For application, we use an Agri-Fab Model 45-04631 spreader. It was recommended by the Mag rep I bought my initial load from. It holds 2 50-pound bags and has a large enough opening to easily spread the flakes. We hook it to an atv, but you could also use a garden tractor.
In the beginning I tried a salt thrower on a pick up truck and then a hand push fertilizer thrower. All a serious pain in the butt. I now routinely (2x a year) spread 20 bags by hand. I dump a pile of bags in various spots in the indoor (so I’m not walking really far to refill my bucket) fill up a small 8 qt or slightly more bucket (so my arms don’t fall off), don a double pair of latex gloves, and throw by hand. I can do 20 bags now in about 90 minutes or less.
[QUOTE=OTTBs;8911662]
I found that my indoor arena sand needs watering to help it bind together and not be so deep. Will Mag Flakes/other brands help with this (as winter approaches?)[/QUOTE]
Our sand indoor footing was very loose and you cold feel the sand break out under the horses hooves. Since we applied Mag we no longer have dust and the sand is perfect , no longer feel that sand giving was the way it did when it was dry.
Thanks for the very direct answer, Tony!
I had my local hardware store special order it for me. They already carried other products from the same company for ice melt, so it wasn’t a problem for them to order it by the pallet for me.
SafeStep Extreme (can’t remember the number - 8400? The one in the red bag). It is 100% Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate. The same stuff as MAG, just cheaper as it’s not marketed for equestrian use. I paid $19.99 a bag, so roughly 1K for a ton. We picked it up ourselves.
I pay about $17 for a 50 lb bag delivered.
I’m attempting to revive this thread.
How do you all feel about using MAG flakes (feasibility, foot health, etc.) in a red dirt floor tobacco barn, with a limestone base? Half of my barn is my run-in, and it’s attached to my 40x60’ limestones screenings drylot (which I love, and I have no dust problems with).
I’m just wondering if it would be a good temporary fix, until my hay gets fed, and I can get a load of screenings in and compacted, in the barn. Then, I will lay some mats down.
I get so tired of this dirt floor being ground up in the air to clouds and clouds of dust, and no amount of makeshift tarp roofing or windbreaks can keep the dust off of my hay. I LOVE my old barn, and it’s got such great ventilation and draw, that the dust never stays in for long. But, if I could have a fix for it, even temporarily, it would be so worth it, to me. TIA!
