Feed Salt: Essential for the health and performance of your livestock

Good health for your animals starts with balanced nutrition. An important, yet often underestimated, component of this is Feed Salt.Whether it's cattle, sheep, goats, or horses: salt is indispensable in their daily ration. Not only for the salt requirement itself but also for the absorption of essential minerals and trace elements.

In this blog, we explain why feed salt is so important, what forms are available, and how to apply it correctly for each animal species and life stage.

Why is feed salt important?

Just like humans, animals need sodium and chloride for proper body function. These elements play a crucial role in:

• The body's fluid balance
• Digestion and appetite
• Nerve and muscle function
• Milk production in dairy cattle
• Overall resistance to diseases

Because many feed crops (such as grass, hay, or concentrated feed) contain insufficient salt, it is important to supplement this through Feed Salt.

The different forms of feed salt

Depending on the type of animal and the circumstances, you choose the form that best suits your situation. At Zoutplus, we offer various formulations:

🧂 Licking Stones

• Solid salt in natural or compressed form
• Animals can lick as needed
• Often enriched with minerals (such as selenium, zinc, or copper)
• Convenient for pastures or group stalls

✅ Suitable for cattle, horses, goats, sheep

🧱 Salt Blocks

• Compact blocks of compressed salt
• Ideal for placement in barns or feeding troughs
• Resistant to moisture and weather

✅ Practical for individual use or limited access to pasture

🧂 Loose feed salt

• Sprayable or mixable in concentrated feed
• Precise dosing possible
• Ideal for intensive livestock farming or in stables

✅ Mainly used for pigs, chickens, and dairy cattle in production

Feed salt per animal species and life stage

The salt requirement varies by animal species, age, and production phase. Here are some guidelines:

🐄 Cattle(beef and dairy)

• Requirement: ± 10–50 grams of salt per day
• Dairy cows need extra salt due to milk production
• Licking stones or loose salt in the feed ration are ideal

🐑 Sheeps

• Be careful about overdosing on copper!
• Use specific salt for sheep, without copper

🐐 Goats

• Active animals in need of constant salt intake​
• Lick stones with minerals promote resistance

🐎 Horses

• Salts essential when sweating (e.g., in hot weather or labor)
• A lick in the barn is standard practice

🐖 Pigs and 🐔 poultry

• Precise dosing via feed mixing
• Feed salt is usually mixed into the concentrate here

Minerals and trace elements: an extra boost

Many feed salts are enriched with beneficial elements such as:

• Zinc & selenium - support the immune system
• Iron – important for blood formation 
• Iodine – essential for a healthy thyroid gland
• Magnesium & calcium - help with muscle function and skeletal growth
• Copper - supports coat and growth (not for sheeps!)

It is important to choose the right composition for each animal species. Therefore, at Zoutplus you will find clear information per product as well as tailored advice.

Conclusion: healthy livestock starts with the right salt

Whether you are a professional livestock farmer or keep a few animals in pasture, feed salt is not a luxury, but a necessity. It promotes the health, growth and performance of your animals, in a simple and natural way.

At Saltplus you will find a wide range of feed salt, licks and mineral blocks, tailored to each animal and their needs. Order today and provide your animals with the basics they need!