Eating dirt....

[JellyBeanSkittle]

My two have taken to munching/licking soil when grazing... I know this is a definciancy in a vit/min - Cannot remember which one!

Am suprised as the feed i use is a good alrounder, as below:


Digestible Energy

11.30 (MJ/Kg)



Fibre

17.00 (%)



Oil

5.25 (%)



Protein

11.00 (%)



Starch

17.00 (%)



Vitamin A

10000 (iu/kg)



Vitamin D3

2000 (iu/kg)



Vitamin E

100 (iu/kg)

Plus soya oil, etc. What am i missing????

 

[L&M]

Could be salt..... sometimes a reason for dirt eating.

 

[Foxhunter49]

There is a spot in my field where the horses, sheep and at night, deer will lick, just the one spot.
Mine are on a well balanced diet and have mineral licks but they choose to go to this spot periodically.

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

Are you feeding the recommended amount of feed for your horses body weight? Many horses need nowhere near the amount of feed recommended by the manufacturer, but if feeding less than the recommended amount you need to top up with a general purpose vitamin and mineral supplement.

 

[MissChaos]

Second Sidney on the salt. Have you got a lick in the stable or field?

 

[JellyBeanSkittle]

They both have access to salt licks and are fed the correct amounts. Am thinking maybe getting them a field lick??

 

[loopylass]

Mine did that until I put him on LexVet Multi-vitamin and mineral supplement and now he doesn't do it anymore. Best thing I've used in 20 years - discovered it at HOYS last year as I got a free sample - it improved hoof and coat condition no end too! And this was despite him already being on the very best Allen&Page diet, adlib haylage in his stable at night and a salt lick.

 

[staceyn]

My two have started sucking on the shed base of pea shingles not sure what that means

 

[thatsmygirl]

Buy a good vit/ min supplement and add salt in feed as well.

 

[tonitot]

Is there anything wrong with letting the horses just eat the mud? Sorry if thats a numpty question

 

[Archiepoo]

is your field on clay? i know there are lots of minerals in clay so maybe they are lacking in something -in clay there is chlorite ,kaolin,magnesium , all sorts of things!

 

[picolenicole]

We used to feed red cell at my old job if they ate mud, I did get told why they were eatting it but cannot remember, sorry. Just know that when fed red cell they stopped.

 

[Archiepoo]

maybe its iron then? isnt red cell an iron supplement?

 

[Luci07]

If your horses are regularly eating mud I would be wary of sand colic. Just put some fresh droppings into a bucket, add water, swirl so droppings break up and the gently pour away the liquid.,check there is no sand etc left in the bottom. If there is then would recommend something like sand out to get rid of it.

 

[almrc]

This is interesting as my horses started doing this. They are on pink powder an as soon as I saw then eating the dirt I got a salt lick for the field. I haven't seen them doing it since..

 

[chickeninabun]

If they do need salt, can you just put a regular block of natural salt in the field? Mine have salt licks in the stable, but they are out 24/7 at the moment so don't have access to it. I just imagined normal salt blocks would disintegrate in the rain.

 

[Magnetic Sparrow]

When mine do this I give a short course of Selenavite (sp?) and that seems to stop it.