What would nibble rock salt ?

Just noticed that a bad of rock salt (for de icing paths) I've had loosely undercover has been nibbled at one corner.

What UK animals use salt licks ?

(The purchase of that bag worked it's intended magic. Not needed to salt the paths for at least 4 years now :) )

Reply to
Jethro_uk
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Lots of them. Cattle, horses, and (I think) sheep. I wouldn't be surprised to find rodents nibbling them.

Reply to
newshound

Lots! But in your instance possible pests include rats, mice and squirrels.

Reply to
Mark Allread

Maybe the animal was hoping for something tastier than salt?

Reply to
Andy Burns

Isn't that one of the reasons a dog licks your skin? For the salt you sweat out?

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Ones that haven't heard that too much salt gives you high blood pressure.

Reply to
Max Demian

Rodent bedding material

Reply to
www.GymRatZ.co.uk

Definitely not first three :)

Reply to
Jethro_uk

Seems a consensus for rodents then ... oh well hardly surprising with the bins not emptied for 2 months.

Reply to
Jethro_uk

I've had mice nibble a big hole in a cardboard slug pellet container.

Reply to
Nightjar

Why not sheep?

Have seen them myself wandering down streets in Mallaig no doubt other Scottish 'villages/towns' are the same

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Notice it is outside any fencing

Reply to
soup

Deer. In Michigan, and probably other States, they are sold as deer-attracting items.

Reply to
Davey

Interestingly a wild deer foal (?) managed to get it's head stuck in some school railings earlier this year. Fire brigade had to be called to release it.

This is in Quinton, Birmingham ... so there must be some wild deer nearby in the sticks ?

Wasn't there a statistic that there are now more deer in the UK than ever before ?

Reply to
Jethro_uk

None anyway near his salt??

Reply to
FMurtz

I don't the mineral blocks made for animals are pure salt.

They are a mixture of trace elements needed to supplement poor upland grazing, or to make sure lactating dairy cows get enough magnesium. I think the whole block has molasses to bind it all together.

Cows short of magnesium just flop down and you have to be really quick to notice and give it some IV fluids to boost its Mg levels. Then they just heave up onto their feet and wander off as though nothing had happened.

Reply to
Andrew

My neighbour hit a deer with his Ford Fiesta near Parham, Storrington. This is the 3rd time in recent years that I have heard of this happening.

Car came of quite badly; not sure about dear deer.

They don't seem to understand the green cross code.

One charges acorss head down, a bit a like a cat crossing a road, then the rest of the herd thunder across behind, wildebeest fashion. They don't seem to be put off by car headlamps at all.

Local farmer grew aparagus for a few years but even with a 6 foot high square mesh fence strained with robust posts, they still managed to get in, so he gave up.

Reply to
Andrew

It's quite an eye-opener, the damage that can be done. In another country, my Dad managed to write off a car hitting a pig.

Reply to
Jethro_uk

A friend of mine who used to live near Lakenheath was limited by his car insurance company to two pheasant accident claims per year. Then one year he hit a deer, which came in through the windscreen. Once he had cleared the mess, he drove to his local butcher, and had the deer processed. I'm not sure that was 100% legal, but hey, this is out in the sticks. I think the insurance company paid for that one, reluctantly. I once hit a deer on the freeway in Indiana, at night. It shot off back into the fields, leaving tufts of fur behind, my car suddenly 'bonged' that I had a headlight failure, so I turned to dipped beams, and got the same result. Luckily, the fog lights still worked, and kept me legal. The whole front clip, lights and all, needed to be replaced, and they replaced the whole bonnet instead of trying to bash it back into shape. Quite expensive, for the insurance company. Standard advice re: deer in the US is: If you see one, there are more behind it.

Reply to
Davey

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