Do your horses use up the whole salt or mineral block

[Basketmiss]

My boys get to a certain point and dont touch theirs. It looks like a funny candle melting or something...

Do you guys have this? Do you throw away the remains and just give them new blocks??

Also if they dont need salt or mineral will they NOT eat it?? My mini Giddy isnt touching his new mineral block but did his salt lick?

So should I leave it in there and he might eat it sometime? Or take it out?

Thanks

Missy

 

[Indian*R*A*I*N*Dance]

If it is just bit and pieces i would throw it out but if it is still ont he holder i would leave it. Minis should NOT get mineral blocks. i don't remember why though,.

 

[Turtle Creek]

If it is just bit and pieces i would throw it out but if it is still ont he holder i would leave it. Minis should NOT get mineral blocks. i don't remember why though,.

If you remember, please post - ours all have mineral blocks! Thanks!

 

[Sixstardanes]

I hadn't heard about no mineral blocks and would like to hear why.

Our guy Saber gets his rotated.

He'll eat them both.

 

[Sue S]

I take the salt block away when it gets small. I never heard of not giving mineral blocks to minis, can some one tell us why.

 

[Sandee]

I don't recall that it's bad for minis to get the mineral block but that it's a waste. If you're feeding anything besides hay they are getting minerals in supplements, pelleted feed, etc. So the minerals in the block are probably over kill. Also you can't be sure how much at any one time that they will "eat" so you have no control over the amount of the minerals they get.

The plain salt block is cheaper and just makes more sense. IMO

 

[Bluerocket]

Our minis and goats eat from the same mineral block. We have a 50 pound one in the indoor turnout. They all enjoy it and it is very sculpted. We use it until it is almost gone then put that one out for the deer and install a new one in the barn.

The salt block is free choice. Most of the year our minis are on almost all grass so they need the supplement. They seem to only eat it when they need it (e.g. don't constantly eat it).

JJay

 

[Marty]

You may be thinking of trace mineral blocks and that is exactly what it is, just a trace of minerals.

 

[Miniv]

There is nothing wrong with Mineral Blocks designed for HORSES, especially if they are not receiving any other supplements. They will work on them when they need them if you leave them out 24/7, the way we do.

As Sandee said, if horses are getting supplements or a complete feed which includes their supplements, then a mineral block can be "overkill", and a plain salt block is probably better.

The only Mineral Blocks that are NOT good for horses would be ones for Cows or other livestock.

We collect the mineral blocks when they become "bits and pieces" and save them for shows. I put the larger chunks in each big grain dish for the horses we take to shows.

 

[lilmiraclesfarm]

My horses love their mineral block. They normally take months to lick/eat it down to nothing. Tehe, I love when my grey horses, or white muzzled horses eat it as they have maroon all over their muzzles. It actually scared me the first time I saw it as I thought one of my horses had been bleeding.

 

[Minimor]

We use the made-for-horses mineral blocks; the horses love them, though consumption does vary depending on what hay we're feeding. We buy the 50 lb blocks & they just sit on the floor in the sheds, so when they get eaten down small enough that they start getting lost in the straw, I pick them up and put in a new block. One horse uses the front part of the barn aisle as his shed, and just inside the door I've got a plastic feed tub--all the small pieces of mineral block get thrown in there, and he eats them. No wastage here.

We got through 2-3 blocks per month; last summer it was 4 a month, but after we got into the '07 hay consumption has dropped. 2007 must have been a good year for minerals in the hay .

 

[Relic]

l don't think there's a problem with having horse mineral blocks we use them plus the salt blocks they have a choice of what to lick when they want and sometimes the mineral blocks disappear in a week or 2 other times it seems like forever the same one isn't getting used. l wash ours of sometimes they get cruddy from the horses sloppering on them and dirt sticking from being pawed. l was told it was better they had free choice minerals available because they will only take in what they require..