The sheep discovered their new mineral lick today – and there was a bit of a scrum for it... We give all the animals access to salt licks throughout the year - these contain salt (!!) and a few other trace minerals that supplement what the stock gets from grazing and browsing. Salt is not really going to be found in either the animal feed or via the foraging/grazing the animals do and, like humans, animals need salt, especially lactating females as it is needed to help make the milk! This new lick is a high energy lick and in addition to minerals, contains high levels of soya, fatty acids and vitamins as well as molasses – which all the animals love. We tend to provide these licks in the winter months when the nutrients in the grass are very low. They are especially good to give pregnant stock who need to keep extra fit and healthy as their growing young develop!
The downsize to these licks is that wildlife, especially badgers may also like them and as there is a defined link between TB and badgers, we don't want to encourage badger activity near our cows. At the moment we don’t have any signs of badgers on our land and so feel it is safe to use these licks for our stock - for now!!