Posted by GoatWorld on January 12, 2003 at 11:05:39:
In Reply to: Ammonium Chloride and mineral posted by Kerrie on January 12, 2003 at 08:39:00:
Hi Kerrie,
What you are saying is that you mixed 1.5 pounds ammonium chloride to 25 pounds of mineral right?
So that would be a total of 26.5 pounds. I'm doing some quick calculating here and coming up with a 25 to 1.5 ratio which I think may be too much. I'm thinking that the realistic ratio is more like 100 to 1 (a pound ammonium chloride per 100 pounds of feed). I'll need to do some checking on this to verify. Even that may be too much. Consider that the "average" and recommended dosage in water is one teaspoon per gallon of water. My personal dosage for my bucks is one teaspoon per five gallons of water and then changing the water every day.
Part of a problem that I see is how quickly or slowly your goats will take in 25 pounds of mineral in a day, week or month. Do you see what I am getting at?
The problem that I have found with mixing the ammonium chloride with feed is the dispersion throughout the feed. The same might apply to a lesser degree to mineral mixes. It's difficult to get a uniform mixture unless you are adding a binder such as molasses. And even then, a uniform mix is not guaranteed. For example, let's say you want to mix 100 pounds of cracked corn, 50 pounds of oats, 100 pounds of corn gluten and 50 pounds of cottonseed hulls. If it is a dry mix with no molasses, the corn and oats will mix together okay, but the gluten and cottonseed hulls will tend to come out in the first bags because they are heavier than the corn or oats. Add on top of that a powder such as ammonium chloride, it will not be uniform in each bag.
Now if you bind it all together with a bit of molasses in the blender, it comes out a little bit more uniform but not exact. The same problem exists with the heavier feeds drawing first because they are likely to be closer to the bottom of the mixture.
Hope this isn't too confusing. I'll check and see the exact amount recommended for addition to feed.
Best regards,
Gary Pfalzbot