Salt and mineral supplements for domestic animals and game can promote growth, milk supply, health and performance. With free access to a mineral stone, animals are able to regulate their intake and satisfy their needs.
When using mineral stones for domestic animals and game outdoors, it is well known that mineral stones seldom last more than a year in the open. However, it is not because they are licked so much by animals that the mineral stones last such a short time. Rather, it is the wind and weather, particularly rain, which cause the mineral stone to dissolve and the salt and minerals to disappear.
To ensure that mineral stones benefit animals to a far greater extent, OK Plast in Horsens has developed a covered holder, OK type 132, which features a lid that prevents rain from falling directly on the stone. The holder, which is mounted on an untreated post or a tree, has been tested by Brian Madsen, a milk producer at the farm Bjerre Søndermarksgård near Hornsyld south of Horsens in Jutland, who quickly recognised the advantages of protecting the mineral stone in this new way. “The product effectively protects the mineral stone against hard rain, but also against sunshine. Moreover, the holes in the base of the holder ensure that the salt and mineral-rich liquid which inevitably forms simply runs down the untreated post. The animals then lick the post/tree to benefit from the salt and minerals.
The organic cows at Bjerre Søndermarksgård love walking over to the sawn trunk on which the holder is mounted. They clearly enjoy licking the mineral stone, the trunk and the holder itself. And there is no reason for them not to lick the untreated wood or the plastic holder, which is made of food-approved raw materials and subsidiary materials.
OK Plast has more than 30 years of experience of producing plastic feeders, troughs and mineral stone holders for domestic animals. Like all the other farm products from the company, the new mineral stone holder is being launched under the registered ‘Young Line’ brand. For more information, please visit www.okplast.dk.
