Mineral Balances (also in Stable)

[Chellebean]

Hey all,

I had a mineral balance done over 2 months ago for my gelding but having some serious issues! He gets to the point where he eats it all for about 4 days and then just stops
I have tried cinnamon, mint, tumeric but have had no luck getting him to eat it. I believe it stems from a really tainted batch of Magox.

Can anyone think of a way to encourage him to eat his tea with minerals in it?
He is typically a none fussy cob


Thanks in advance

 

[the watcher]

Which minerals exactly are you hoping to feed him and is this a selection that could be found in a complete feed?

 

[Chellebean]

it's a quite a few, we have had Forage plus do an analysis on the forage and grazing. My main conncern is getting the magnesium in to him as we have a very low amount in the forage. it's this i believe to be causing issues tho, so need to mask the taste some what

 

[**Vanner**]

Could you sprinkle it on a molasses lick and get him to take it from that

 

[Chellebean]

Could you sprinkle it on a molasses lick and get him to take it from that

oh hadnt thought of that, thanks

 

[the watcher]

Try Equine America Magnitude, you only need a tiny amount and it will disappear into feed, especailly if you chuck in a glug of apple juice

 

[Chellebean]

Try Equine America Magnitude, you only need a tiny amount and it will disappear into feed, especailly if you chuck in a glug of apple juice

That's miles to expensive for the quantities we need to feed to make up the deficiency! I don't need it for calming purposes but help with insulin digestion and prevention of lami

 

[cptrayes]

What kind of MgO are you using? I use calmag and have never had a problem with it, perhaps it will taste different and he might like it, though I know some don't. It won' tcost you a fortune to try it, it's only a tenner or so for 25 kilos from a farm supplies. PM me if you'd like me to pop a handful in the post for you to give it a test.

 

[Chellebean]

We use heavy magox, we have to much calcium in the forage to use calmag

 

[the watcher]

That's miles to expensive for the quantities we need to feed to make up the deficiency! I don't need it for calming purposes but help with insulin digestion and prevention of lami

£20 for 6 months supply? Even if you fed it at double the recommended dose it wouldn't be that pricey.

 

[cptrayes]

We use heavy magox, we have to much calcium in the forage to use calmag

There is no or almost no (depends on the source, but in any case it's too small to worry about) calcium in calmag. It stands for calcined magnesite, it's almost pure MgO

 

[Chellebean]

There is no calcium in calmag. It stands for calcined magnesite, it's almost pure MgO

Oops sorry me being stupid. The issue that may present now I've clocked on, is the volume of powder it takes to get the 25mg in weight a day. At the moment (which will change with the new batch of Magox I have now) there seems to be a hell of a lot of powder to the feed I feed... if that makes sense?

I am so confused as to why my non fussy cob is being so bleeping fussy lol

 

[cptrayes]

NO not stupid, the reason I am so sure is that I made the same mistake myself a few weeks ago

Let me have your address if you want to try it. I think it's 40% by weight of pure magnesium, or thereabouts, so it wouldn't take much to feed 25 mg of Mg, less than one gramm. Are you sure you have that figure right, I feed 25 gramms a day.

 

[Chellebean]

NO not stupid, the reason I am so sure is that I made the same mistake myself a few weeks ago

Let me have your address if you want to try it. I think it's 40% by weight of pure magnesium, or thereabouts, so it wouldn't take much to feed 25 mg of Mg, less than one gramm. Are you sure you have that figure right, I feed 25 gramms a day.

Yep just double checked it

Have you had a mineral balance done then?
PS pm'd you x

 

[cptrayes]

No, I'm just a barefooter and a lot of us use magnesium all the time because it flushes out if they don't need it.

I can't mineral balance because I have mineral imbalance in my spring water supply and the horses balance depends on how much they drink , which depends on how hot it is and how much they have sweated when they work from heat or hard work. I supplement copper all the time because we are high in manganese and iron.

 

[Chellebean]

Ah cool

Sailor is barefoot too and I've watched how well it works on my YO's two. It's just driving me insane lol

 

[littlescallywag]

I feed 20grams heavy mag ox to one of mine and he has no problems eating it, actually he's eaten 40 grams before with no problems
From what I've read the purer the mag ox the less taste it has so the 99.7% purity I use is virtually tasteless.