Mineral premix

[stablegirl]

Each morning like a lot of you do we add a bag of this and a bag of that to the ration, but even as the cow numbers go up and down we still use 1 bag of this or half a bag of that which doesn't seem very accurate.

Ive tried doing a premix in the past with a months worth of all these ingredients in, but it was stupidly dusty, unworkably dusty.

We us fat, rumen buffer, minerals and limestone flour (The really dusty one). The we added the same quantity of soya hulls to bulk it out.

The question is there anyway to reduce the dust, if i added molasses, how much would damp down the dust without it setting solid?

Ideally id make a months worth?

 

[More to life]

What sort of fat are you feeding if it’s calcium soap I doubt you need the lime stone. Rumen buffer because your silage is very wet ?

 

[sjt01]

Each morning like a lot of you do we add a bag of this and a bag of that to the ration, but even as the cow numbers go up and down we still use 1 bag of this or half a bag of that which doesn't seem very accurate.

Ive tried doing a premix in the past with a months worth of all these ingredients in, but it was stupidly dusty, unworkably dusty.

We us fat, rumen buffer, minerals and limestone flour (The really dusty one). The we added the same quantity of soya hulls to bulk it out.

The question is there anyway to reduce the dust, if i added molasses, how much would damp down the dust without it setting solid?

Ideally id make a months worth?

We buy in a custom premix through Kite in a tonne dumpy bag. Saves disposal of smaller bags, works out about the same cost as getting the ingredients and blending ourselves, much easier.

 

[stablegirl]

They are quite high yielding, so im quite happy putting in the cheap source of calcium, the rumen buffer isn't a permanent feature normally just through summer as the new forages are added and there's a bit of inconsistency in the ration.


sjt that sounds interesting, we are quite fierce on shopping around for the ingredients so id quite like to price something like that, is it dusty as a product?

 

[Headless chicken]

Not having a go .....

do you need all those goodies? I know you say your high yielding but do they actually need them?

to answer your question depending on how much you’ve got going in a set of bags scales from eBay are about £50. Could weigh accurately then?

curious why the need to bulk it up? Do you struggle to get it to mix?

 

[stablegirl]

Just trying to promote accuracy the bulkier the better.

In typical farming forum style having to explain yourself.

Like I said rumen buffer during summer when intakes and forages are a bit irratic.

Our contract pays for the fat, experimented with it numerous times and it pays so we use it.

Minerals.... well yeah.

Limestone flour as expensive as forage, elimates calcium being a limiting factor.

 

[Headless chicken]

Just trying to promote accuracy the bulkier the better.

In typical farming forum style having to explain yourself.

Like I said rumen buffer during summer when intakes and forages are a bit irratic.

Our contract pays for the fat, experimented with it numerous times and it pays so we use it.

Minerals.... well yeah.

Limestone flour as expensive as forage, elimates calcium being a limiting factor.

certainly not trying to make you explain yourself it was merely a question I ask myself constantly.
We all farm in different ways and you will know what works for you far better than anyone else. It’s just easy to get dragged into a spoonful of this and that for a perceived benefit without actually getting anything back.

 

[Adam@Rumen]

Each morning like a lot of you do we add a bag of this and a bag of that to the ration, but even as the cow numbers go up and down we still use 1 bag of this or half a bag of that which doesn't seem very accurate.

Ive tried doing a premix in the past with a months worth of all these ingredients in, but it was stupidly dusty, unworkably dusty.

We us fat, rumen buffer, minerals and limestone flour (The really dusty one). The we added the same quantity of soya hulls to bulk it out.

The question is there anyway to reduce the dust, if i added molasses, how much would damp down the dust without it setting solid?

Ideally id make a months worth?

Some people take all their ingredients in 1 bag. Will typically add 4-5p/cow depending on mix. This is because each product has an extra pair of hands to go through, as well as adding a mixing cost on to each ingredient. You also lose some flexibility IE adding extra C16 on a whim because fats have dropped etc...

Worth looking at though just to see. Can make life a lot easier and it's a price worth paying for some.

 

[stablegirl]

Yeah i know im not a massive fan of the bagged feeds, on all my costings we call the VAP's or value added products to remind us to make sure the are not ripping us off.

5p * 200 cows * 30 days in a month, £300/month!

Rather fritter that on something shiney and metal that depreciates!

Sooooooooooooooo, any suggestions for reducing the dust?

 

[More to life]

Just trying to promote accuracy the bulkier the better.

In typical farming forum style having to explain yourself.

Like I said rumen buffer during summer when intakes and forages are a bit irratic.

Our contract pays for the fat, experimented with it numerous times and it pays so we use it.

Minerals.... well yeah.

Limestone flour as expensive as forage, elimates calcium being a limiting factor.

Your not the only high yield herd on here I trying to help.