Minerals: Loose Vs. Block

[Cali]

This past week I had the pleasure of attending an artificial insemination workshop at the International Goat Research Center. They covered nutrition and of course minerals were talked about, as we know how important they are to maintaining the health of our goats..

I have ALWAYS read "LOOSE MINERALS" when pertaining to goats on this and other goat forums. It seems to be common knowledge. However, during the discussion several of the speakers talked about goat mineral blocks. They did point out that a regular cattle or horse block would not do, as the ppm (?) wouldn't be high enough for a goat to be able to consume enough.

I believe it was Dr. Lou Nuti that actually mentioned that Tractor Supply sells a goat-specific mineral BLOCK. He seemed to think this sufficient for their needs. I would certainly rather feed a block as I seem to be bad at keeping up with the loose minerals. Thoughts on this?

[Alice In TX/MO]

Just because TSC has something labeled a goat block, I don't think it's the choice that I would make.

Here's the analysis. Not nearly enough copper, for one thing. Few of the other micronutrients.

Crude Protein (min.) 18.0% (This includes not more than 1.7% equivalent protein from non-protein nitrogen.), Crude Fat (min.) 2.0%, Crude Fiber (max.) 8.0%, Calcium (min.) 3.2% (max.) 4.2%, Phosphorus (min.) 1.0%, Salt (min.) 10.0% (max.) 12.0%, Sodium (min.) 4.5% (max.) 5.5%, Copper (min.) 50.0 PPM (max.) 55.0 PPM, Iodine (min.) 10.0 PPM, Selenium (min.) 1.0 PPM, Zinc (min.) 170.0 PPM, Vitamin A (min.) 20,000 IU/LB, Vitamin D (min.) 1,000 IU/LB.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Replamin Plus Gel - look at the chart on this page.

http://jeffers.naccvp.com/view.php?u...rodnum=1073053

[Pony]

Yeah, we're all about Replamin Plus here.

Some of the goats LOVE the flavor. Others run when they see the doser. We just straddle them and shoot the goop into their mouths.