We often get asked what’s BEST when it comes to providing livestock with access to minerals and supplements. Our answer is simple, do whatever works best in your farming operation.
So, what does this actually mean.. 🤷🏼♀️
If you have the infrastructure and set up (or the desire to build or purchase one) to support the use of free choice minerals – a dry place where your stock can regularly access the minerals – then a mineral station is a great way to provide access.
When offering free choice minerals, it’s important that they are kept out of the weather to prevent them from getting wet and becoming hard blocks that are far less palatable to the animal. A trailer or other type of mineral station is required and ideally it contains spaces for the individual minerals to be placed out – this is important as it allows the animal to self select the mineral that they are needing. Ideally the station is on wheels which allows it to be easily moved when you are rotating your stock.
If this is unrealistic and doesn’t work within your operation, than liquid supplements might be best for you. When administering liquid supplements such as our Min-Kel which is a kelp based stock supplement, there are a variety of ways to do this.
💚Drenching – the most accurate way to administer as it ensures that each animal has the allocated dose
💚Adding to feed or a water source – this option is more flexible as the supplement can be added to your feed rotation (diluted into some water and poured over feed) or added to your water source. While this option is far less time consuming, it doesn’t have the same accuracy as drenching
💚Offering out in an Eezy feeder or lick roller – this set up ensures that your stock have access to minerals and allows them to self select when they need to access the supplement. Eezy Feeders or lick rollers are an easily way to provide access to minerals without having to make large changes to your operation. They can easily be moved when rotating stock and are a cost effective and time effect way to provide your livestock with access to minerals.
Or why not try a combination of both?
