This is the beginning of a project to track exact totals of the individual minerals my herd is consuming in the mineral buffet. We began April with 12 does, 4 bucks and 21 kids. Kids go home this month, so we end April with 12 does, 4 bucks and 8 kids. We also have 6 hair sheep ewes and 3 lambs consuming mineral from the buffet. We have two feeders and all animals are rotationally accessing them both, so I’m putting total consumption here without differentiating between groups. Also in April, I refilled the mineral feeder that had not been in use for a bit. I fill small containers and store them out at this feeder since it’s a ways from the barn, so the totals here reflect filling those jars, but not actual consumption. It will balance out over time and is easier than tracking consumption out of the jars into the feeders.
Columns are labeled by their week ending date and all weights are shown in ounces to keep it consistent when large or small amounts are added.
On MSM: it is simply purified feed grade sulfur but we had lice for the first time in 5 years. I polled the group and concluded that my goats didn’t consume the buffet sulfur because I didn’t refresh it. While I was figuring that out, I put out MSM to get ahead of the lice. Sulfur consumption has been noted since replacing the old sulfur and I am back to not including MSM.
Ounces listed are how much I put into the feeders and small storage jars at the far away feeder. Subsequent refills will indicate what they actually consume each month in the feeders.
| Mineral | 4/9/22 | 4/16/22 | 4/23/22 | 4/30/22 | Totals (ounces) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boron | 9 | 9 | |||
| Calcium | 48 | 48 | |||
| Vits. C&B | 22.5 | 24 | 24 | 70.5 | |
| CL | |||||
| Cobalt | |||||
| Copper | |||||
| Iodine | |||||
| Magnesium | |||||
| Manganese | 9 | 9 | |||
| Molybdenum | |||||
| MSM | 25 | 8 | 33 | ||
| Sodium NA | |||||
| OH | |||||
| Phosphorus | 24 | 24 | |||
| Potassium | |||||
| Selenium | 13 | 13 | |||
| Silicon | 34 | 40 | 74 | ||
| Sulfur | 10.5 | 12 | 22.5 | ||
| V4 | |||||
| Zinc | 19 | 19 | |||
| Notes | CB spilled |
