Mineral/feed buckets

Siamsa Sessions

Hi all,

We’ve tried various different feed/mineral buckets with the sheep and have struggled to tell which brand is best. I’ve looked at the ingredients and % minerals in different ones but they seem to present the info in different ways, making it hard to compare them.

Is there any key ingredient(s) that will be prominent in good ones, be they “mineral” or “feed” licks?

Thanks.

ganmo

Feed buckets have to have protein and energy on the label.
I'd avoid ones with urea or get it low down on the list.

Mineral licks...stick up the labels and I'll decipher them.

The legal difference is on the ash(mineral) content and I know there is feed buckets that are actually legally mineral ones

Siamsa Sessions

ganmo wrote: »

Feed buckets have to have protein and energy on the label.
I'd avoid ones with urea or get it low down on the list.

Mineral licks...stick up the labels and I'll decipher them.

The legal difference is on the ash(mineral) content and I know there is feed buckets that are actually legally mineral ones

Thanks a million - I'll get a few pics tomorrow and upload them then.

Dickie10

i use lifeline yellow buckets the last 5 or 6 years find they leave ewes with plenty of good colostrum and lively lambs mad to suck

Siamsa Sessions

Didn't get pictures of bucket labels today (joys of being part-time!) but will get them tomorrow.

wrangler

Dickie10 wrote: »

i use lifeline yellow buckets the last 5 or 6 years find they leave ewes with plenty of good colostrum and lively lambs mad to suck

What price per ton are they.
I know they are convenient but jf you're buying a ration that's .95 UFL AND 18% protein at around €300/ton and feed enough you'll have lively lambs and good colostrum too for about half the price.....what price convenience

Siamsa Sessions

wrangler wrote: »

What price per ton are they.
I know they are convenient but jf you're buying a ration that's .95 UFL AND 18% protein at around €300/ton and feed enough you'll have lively lambs and good colostrum too for about half the price.....what price convenience

Snap

Was onto Quinns earlier and asked them something similar. No need for bucket if feeding a ration with enough minerals in it, apart from when they go out to grass post-lambing and they need magnesium to keep tetnay at bay.

Dickie10

mineral buckets are handy for she feeders that dont get enough in nuts etc. i find ewes wont go through the licks unless they need it. in the same way that if you leave a bucket out with them post lambing they wont touch it as their need (the lambs) have gone. needless to say i dont feed to singles so its only doubles and triplets that get the lifeline buckets. anothr reason is it helps to cut down on the amountt of hay they eat which is bulky in the last few weeks of pregnancy and can lead to prolapse espically in triplets

Nekarsulm

Giving them this bucket. 16 euro each.

Siamsa Sessions

Here are two of the ones we used - clear as mud?

Lambman

They both look light in magnesium? I use Buckets here as well as the sheep being all bolused for the reason off getting more magnesium in them till prevent grass tetany.

wrangler

Lambman wrote: »

They both look light in magnesium? I use Buckets here as well as the sheep being all bolused for the reason off getting more magnesium in them till prevent grass tetany.

Are your ewes suckling
Magnesium isn't that necessary this time of the year if they're not suckling, a nominal amount is enough......april/may is when you get high risk of tetany in the ewes if the lambs are a month old and then you have to specifically go for Hi-mag buckets, nothing else is good enough.
Just edited to say that magnesium doesn't store in the body, you can't build up a surplus before lambing......I think it's even detrimental to give too much before lambing

Lambman

wrangler wrote: »

Lambman wrote: »

They both look light in magnesium? I use Buckets here as well as the sheep being all bolused for the reason off getting more magnesium in them till prevent grass tetany.

Are your ewes suckling
Magnesium isn't that necessary this time of the year if they're not suckling, a nominal amount is enough......april/may is when you get high risk of tetany in the ewes if the lambs are a month old and then you have to specifically go for Hi-mag buckets, nothing else is good enough.
Just edited to say that magnesium doesn't store in the body, you can't build up a surplus before lambing......I think it's even detrimental to give too much before lambing

I seen it here before lambing wrangler when I put single bearing ewes on good grass pre lambing vet says it was tetany due till the change onto lush grass with no hi mag buckets out... think this is gonna be a bad year for it aswell as the grass is full off water... don't want till feed the singles ration so I usually just go with buckets and good grass

wrangler

Lambman wrote: »

I seen it here before lambing wrangler when I put single bearing ewes on good grass pre lambing vet says it was tetany due till the change onto lush grass with no hi mag buckets out... think this is gonna be a bad year for it aswell as the grass is full off water... don't want till feed the singles ration so I usually just go with buckets and good grass

I know if you feed a lot of calcium before lambing you can leave them prone to Milk fever, I thought the same was true of magnesium. Every day's a school day eh

ganmo

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Here are two of the ones we used - clear as mud?

of those 2 I'd go for the crystalyix one

Lambman these are feed buckets so supplying the minerals isn't their main aim, they should go through feed buckets much faster than mineral buckets too

Lambman

Never use feed buckets here ganmo so can't comment on that.. crystalx seem till be the choice up here see the red buckets in a lot off fields with sheep....

Green farmer

Slightly off topic, following on from fire in mineral factory in Germany last autumn ,all the mills here are after putting up prices by €10 a tonne for all feeds. Amazing they all did it within days of each other. So expect a increase in mineral buckets as well.