Goat loves cleaning products

[SuperChemicalGirl]

Thank you for the links! In my garage/basement sweep for something suitable I found a triangle shaped piece of wood that I had originally made as a small call duck shelter, but the call ducks hated it and besides a few cobwebs it was pristine. A few long deck screws later and it's in the wall holding up the goat block. I'm sure BF will see it and freak out and then build something much more suitable, but it's working for now.

The goats seemed extremely interested in it for the first maybe 30 seconds. Then they quickly lost interest and were much more excited by the fact that I had brought out fresh hay.



I'm wondering if Caramel is just an "oral explorer" - she was quite excited about the cantaloupe rind I had brought out for the chickens and violently gnawed on that - also for about 30 seconds, and then promptly moved on. I don't doubt that I possibly have a mineral issue, but that goat of mine is odd.

 

[Moonshine]

See, my girls are pretty picky too and someone locally suggested a block but all I could find was the billy block and its full of salt!

I don't know much about Maine, although I heard it was beautiful!! But you said your weather was really humid and here in TX it's that way as well. I have to put fresh minerals out daily because the minerals get wet overnight with the due and humidity. I put a tbsp out every day and usually there's just a little left so not much waste. (I hate to waste!) My picky little divas won't eat it after its gotten wet!! I learned that the hard way and felt horrible! I thought they just weren't eating them because they didn't need them.

Good luck I hope all this helps.

 

[SuperChemicalGirl]

See, my girls are pretty picky too and someone locally suggested a block but all I could find was the billy block and its full of salt!

I don't know much about Maine, although I heard it was beautiful!! But you said your weather was really humid and here in TX it's that way as well. I have to put fresh minerals out daily because the minerals get wet overnight with the due and humidity. I put a tbsp out every day and usually there's just a little left so not much waste. (I hate to waste!) My picky little divas won't eat it after its gotten wet!! I learned that the hard way and felt horrible! I thought they just weren't eating them because they didn't need them.

Good luck I hope all this helps.

The larger lick was "behind the counter" so you may want to ask at your feed store. All they had on the shelf was a Billy Block. I did lick the SweetLix myself (before the goats did) and it's not bad, palate-wise. I was worried that it was going to be incredibly salty but it's more crumbly than the hard salt licks I was thinking of. I'm thinking they may enjoy the block more than the free minerals, because my other goats didn't like it (hence switched to the balancer). It is pretty humid here, most of the time. We usually get a ton of rain in the spring/summer. It has been alternating between really cold and raining (I was building fires in the wood stove in July and August) and super hot and dry. Many bee hives (mine included) are starving this summer because the plants are trying to deal with the weather and conserving nectar.

 

[Moonshine]

Ok thanks! I'm definitely going to ask! And wow that is some crazy weather!!

 

[elevan]

We used large hog feed pans to place our blocks in. And yeah the sweetlix or meatmaker is the type I was suggesting....those billy blocks are pretty useless imo.



This tip was shared by a friend though I've never used it since my poultry are able to access everything. Adding a little bit of coursely ground rice will help prevent clumping in loose minerals too...kind of like how Chinese restaurants always add rice to the salt shakers Make sure you grind the rice a little though (use your food processor, blender or coffee grinder). Don't use this method if you have poultry that can access your minerals.

 

[SuperChemicalGirl]

Overrun with poultry here but I am not too concerned about them eating rice in moderation. My goats even have their own banty rooster that lives in their barn (and only eats goat food - hope he's not mineral deficient ). He got picked on by the other roosters and moved himself to the goat barn/run and I've let him stay. I'm hoping he takes care of the spiders in there in exchange for a hassle free life.

I'll probably be moving to the meatmaker block if the goats decide they like it. I compared labels and it was almost exact to the other one with exception of copper. I was planning on giving the Billy Block to the deer.

 

[SuperChemicalGirl]

It's been 10 days, and while they've been consuming the mineral protein block, it's not at a terribly high rate. The block is falling apart in the humidity here more than it's being eaten.

Caramel enjoyed sudsy water on Sunday from the duck bowl that was soaking. She also tried to eat a piece of applewood that was bound for our smoker, the matches, and the paper to light the smoker. I'm still thinking she's just orally fixated on everything and doesn't have a mineral deficiency. I realize it's still early to have a deficiency corrected, so I'll continue to "test" her and see if her weirdness gets better with time.

The deer are enjoying the Billy Block.

That's all the news that is fit to print.