lone horse in the buck pen !!

Now about this .....

<<I just get so busy Diane, picking up every piece of poop in the barn so Jana can tell people my goats don't poop>>

that's just plain mean, LOLOLOLOL :tapfoot

You realize though that now you have to live up to that reputation :twisted


----------



## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

I do know someone in the area that uses Vigortone and her goats look great but it is still a matter of meeting someone somewhere who is running small amts of supplies around in the back of a truck bi-weekly. It's just a pain!
Cargill is not marketing here either. I guess I will be the experimental case for Evergreen. I do NOT like their feeds so may not like mins either. The population of feed buyers here is small so the larger cos don't really bother with this area.
My goats LOVE techmaster and eat a lot of it but they will have to get over it huh? Thanks a lot Purina- the Walmart of the feed world. I am so disappointed in TSC for selling out to them with an exclusive. grrrrrrr

Jana I did not know you could get it or were using it. 
I may have to run up there and visit Copper and pick up a load :biggrin


----------



## prairie nights (Jan 16, 2009)

<<I may have to run up there and visit Copper and pick up a load >>

Hope you are bringing some goats with you !!


----------



## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

You don't want any of my Nuns :rofl
Heh I just realized that makes me Mother Superior! 
At last- a title!

I think Vicki told Jace the berries were choc MM's and he picked them all up.


----------



## KJFarm (Oct 26, 2007)

Lee, have you talked to the sales rep about the Bluebonnet Minerals? On their site, here is the rep for Arkansas.
Tim Booth 918-822-7687


----------



## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Thank you Janie- yes I have- he is not very interested in 3 goat farmers...
When TSC first dropped them they were all gungho to keep the customer base buying but I think they realized it was more hassle than it was worth by the time you get to the bottom line.
Thanks tho~


----------



## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

What about the manna pro from TSC? It's not as good as bluebonnet but it's better than purina. It has ammonium choride though.


----------



## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

I will look at that Michelle.
On an outside chance I did talk to Tim again and the best he can do is ship it to me.
Still shopping...


----------



## Jo~* (Oct 26, 2007)

doublebowgoats said:


> What about the manna pro from TSC? It's not as good as bluebonnet but it's better than Purina. It has ammonium choride though.


My goats wont touch the manna pro or the Purina.


----------



## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

I use a locally made equine mineral by Blue Seal. They have a few different mixes for various issues.


----------

