How much feed

I have decided to put my hard keep thoroughbred on a complete senior feed. But how many pound should I feed? He is on all you can eat timothy/orchard grass hay right now.

I also plan to add about 2lbs of beet pulp per day (split into two feedings)

Any help or input would be great. Thank you in advance

Hes also on grass turnout 24/7 not the best grass though.

You would feed about the same amount in #s that you feed in hay, typically 15-20+#. Are you planning on still providing any hay? Why add the BP?

Still going to provide the hay. And beet pulp for extra fat.

If he's still going to get hay (which is good because he needs the long fibers and chew time) than simply replace senior for what calories he isn't getting out of the hay. Start him out building up to 5# per day. Keep adding until you get him up to the condition he needs to be at. Could easily be 10#/day. BP, nutritionally, is pretty close to grass hay. It is extreely low in fat (1%) whereas grass hay is about 3%. My big knock against BP is you pay too much for what you get out of it. As long as he can still chew hay, save yourself the $$ and just go with the hay. If you want to add fat, add oil directly to the senior. They're cheap calories that are easy to get into them. A C of oil will have 2Mcals at a cost of $.20. Those same calories in the senior will cost you $.54 ($18 bag).

Oh wow. Thanks a bunch.

If your horse is a senior, it is my opinion that seniors would benefit from a daily probiotic supplement.

If you have him on senior feed to help him gain weight and he is NOT a senior, it is my opinion that hard keepers would benefit from a daily probiotic supplement

I agree with Beauseant. He would probably benefit from a probiotic.

I actually just put him on one when I changed his diet to the senior feed. But thank you a bunch

Find out the quality of the hay you are feeding. Improve the quality of hay you are feeding. Senior feed is generally $450-600/ton that buys some very nice hay

And really people, look at available calories per pound of feed/hay