Need Ideas for Feeding Salt

calatar · Need Ideas for Feeding Salt

So my guys are deficient in salt and they need 2 ounces to balance their diets. That being said my guys are not enthusiastic about eating 2 ounces of salt and they just leave it in their feed pans. Anyone have ideas on how I can get them to eat it?

whisperingwindfarms

Get Natural Trace Minerals salt and put it out in a feeder that they have access to 24/7 and is out of the weather. They will eat what they need. Never say never but never force feed salt.

calatar

There is the rub, I don't have anywhere that is out of the weather. They have some trees to stand under but no run in shed.

I have done a feed and pasture analysis and they are deficient so I am at a loss; they definitely need some and I can't afford to waste money on a free choice that is just going to get washed away.

4theloveofjake

I also feed a loose trace mineral salt. I feed it in shallow horse "bowls" on the ground outside and I only put about a cup in each container ( I have 2 for 3 horses) so that if it rains I don't waste alot. Mine lick a little each day. I refill about once a week.

Leah

How do you know they are deficient? From the pasture analysis? I have never used mine to assess salt needs. Just provide free choice block or loose.

All horses need access to plain salt.

You can do loose (I use Dynamite NTM) or just get a plain old block. The can be rained on for months before going away.

Mine have access to both. Block sits outside, loose is in the shed.

whisperingwindfarms

I keep the feeders in the stalls as well as outside covered - so when they come in to feed twice a day, they can lick. This is the only way for my pony who wears a muzzle 24/7 to get it. She licks the dickens out of her salt sometimes - now is one of those times.

4theloveofjake

I once put mine in the stall but someone made a deposit of another kind in the container

whisperingwindfarms

Put them up high - nailed them to the wall. Jeffers has mineral feeders that hold 2 different ones: http://www.jeffersequine.com/ssc/product.asp?CID=1&mscssid=AXHPHQVXXTVB9GKH0NQG62HX3QT86PE9

4theloveofjake

I have a clip in the run-in I can hook a bucket on if I have to. I know some people use corner feeders too.

For those who use blocks, I have a question....do they irritate your horses tongues at all ? I have been told the blocks are for cows whose tongues are rougher, and loose salts should be used with horses. Of course you can't beleive everything you hear,so I ask, ask again and then ask someone else ........

Leah

I was told the block/cow thing and believed it.

Trouble is mine use blocks and don't have irritated tongues.

I have both out-they love the blocks and the loose.

So until proven, I don't believe it anymore.

4theloveofjake

I would tend to prefer to take it from the horses mouth ....

Thanks for busting that myth

Playenatural

We use these and in our NW climate a block will last a year with seven horses, that includes sitting in the snow for 3 plus months.
http://www.jefferslivestock.com/s...3223&cmkw=salt%20AND%20feeder

Oh and horses don't just use their tongues on those blocks, mine have a lot of teeth scrapes too.

We use rubber pans for loose mineral and only feed as needed.

I haven't tried these and am not sure how they would work for horses, but they seem like great ideas for places that get more rain.

http://www.hawkeyesteel.com/products/potf/mineral/mineral.html

http://www.tartergate.com/switch....amp;cod=MF&site=af&emp=af
I've seen these handmade, so you could probably make one horse safe.

Nashama

Mine have horse formulated blocks and plain rock salt in the paddock. Being in such a hot climate, free access to salt is essential.

Pasture analysis will not tell you what the horse is deficient in, it will only tell you what the pasture is deficient in and thus what the horse MIGHT be deficient in. You would need to combine the pasture/feed analysis with hair, blood, urine and perhaps faecal analysis to get an accurate picture.

appellativo

Fortheloveofjake, I think you misunderstood what you were told about cows horses and salt blocks. This is the facts: Cows have a rougher tongue so they can effectively get MORE salt from licking. Horses have a soft tongue so they can lick and lick and still maybe not get enough salt from it. Or at least, not as quickly!

I use Moormans grostrong loose mineral and leave it in a fence feeder and the horses eat it free choice. if It rains I scoop out the extra water and it dries back out the rest of the way.