Farm Balance is an Australian livestock mineral range covering three formats: pressed lick blocks from 15kg to 35kg, loose licks and premixes for cattle on grain or mixed rations, and straight bagged minerals such as limestone, bentonite and stock salt.
Choosing a product
Start with the format. A block suits stock in a paddock that are not on a hard feed - the animal self-regulates and you are not carrying buckets, but intake is never even across a mob. A loose lick or premix gives a far more even dose, but only if it is mixed through a ration or put in troughs the whole mob can reach.
Then the season and the species. The Green Feed and Dry Feed blocks are opposite products for opposite times of year. Magnesium blocks and Mag-C are for the spring grass tetany window and need to be out before the risk starts, not after a cow goes down. And species matters more than anything else: the Ewe & Lamb block has copper set for sheep, because copper levels that cattle need will accumulate in a sheep's liver until they kill it.
Ionophores and urea. Twelve products in this range carry Rumensin (monensin) or Bovatec (lasalocid). These are registered for ruminants only and are fatal to horses and dogs - keep them away from horse feed areas entirely. The Dry Feed block carries urea, which is toxic if eaten too fast and must never go near horses. Where a non-ionophore version exists (Maxi 250, Trace Buffer 40, Feedlot 160, Beef & Sheep Lick, Ewe & Lamb) the product page says so.
Everything here is heavy. The lightest item is a 15kg block and the Lamb Pro is 35kg. Freight on solid mineral is unavoidable, so pickup or a combined paddock order is the sensible way to buy.
- Olssons - pressed mineral blocks
- Barastoc - cattle, sheep and poultry feed
- Laucke Mills - Australian stockfeed
- Gen Pack - straight minerals in smaller packs
