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Post by neighlass on Mar 11, 2009 11:24:24 GMT
Hello again! I am wanting a bit of advice on Daisy's hard feed... Before I got her she was on 1 scoop of Aplha-a, 1 scoop of sugar beet and 2 hand fulls of Baileys hi-fibre mix. She got this once in a morning and once on an evening. When I got her I gradually reduced her sugar beet to nil and I swapped the hi fibre to a high protein mix, which she has a scoop of with a scoop of alpha-a and about 5/6 carrots. Firstly, does that sound ok (as she goes out every day and has a huge net of haylage on an evening) and secondly, if she misses the occasional feed in a morning or doesnt eat it, is this ok? I am not too concerned about her not eating her feed when it is in as she has gone from having just hay to laylage and also has grass where she had none before... Major (btw) is on a kind of chaff mix with D & H 16+ mix and some carrots. Your thoughts please... ps they both look fine for it but just wondered if it all sounded ok!  |
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ceej
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im back.... :)
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Post by ceej on Mar 11, 2009 11:55:08 GMT
few questions ;D: why did you swap the high fibre for high protein out of curiosity? How was her condition before, and has she put on weight since? has she increased her workload?. Also what breed, height and weight is she? sorry for all the questions but it helps....  |
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Post by fimacg on Mar 11, 2009 12:09:37 GMT
I'm not an expert but I think personally I would have kept Daisy on the hi fibre plus a balancer, especially if she is not doing much apart from growing, it sounds like she is getting quite a lot of food especially if turned out and not actually eating all her hard feed. I would knock it back to make sure she wont become overweight. Like us horses find it much harder to loose the pounds than put them on.
Modified to add that I have spent 2 years getting the weight off Chompy as he had 60-100kg to loose, that is basically 1 and bit of me... all 3 of mine are quite happy on a cup of baileys lo-cal balancer, 1 handful of chaff, and a hay-bar of hay per day as well as about 10-12 hrs turnout.
And in the summer it is a real struggle to keep the weight off, I actually look forward to winter by the end of the summer as it means I can control their weight more.
Check out the Fat Horse thread (which I have bumped up) for pictures of chomps the day I bought him and just before christmas last year, and he still has fat to loose especially on his shoulders.
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Post by neighlass on Mar 11, 2009 12:32:42 GMT
Hello and thank you for the replies. I changed her from the high fibre to the high protein as the feed shop (whom everyone sings their praises) advised that that is what they would do. They said that as she is growing, a high protein feed would be best?  She doesnt appear to have put any weight on and I guess you could say her work load has increased as she is being turned out into a HUGE series of fields every day and has a good run about from what I can tell!  Before she was just in a stable 24/7  I havent measured her weight, her height when I checked last week is 15.2hh but I think she is bigger as she may have just not been stood in the right position.  She is a rising 2 (in May) Shire x WB. |
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haffyfan
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Post by haffyfan on Mar 11, 2009 12:48:28 GMT
I have had one of mine since a yearling and he has only ever had a forage diet consisiting of Hifi lite and alfa beet with ad lib hay and access to vit/mineral/salt blocks (I don't add supplements to their feed normally apart from a yeast based one when he had lami). There are so many advances in feeding now (not to mention that the vast majority of horses are only in what feed companies class as light work) that you don't need to stuff them full of cereals.
I think often people are encouraged to overfeed, especially youngsters cause of the 'growing thing'.
As long as what she is getting is good quality she shouldn't IMO need the high the protein mix. The fact she dosen't always eat it to me also says it's her way of saying Mum I don't need this.
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Post by neighlass on Mar 11, 2009 13:10:15 GMT
So would you maybe just get a scoop of alpha-a wth a handful of the mix and some carrots? Or maybe just do one feed a day? Or both? I wanted to try and use the alpha-a for major and Daisy so Major would be on alpha-a and his 16+ mix. Do you think this would be ok? Just would be easier to have 3 bins of feed instead of 4 and I have heard alpha-a is good stuff  I am crap with feeds, dont know why as I am not thick or anything, I think it is just one thing I havent got my head around yet!  |
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Post by spotti on Mar 11, 2009 13:33:56 GMT
I am crap with feeds, dont know why as I am not thick or anything, I think it is just one thing I havent got my head around yet! I don't think you EVER get your head around feeds! There's just so many to choose from, and what with all horses being different sizes, shapes, builds, temperaments, in different amounts of work...there's a million and one different options out there! We've recently swapped from a rather complicated mixture of millichop and pasture mix and garlic granules and cod liver oil and seaweed powder and this other powder (  ) to Spillers Happy Hoof which is a complete mix, so all of the extras have gone AND she actually has less of it! (oh, and my feed bill has gone from £40ish per month to £7.85...and that lasts for 2 months! lol) I think its mostly trial and error - if you find something that works then stick with it! |
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Post by fimacg on Mar 11, 2009 13:34:15 GMT
feeds are difficult - I ended up phoning a couple of the feed company help lines to get my lot sorted and I think I found baileys to be the most helpful and they also recommended other companies feeds as well as their own, which I personally think shows they were not out to just get you to buy their brand.
Alpha-a should be OK for daisy and it does make it easier and cheaper if they are on the same stuff.
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Post by neighlass on Mar 11, 2009 13:40:57 GMT
Ok right then! There are 2 options to the alpha a scenario! I can either put them both on the alpha a (£10.75 a sack) then their own mix OR I can put them both on the chaff stuff that Major is currently on which is a bigger bag and only £7.75. Am not overly bothered about the £3 odd if it is better for them. I will see exactly what it is that Major is on.... Give me 5 mins... |
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Post by neighlass on Mar 11, 2009 13:56:43 GMT
Right, the stuff which major is on in addition to his 16+ mix he said is "low mo"? He said it had dried grass, oils vits and mins, chaff and is low protein. Not sure what to do...  |
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haffyfan
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Post by haffyfan on Mar 11, 2009 19:52:44 GMT
Never heard of the stuff major has but dengie feeds are top banana!!
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Before she was just in a stable 24/7 
) to Spillers Happy Hoof which is a complete mix, so all of the extras have gone AND she actually has less of it! (oh, and my feed bill has gone from £40ish per month to £7.85...and that lasts for 2 months! lol)
