Those who feed minerals

[fizzer]

Just had my feed plan back and ordered all minerals ( am quite poor now).

For those of you that have been using minerals for a while, do you find it very expensive, or about the same as before, or is it quite cost effective after the initial start up.

Just wondered as I now know I will be feeding for exactly what is needed and not what I just guessed at.

Thankyou. I am a mineral Novice. !!!

 

[Oberon]

I feed Lysine, copper, zinc, magnesium, biotin to balance my forage and I also add linseed, yea-sacc, cat's claw, salt, turmeric, fenugreek too.

A year's feed for two horses will cost;

£20.60 for 1kg Copper
£21.50 for 1kg Zinc
£35.99 for 3.5kg Magnesium Oxide
£18.30 for 3kg Lysine (will last me two years)
£23.99 for 1.8kg Biotin

= £120.38

£20.60 for linseed (although I MIGHT need two bags over the year)

£2.33 for a kg fenugreek seed (I might buy 2 or 3kgs over the year)
£5.05 for a kg turmeric (might use 2kg in a year)
£16.25 for 1kg Cat's Claw (might last me 2 years)
£27.90 for 2kg Yea-sacc (although I've got it for free recently)
£2.00 for salt
£30.93 for Vitamin E capsules for the year for the old boy.

5 bags of Speedibeet, 10 bags of Fast Fibre and 3 bags of hay chaff (my elderly boy is on a forage replacer diet, so he goes through a lot over the winter)

Added together - this is all likely double what I would pay for the different types of commercial feed I would need for two totally different horses, plus magnesium and general supplements.

BUT - I can pick up what I need at different times and if they came in sacks lined with gold, I couldn't buy a better feed for them than what they are getting at the moment.

So I don't begrudge the money at all.

 

[Oberon]

Fun on my day off...

 

[fizzer]

Thankyou for your reply, as you say it is replaced as you go along. Over the year written down it does not seem so expensive. I have 6 to do so will look into bulk buying.

I have to give bioplex copper, zinc, mag ox, lysine, Vit E, monosodium phosphate. wheat bran.

I already use the Pro earth vite and selenium, linseed, fast fibre,ruff stuf and tumeric.

Will look into some other herbs also.


Im excited about my mixing LOL

 

[Oberon]

Thankyou for your reply, as you say it is replaced as you go along. Over the year written down it does not seem so expensive. I have 6 to do so will look into bulk buying.

I have to give bioplex copper, zinc, mag ox, lysine, Vit E, monosodium phosphate. wheat bran.

I already use the Pro earth vite and selenium, linseed, fast fibre,ruff stuf and tumeric.

Will look into some other herbs also.


Im excited about my mixing LOL

Herbs and spices are cheapest from here (but it's at least a week on delivery)
http://www.cotsherb.co.uk/

Charnwood is cheapest for micronised linseed (you can buy raw and grind each day in a coffee grinder to make it even cheaper).

You can buy magnesium oxide directly from Taycrest Chemicals LTD

"a 25 kilo bag of High purity Hvy Mag. Oxide EP/BP/USP quality is £7.15/kilo ex our works + £16.00 next day delivery + VAT."

Which I worked out at around £214. inc VAT and delivery to Blackpool - if I wanted to buy a bag for the whole yard and sell it....but it works around the same as buying it in smaller bags from Prog Earth (he delivers to me for free)....so I'll stick to buying from them

 

[fizzer]

Oh thanks for that, I already use Charnwood Milling, will look into the mag ox as I need to give quite alot.

 

[team barney]

Herbs and spices are cheapest from here (but it's at least a week on delivery)
http://www.cotsherb.co.uk/

Cotsherbs are very good value and I believe you get free shipping if you spend over £50. I have always found their delivery times very reasonable, all my parcels have arrived well before I was expecting them, usually within a few days!

 

[Oberon]

Cotsherbs are very good value and I believe you get free shipping if you spend over £50. I have always found their delivery times very reasonable, all my parcels have arrived well before I was expecting them, usually within a few days!

I've never had free shipping - even when I've spent over £50. They've been better recently but they often discover they've run out of certain things after I've ordered them.

I just ordered something on the 10th and I received it yesterday (after I'd emailed to nag).

If they weren't such good value I would prefer to shop elsewhere.

 

[cptrayes]

Calmag/dolomite/calcined magnesite works fine for delivery of magnesium oxide for most horses and is around ten pounds for twenty five kilos !

 

[team barney]

I've never had free shipping - even when I've spent over £50. They've been better recently but they often discover they've run out of certain things after I've ordered them.

I just ordered something on the 10th and I received it yesterday (after I'd emailed to nag).

If they weren't such good value I would prefer to shop elsewhere.

"Free UK delivery when you spend over £50"

http://www.cotsherb.co.uk/terms/info_3.html

 

[Oberon]

"Free UK delivery when you spend over £50"

http://www.cotsherb.co.uk/terms/info_3.html

Thank you. I can read. I reiterate that I have never had free delivery for my orders.

 

[team barney]

Thank you. I can read. I reiterate that I have never had free delivery for my orders.

Sorry didn't mean to offend you, I just thought I'd show the link to their website where it said about the shipping incase anyone (your self included) wanted to see.

It has worked for me when I have gone to the checkout with over £50 worth of goodies, perhaps it has to be under a certain weight to qualify?

 

[Oberon]

Sorry didn't mean to offend you, I just thought I'd show the link to their website where it said about the shipping incase anyone (your self included) wanted to see.

It has worked for me when I have gone to the checkout with over £50 worth of goodies, perhaps it has to be under a certain weight to qualify?

It's my bad hun - I seem to be in a bitchy mood tonight. xx

 

[KatieLovesJames]

Cpttayes where can I get Calmag for £10 please?

 

[criso]

I'm not sure how much I spend over a year, should work it out at some time but the biggest expense I find is the Zinc and Copper, esp since I switched from Zinc Oxide and Copper Sulphate to the Bioplex versions, I have to replace them frequently.

I pay 6.19 per kilo for Light Magox from Equimins and over £30 is free postage so I buy their 5kg bags at 30.95
I called Taycrest to see if it worked out cheaper as 3 of us feed it and they quoted exactly the same price as Equimins and it would cost £16 for a 20kg bag to be delivered.

I got free delivery from Cotswold herbs for the first time just before Christmas, before that I alway paid even though some of us get together to buy so buy over £100 at a time.
It was combined with a christmas special 20% discount so don't know if it was a one off.

 

[AngieandBen]

There's something quite satisfying about mixing and bagging minerals and herbs up!

 

[cptrayes]

Cpttayes where can I get Calmag for £10 please?

Somewhere in your area will be a farm supplies shop where all the farmers buy feed for their cows and sheep. They will sell it as either calmag or calcined magnesite. It's actually crushed dolomite, a rock made of both calcium and magnesium combined with oxygen. It's a coarser powder that some horses won't eat, but I have never had a problem with it and I know Rockley use it and so do hundreds of other people.

While you're there, look to see if they have any own-brand horse food - you might get a pleasant surprise on the price It's like the supermarket, made by the same big animal food companies but without a big brand label or price.

 

[Miss L Toe]

I was accused of being obsessive, but I see it is a mild dose
There are several reason I don't go down this [yellow brick] road
1] my horse is blooming with health on 10gms Equimins Advance, 80gms micronised linseed and a few bits and pieces to top up, [Feedmark Steady up and Biotin[(may drop this)] He has no palatablity problems which could occur with straight minerals.
2] I don't have control over hay so no point in analysis as it could be sourced from different places, analyis is expensive for one pony in tip top health, there are two fields with different grass species, one summer one winter. My horse moves fairly regularly from one yard to another.
3] AND THIS IS A BIGGY it would be more likely that I could overdose or underdose inadvertently, large reputable companies should analyse every batch and should make sure they are sourcing the best ingredients. Mistakes can happen, small companies which sell these products on Ebay and such like are probably not using world class lab testing, the costs would cut in to their profits.

 

[chrissie1]

I have got on well with Equimins Advance in the past, but the dose for a 'horse' is 80g a day, is there any reason for only feeding 10g, assuming yours is a horse rather than a pony?

 

[ThePony]

Our mineral and feed costs (inc linseed) are just under £40 per month for two horses, plus about 1 bag of fast fibre (at under £10) per month. Before mineral balancing they were on speedi beet and chaff so the cost was quite a bit less, but they weren't getting anywhere near the nutrition they needed! Since sorting minerals both have become rock crunching machines and are much better in themselves, and have more (controlled!) energy so fittening work is easier.

It is like opening pandoras box though, once you have the mineral information you can't go back in time before you knew and happily pop in a bowl of branded feed. You'll never get away from the obsession!!

 

[Miss L Toe]

I have got on well with Equimins Advance in the past, but the dose for a 'horse' is 80g a day, is there any reason for only feeding 10g, assuming yours is a horse rather than a pony?

He is a pony 465kgs, in light work.
He also gets 15gm seaweed [purchased when this was THE recommended mineral for barefooters]
80gms of Mircronised Linseed.
10gm biotin
7 gm Magnesium oxide
7gm brewers yeast
Some Glucosamine
10gm Steady up [two sources of Mg plus herbs]
Half his feed is already balanced [Fast Fibre or Quiet mix], so I am looking at half the amount of minerals needed compared to a straight forage fibre + minerals.
I make up his linseed and mineral mix once every 130 days, and currently the main difference between Barefoot mix number one and Barefoot mix number two is the Equimins, and the biotin. There is no doubt he has better skin and coat colour.
I will be making up a new mix next month, might increase the Equimins and cut out the biotin, always difficult when things are working.
Also I work to a very tight budget and pick up stuff when it is on offer, therefore the mix will vary each time I make it up.
Sorry, I realise I am just as obsessed as the rest on here, just very cautious when it comes to using straight minerals when the nutritionist produces a good balanced product which seems to make a difference.

 

[wellsat]

Without wanting to sound really tight, I'm reluctant to have a mineral analysis done when G is the shiniest horse I've ever seen and has fantastically solid feet (funny shaped but solid!)

He is currently fed the feed below split between two feeds.

2 scoops Winergy Equilibrium Lo Energy
Micronised Linseed
15g Mag Ox
1tbsp turmeric
Veg Oil

Is it a case of "if it ain't broke don't fix it" or am I being overly tight?

 

[chrissie1]

Thanks Miss L Toe (love the name!) for clarifying that. I think from the sound of it that some owners have had their feed/forage analysed by a company who then say what the horse requires to make up any shortfall?

 

[paddy555]

Cpttayes where can I get Calmag for £10 please?

I think £10 is a bit optimistic but in the SWest we get it at Mole valley farmers as calmag and around £18 a bag. So even at that price it is still as cheap as chips.

 

[criso]

I think from the sound of it that some owners have had their feed/forage analysed by a company who then say what the horse requires to make up any shortfall?

That's it exactly and I think for me it's as much about what I don't feed as a result.
Calcium is so high that it goes off the end of the scale so not only do I not feed that, I avoid anything that will add to that.
Iodine is high so feeding seaweed in my case would overdose and so on.
If the forage you feed is better balanced or even universally low in everything then it's less of an issue.


Miss L Toe Brewer's Yeast is a good source of Biotin/B7 so you may be able to drop the straight Biotin without any ill effects.

 

[Oberon]

Without wanting to sound really tight, I'm reluctant to have a mineral analysis done when G is the shiniest horse I've ever seen and has fantastically solid feet (funny shaped but solid!)

He is currently fed the feed below split between two feeds.

2 scoops Winergy Equilibrium Lo Energy
Micronised Linseed
15g Mag Ox
1tbsp turmeric
Veg Oil

Is it a case of "if it ain't broke don't fix it" or am I being overly tight?

If you are happy with his feed then carry on.

I went through the process to see if it could benefit my old boy in any way at all and buy more time for him.

He was healthy, happy and sound - but I was still shocked by the improvements....

However - if you have a young horse with good teeth and all his bits and pieces still working - it's not something you need to worry about

 

[Oberon]

Thanks Miss L Toe (love the name!) for clarifying that. I think from the sound of it that some owners have had their feed/forage analysed by a company who then say what the horse requires to make up any shortfall?

That's it.

We find out what is in the forage by sending samples off to a lab (or handler who does that for us) and then get the results emailed to us.

Then you pay around £45 to have someone read the results and recommend what you should and shouldn't feed to compliment it.

It's not currently a mainstream thing. But it's like the old days of feeding straights but with a modern twist.

Dairy farmers have been doing this for many years, but we have been slow to catch on

 

[cptrayes]

I think £10 is a bit optimistic but in the SWest we get it at Mole valley farmers as calmag and around £18 a bag. So even at that price it is still as cheap as chips.

You're being done! I pay £9.60

 

[foxy1]

I don't feed Calmag as Calcium is already very high on my grazing, so use the magnesium oxide 99%
Also I thought that too much calcium counteracts the magnesium?

 

[Miss L Toe]

Miss L Toe Brewer's Yeast is a good source of Biotin/B7 so you may be able to drop the straight Biotin without any ill effects.

Thanks criso, I will get some more brewers yeast then , and some MgO, last time, I bought a 1.2kg pack of Equimins advance when it was on half price offer, hence 10gms per day over the 120 day barefoot mix! But he has such a glossy coat, and this is the only thing he has not had before.
Th micronised linseed certainly gives him a nice skin [he tends to be itchy]