Hello friends,
As I have continued to research fresh rice straw silage I stumbled upon the concept of Urea Molasses Mineral Blocks. Does anyone have any experience promoting these to livestock owners?
I’m considering starting a small manufacturing unit for UMMBs. We would sell the blocks through local entrepreneurs, local animal ‘doctors’ and/or directly.
Based on the attached pdfs, I think it could be a powerful combo to include ground papaya seed powder as a natural anti-parasite medicine. We could encourage animal owners to use a UMMB+Papaya Seed one week a month and the normal blocks other weeks.
A couple PDFs are attached if you are interested. I welcome any advice, caution, and/or other ideas.
Thanks in advance!
EffectofUMMBonMilkproduction.pdf (207.4 KB) FAO UMMB Feed Blocks.pdf (1.1 MB)
Papaya seeds for livestock.pdf (307.1 KB)
I use commercial licks for sheep and goats and have used thiabendazole, ivermectin, albendazole and piperazine citrate for livestock worm control so I am glad that people are looking for alternatives.
As to blocks, you might want to clearly identify the restrictions on livestock use since a block suitable for goats and cattle may be a problem for sheep, aquatic livestock and rabbits atc. I have copper in mind. Blocks for goats are not safely used for sheep.
Another issue that occurs to me with your idea of blocks containing dried papaya seed is the hydration effect on the seed when you make the blocks. Even if you dry the blocks fairly rapidly, you may want to see what the effects of hydration are on the keeping quality of the blocks.
Another issue that occurs to me with papaya seed is the possible contraceptive and abortifacient effect of the seed - highly dependent on dosage probably. Again, you would no doubt experiment with the blocks on pregnant animals and those in heat.
Papaya is a strong medicine and a welcome one but if you are selling blocks you will want to ensure safety and liability issues do not return upon you.
Good luck.
Hello Daniel,
Fully agree with the above mentions of Everard. I did want to add dosing meds via feed lick can be difficult depending on your setup. I’ve been in dairy goats for several years, and I tried to avoid sweet licks because there are social concerns as well. Sometimes herd queen will decide she likes X and will lick more than her share, there can be territorial issues around placement, etc. That said, in regions where your posted article evaluated seem to be sugar cane areas, and it makes sense as the blocks need a glue/incentive.
Clearly all solvable problems, but I prefer to dose my animals individually per their bodyweight. Then I know A gets exactly what she needs (and not more or less), and B who weighs 15kg less doesn’t have a problem later.
Underdosing animals can lead to resistance when using store-bought chemicals, and I assume papaya would not be drastically different in this regard.
So I have used commercial licks for nutrients, and dosed animals individually required meds.
All in all, my two cents there are better ways to control medicine application in herds.