My new mare is a little underweight right now and I want to do everything I can to help her gain weight. She is currently on 24 hour turn out on good pasture. Is there any kind of grain that would be a good option to give her the stuff that grass doesn't?
Depending on grass quality and how much grain you feed. ANY grain/pellets have min/vit added (at least I didn't run into those without unless you feed straight oats or beet pulp and such). I feed pellets with min/suppl in + grass for 2-3 hours/day (besides the hay, of course) and I don't add any extra-supplements at the moment.
If there are no underlying health issues that need to be addressed with special supplements, then I would just look for a balanced complete feed. Try to avoid anything with excess sugar like sweet feed. If nothing else, some alfalfa pellets will up her protein and help her put on weight.
I would give her only a little bit of a balanced feed just enough to add vitamins. 24 hour pasture might end up giving you the opposite problem!! we fight obesity!!
I agree, give the pasture a little time to do it's thing. If you wanted to try a hard feed, maybe try purina BIR (built in roughage) it's high in fiber and easy to digest. It also doesn't make them "hot". It comes in pellets and chunks. Maybe add a ration balancer for salt and other minerals. Purina Equalizer is a good one. Just add 200g to the feed.
I use a mineral block for my pasture kept horses, but if I had the resources to feed daily I would be giving a ration balancer mixed with a bit of Speedi-Beet.
My new mare is a little underweight right now and I want to do everything I can to help her gain weight. She is currently on 24 hour turn out on good pasture. Is there any kind of grain that would be a good option to give her the stuff that grass doesn't?
My guy is on 24/7 pasture as well Plus a round bale that he can stuff his face in at any given time - and he's a hard keeper. I have him on 5lbs of feed, twice a day.
He gets 3lbs of Purina Senior * I love this stuff, because you can give it to a wide variety of different age of horse, while giving all the needed necessaries in diet* and he gets 2lbs of Ultium *I also love this because it is rice bran and beat pulp based*
You can get Purina Senior at any TSC, for about $15.00 a bag.
There are quite a few underweight horses at the barn who are much younger than Nelson, who are on full pasture that are being fed Purina Senior - it's a great complete feed that I would highly recommend to anyone. The horses who were put on it, filled out beautifully, and their coats gleam.
Well thankfully she isn't a hard keeper, only a week and she has started to put on weight. And the grass alone seems to be making her rather full of herself. I still want to get her something that will add some minerals and vitamins to her diet that the grass won't provide, but I don't want to add a lot of extra energy.
BTW, I don't like using mineral blocks (I keep just salt block). The reason is I heard stories on my local forum when horses liked it too much and went through the whole block in couple days.
I still want to get her something that will add some minerals and vitamins to her diet that the grass won't provide, but I don't want to add a lot of extra energy.
Yeah, that's a very good one too. I used it for couple years till it disappeared from the local store. Then I switched to Blue Seal. I also tried Triple Crown low starch/low sugar (whatever the name of it is) and my horses HATED it.
Well... I give moody mare by Wendals (valleyvet sells it). But frankly I don't feel it helps a lot. So as long as I finish I'll just deal with what I have. BTW, I tried quietex too and it didn't work a bit. But my horse is very difficult and strange overall. So those may work for you. But I agree, try to start with feed change. It may very well be good enough already!
Yeah I am going to try introducing the ration balancer first before I start looking at calming supplements, but ugh, there is only room for one witch in this relationship...
Peggy Sue -thanks! Yeah - I get confused between the two Buckeye Products.
When I used to be a working stuent at the large Fox Hunt/Eventing facility, the BM at the time fed many of the easy keepers the Buckeye Product. They felt like they were being grained, without getting hot or fat off of it, while still getting all the needed nutrients and vits from it.
QHDragon - The Feed Bag is in Richland. I pass it every single day when I go to the barn, and come home from the barn.
Next time you are out could you check to see if they carry tribute essential k? So far everywhere around me doesn't have it.
I did find Buckeye grow and win, so if that's the more plentify option then I will go with that for easy of access. Going to try and compare them tonight.
I fed Tribute Kalm Ultra to my TB gelding and really liked the results, however isn't that feed more of a weight gain/keeping weight on type of grain? After just two weeks of 24/7 pasture I have already noticed that she is filling out all ready.
That one was recommended to me by the store manager: I was looking for something to keep weight and in same time not making them hot. It didn't have any molasses added and what I really liked it had biotin + omega 3 + omega 6 in it. Frankly I don't remember if it was mostly beet pulp (like Safe 'n Easy or Carb Guard (I'm using now)) or not.
The Tribute Esstentail K will be cheaper then the Buckeye other then that they are basically the "same" feed... considering people who LEFT Buckeye designed and make the Tirbute feeds
See QH - I was just at The Feed Bag today getting Nelson some Purina Ultium, and I completely forgot to ask them about what you were looking into.
I think your best bet is to call The Feed Bag and ask them your questions. The owner there is very knowledgeable.
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