mixing minerals

ameeyal

ameeyal

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I have 4 horses that get micronized linseed, cal mag/brewers yeast, a bit of a daft question { that I can not get my head around;)} but if I mix them all together, say a weeks worth, will they be getting the same amount in just one scoop, as if I was measuring them out separately???
 
If you were giving them one scoop of each before then you'd have to give two scoops of the combined mixture for them to get the same quantity.
 
Thankyou, ive measured out how much all 3 minerals look like, so will be using a bigger scoop to acommidate {sp} all 3 minerals together.
 
I weighed my feeds, so knew exactly what size of scoop to use for each ingredient, and I usually mixed all my chaff and non molassed sugar beet flakes, to give me a good texture and palatable feed.
1] I used a scoop [actually a bowl with a lid] which was 400gms when an inch off top and 500 gms when full and level.
2]then I added scoop of linseed [this was a smaller bowl] weighing 100gms,
3]and a [small] scoop of minerals weighing 30gms
This made up one days feed, add water and split in two.
If I was leaving feeds up for someone to feed, I left a whole days feed in a plastic bag, so feeder would add water and split. I could easily make up 7-10 days feeds that way and leave them in the feed bin.
The main reason I would not want to make up a weeks feed to include the minerals is that they are heavy and you can't be 100% sure of mixing, and they will tend to migrate to the bottom of the feed container. It is vital that the horse gets the same minerals every day.
So in answer to your question, one feed = one 400gm scoop, plus 100gm scoop plus 30gm scoop does not equal one 400gm scoop of mix, you are feeding by volume, and your 400gm scoopful will be providing less ingredients.
Also if using different mineral types be aware that they are different weights, to overcome this, I used a scoop provided by manufacture for 50gms level, I took 10 scoops and weighed them .... should be 500gms.
Then I wanted to feed 5 gms of MgO/day, so I counted the number of scoops to get to 50 gms [in fact this was 6 scoops] ok my mix now weighs 550gms, and I am happy to split this in to 10 days supply, which is less than a level manufactures scoop. I know this sounds geeky, but if you are mixing minerals you need to get geeky. The mini scales from Morrison are ideal.
You will find your yeast-sac is lighter, but again you find out how many scoops to make up ten days supply, mix all together, weigh and divide by 10!. This is the daily weight of minerals to provide the daily amount of minerals. now all you do is find a scoop that is correct size, or half size if you intend to feed twice a day. Its not as complex as it seems,,,, just takes a while the first time.
 
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I sometimes premix a months supply of minerals but do separate batches for my two. The reason for that is that is quite difficult to get things to mix evenly and over time things can sink to the bottom.
If a horse gets a bit more magnesium one day because of this, it's not so big an issue as it will even out over the month; however if I was feeding two from the same batch, one might get all the magnesium the other the copper.

What I do now is I bought lots of little plastic pots from the pound shop and make up a day's in each. Then my ym just tips them in each day
 
catroo said:
If you were giving them one scoop of each before then you'd have to give two scoops of the combined mixture for them to get the same quantity.
Click to expand...
I disagree, the scoops are all different sizes and assuming she fills each scoop to level, for the daily requirement she can't use any of the scoops to get the daily supply.
 
The other reason I went for daily pot was say the combined came to 83ml in volume then you have to add 1 x 50ml scoop, 1 x 25 1 x 5 and 3 x 1 so wasn't really saving that much time from making up the daily dose in pots.
 
MrsD123 said:
I weighed my feeds, so knew exactly what size of scoop to use for each ingredient, and I usually mixed all my chaff and non molassed sugar beet flakes, to give me a good texture and palatable feed.
1] I used a scoop [actually a bowl with a lid] which was 400gms when an inch off top and 500 gms when full and level.
2]then I added scoop of linseed [this was a smaller bowl] weighing 100gms,
3]and a [small] scoop of minerals weighing 30gms
This made up one days feed, add water and split in two.
If I was leaving feeds up for someone to feed, I left a whole days feed in a plastic bag, so feeder would add water and split. I could easily make up 7-10 days feeds that way and leave them in the feed bin.
The main reason I would not want to make up a weeks feed to include the minerals is that they are heavy and you can't be 100% sure of mixing, and they will tend to migrate to the bottom of the feed container. It is vital that the horse gets the same minerals every day.
So in answer to your question, one feed = one 400gm scoop, plus 100gm scoop plus 30gm scoop does not equal one 400gm scoop of mix, you are feeding by volume, and your 400gm scoopful will be providing less ingredients.
Also if using different mineral types be aware that they are different weights, to overcome this, I used a scoop provided by manufacture for 50gms level, I took 10 scoops and weighed them .... should be 500gms.
Then I wanted to feed 5 gms of MgO/day, so I counted the number of scoops to get to 50 gms [in fact this was 6 scoops] ok my mix now weighs 550gms, and I am happy to split this in to 10 days supply, which is less than a level manufactures scoop. I know this sounds geeky, but if you are mixing minerals you need to get geeky. The mini scales from Morrison are ideal.
You will find your yeast-sac is lighter, but again you find out how many scoops to make up ten days supply, mix all together, weigh and divide by 10!. This is the daily weight of minerals to provide the daily amount of minerals. now all you do is find a scoop that is correct size, or half size if you intend to feed twice a day. Its not as complex as it seems,,,, just takes a while the first time.
Click to expand...

And I thought it was a dumb question to ask, im going to reread your answer again to take in all in lol
 
MrsD123 said:
I disagree, the scoops are all different sizes and assuming she fills each scoop to level, for the daily requirement she can't use any of the scoops to get the daily supply.
Click to expand...

But she didn't specify that the scoops were different sizes so I didn't say what size scoops either.

If you normally use a small scoop of one, medium of another and a large of a third then you'd need one of each scoop size of the combined mixture to make it roughly the same, or find a scoop that is equal to all three.
 
As long as you mix the minerals together thoroughly, in the correct proportion, and you feed the same total weight of minerals as you were adding in before, it should work.

Be very careful that you get the maths right, or you could be overdosing one and under dosing another.

I feel happier adding minerals twice daily from scratch.
 
catroo said:
But she didn't specify that the scoops were different sizes so I didn't say what size scoops either.

If you normally use a small scoop of one, medium of another and a large of a third then you'd need one of each scoop size of the combined mixture to make it roughly the same, or find a scoop that is equal to all three.
Click to expand...
The mineral scoop will hold 25-50grams
and a feed scoop hold 300-600grams, they cannot be the same size.
 
One of my supplements came with a 10g scoop and another with 250g, there are loads of different size scoops out there!

For a lot of supplements and additives the scoop is almost pointless anyway. When feeding guidelines are as broad as 'one scoop for a pony and one for a horse' being exact is pointless.

I don't use the scoops or go by the manufacturers recommendations unless it's medical related, there are so many variables with how much each individual animal will need. I know what level of deficiency I'm trying to counteract/the level of nutrition I'm looking to get to, so use the various supplements in what ever volume as necessary.
 
I didn't see where we are comparing feed scoops and supplement scoops, OP just said she feeds calmag, brewers yeast and linseed and I know people that feed 50ml scoop of linseed so in theory could be the same.
Then again supplements I feed vary between .5ml scoop to 50ml scoop so could be different.
 
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