# goats don't like loose minerals



## littleman (Sep 10, 2008)

So I have tried four or five different loose minerals and my girls don't like them. What trick do I use to get them to like it? They do like the block, which does have 1000 min of copper, but I read on this site that the block isn't very good since they have to lick it. Thanks


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## cstafford (May 30, 2010)

I know what you mean littleman. I bought and tried several different minerals before I found 'the one.' I feed sweetlix meat maker to my dairy does. My only suggestion would be to not give up. hth


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

I am using Bluebonnet techmaster and this is the only loose mineral that I have tried that my girls will actually eat out of the mineral feeder.


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## Angela (Feb 13, 2010)

Are the minerals the only source of salt you have out for them? Goats crave salt and eat their minerals because it has salt in it - not because of the minerals. Also, if the sodium level is too high it could cause them to get enough salt before they have eaten very much.


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## carlidoe (Jul 30, 2010)

adillenal said:


> I am using Bluebonnet techmaster and this is the only loose mineral that I have tried that my girls will actually eat out of the mineral feeder.


Same here.


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## KozaGirl (Jan 27, 2011)

Our girls have Kent Goat Mineral and they LOVE it!!


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## MayLOC (Oct 26, 2007)

wondering about the salt thing also?

My goats go crazy over all mineral. Because we take care of some cattle for two other people, we have several different cattle minerals around always and I have tried several just to see. They love some more than others, but initially will eat all like crazy (they have mineral out at all times, so it is not from lack). 

However, they do not have an alternative source of salt. 
Same for the cattle. They will eat whatever mineral we put out, because of the salt. If we put out one tub full of salt and one full of mineral they would go for the salt and not get what they needed of the mineral.


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## Jryan (Nov 30, 2010)

My girls won't eat them either. I now have 6 opened, barely used bags of different minerals and they won't touch them out in their pasture. I tried being sneaky and mixing a spoonful in their grain mix once a day on the milk stand, that DIDN'T work - they just wouldn't eat their grain either. I have no other salt source available to them. The ONLY thing I've found that works for me to get them to eat them is literally hand feeding it to them after milking once a day. They act like it's a treat since it's coming from my hand (silly goats). They are now eating at least a small handful a day. Doesn't seem to matter which kind of mineral I grab a handful of either - just as long as I'm taking the extra 5 minutes to baby them and hand feed it to them and they seem happy. I'm hoping eventually they'll learn they like it and start eating it out in their field on their own!


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Out in the field....you really need to have this up in their barn so it is out of the weather. Pools of water saturated minerals can be poisonous. My girls really go through the minerals during the winter when heavy bred, like right now...the rest of the year it just a steady slow eating of it, nothing like right now. V


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

I had this problem, too, when I first put out loose minerals. I use MannaPro because I cannot find anything around here that is not high in iron or has more than one form of copper. It took them a long time to get them accustomed to them, but they did finally start eating them. As Vicki said here and others on a couple of other threads, now with winter here and into their pregnancies, I can't keep the feeders full. Give it time.

The other thing you can try is kelp. I started adding this to their minerals a couple of months ago. They love it! At first, there was a feeding frenzy then they calmed down and would eat what I would guess would be "normal" amounts.


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Cindy can you mix some yeast in for awhile to entice them?
I have not met a goat yet that would not knock you down for yeast.
Alpines...whaddyaspect...


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

We use Right Now Onyx, all the goats gobble this one down no matter the time of year. When I can't find that I use American Stockman. They don't like it as well but do eat it.
Tam


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## MayLOC (Oct 26, 2007)

of course, the only time we really see them "eating" the mineral is when we replenish the supply. Otherwise it just dissapears little by little, or like vicki said... in the winter when bred... lot by lot.


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

I guess I'm lucky, as mine will eat just about any loose mineral mix I can find for them. I also use a pelleted horse vitamin/mineral mix as a top dress when they are pregnant. Right now they are going through loose minerals and kelp meal like Grant went through Richmond because they are all bred and due within the next month or 2.


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## Holly Govero (Mar 26, 2009)

I see Littleman lives in MO.. There is a good loose mineral is right now onyx. I found that right now onyx is the best so far that I ever done for a long time. I do mixed with yeast and kelp with right now onyx. My goats loves it. At first they didnt like it and now they do love it.. Always have a mineral feeder inside. It takes time.


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## cstafford (May 30, 2010)

So...Can i ask where you all find kelp? TSC? Atwoods? Orchelins?


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## Holly Govero (Mar 26, 2009)

I brought my kelp from my feed stores. They said they are willing to give me smaller amount of kelp. It was of them.


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## grandmajo (May 22, 2008)

Vicki McGaugh Tx Nubians said:


> Pools of water saturated minerals can be poisonous.


Interesting.......Can I ask what the water does to the minerals that makes them poisonous?


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Its that the puddles have concentrated minerals and salt dissolved into them. My vet pointed this out to me when I was helping with a local farm who had a mineral block outside the barn in a rubbermaid tote, it was soaking in water (poop water  V


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## grandmajo (May 22, 2008)

Ok, thanks, that makes sense. 

Soaking in poop water! Ewww, where's the green gagging face.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Oh believe me that is nothing. I am sure most of us who have been around awhile could make your hair straighten with the things we have seen. Vicki


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

buckrun said:


> Cindy can you mix some yeast in for awhile to entice them?
> I have not met a goat yet that would not knock you down for yeast.
> Alpines...whaddyaspect...


Yes, I forgot to say, I also give them Diamond V Yeast. But am wondering if it needs to be given as the minerals have stuff in it (sorry, I'm nutritionally challenged). Here are the ingredients that I'm wondering about:

SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIA, DRIED ENTEROCOCCUS FAECIUM FERMENTATION PRODUCT, DRIED LACTOBACILLIUS CASEI, DRIED LACTOBACILLIUS ACIDOPHILLUS FERMENTATION PRODUCT, DRIED LACTOBACILLUS PLANTARUM FERMENTATION PRODUCT, DRIED BACILLUS SUBTILLUS FERMENTATION PRODUCT, DRIED ASPERGILLUS ORYZAE FERMENTATION EXTRACT

So am I duplicating by providing the yeast?

Carol: I got that and the kelp from Hoeggers.


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## cstafford (May 30, 2010)

Okay, thanks Cindy.
Carol


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## littleman (Sep 10, 2008)

okay so I will see about getting some kelp. My loose minerals are inside, I made a pvc pipe holder. Now as for the yeast is it the same stuff people use or differant?


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

You guys, you are buying minerals that somebody else purchased in 50 pounds bags, and repackaged into smaller bags. Your spending 100's of dollars more for the same 50 pounds you can buy from mills. You have to have a mill in your area, they mix kelp into feeds, so you can pick up baking soda, diamond V Yeast and kelp from them. You can so eaisly reproduce the quality of Golden Blend with any good beef cattle mineral....something for horses or manna pro, or any of the brands others use on here are not only better but cheaper. They don't go bad. I freeze my yeast and my kelp (which I also use in soap and for the dogs, is already in my mineral) is in a rubbermaid container in the house, my minerals I also use for my dogs are also in rubbermaid, kept dark and dry they last forever, I realize in a small herd you need much less for a year...but don't go down the road of buying super expensive fluff because a catalog is marketing to you.

Diamond V is excellent, I use it on my milkers as they transition from heavy bred to milking, helps them assimilate the grain quicker as they move to more and more grain. But my minerals have a probiotic product in it and I also feed good cured grass hay that has natural bicarb in it, so no I do not feed it daily. I will put a handful in the lambar daily when the girls are moving to twice a day lambars as much as they want, and use baking soda also in the morning lambar. At some point you do have to say, give.... Vicki


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## Angela (Feb 13, 2010)

Vicki McGaugh Tx Nubians said:


> I freeze my yeast and my kelp (which I also use in soap and for the dogs, is already in my mineral) is in a rubbermaid container in the house, my minerals I also use for my dogs are also in rubbermaid, kept dark and dry they last forever, I realize in a small herd you need much less for a year


Thanks for this Vicki. With so few animals, it is taking a long time to use up a bag of yeast I had wondered if I should freeze it. And I never even thought about freezing the kelp!

Angela


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Sarah...when I say yeast this is the product I mean. 
http://www.diamondv.com/profile pdfs/dv_xpdfm.pdf


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

Where can you get the XPDFM? I can only find the XPC Green.


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

I tried a block several years ago, it was given to me by my feed dealer as an experiment. It failed miserably. The goats were more interested in using it as a toy than as minerals, so within a few minutes they ruined it by pooping and peeing on it!

I get my kelp in a 50 pound bag from a company that harvests it here off the Maine coast. I pay 39.00 for the 50 pound bag, and it lasts me, 9 dogs, 7 goats, 3 horses and a buncha hens about 6 months.

They ship, but I am not sure what the shipping would be. It's not much within Maine, I used to have it shipped before i started going by the place a couple of times a month to visit my son. Now I stop at the feed store that sells it for them.

www.noamkelp.com


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Call your regional distributor from their website and he will tell you.
http://www.diamondv.com/dv-worldwide-northamerica/


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