Opinions on Calf Manna or is there something better?

Rick is doing well. We had a rough winter last year, he dropped weight and had persistent colds. I had sent him to the trainers 2011 October and he picked up all sorts of stuff, lost a ton of weight, and struggled through.

He came back beautifully late winter/early spring with lots of vits and minerals and great pasture. Teeth are fine but do need checked again soon, not wormy. This summer was brutal, on hay and sparse pasture and free access minerals, started losing muscle due to being off work. So for the past two months I've been feeding him calf manna, 2 lbs. Once a day, with free access decent hay. He's getting his muscle back and his coat is looking FAB! He has the most luscious mink like coat ever. I love the high vit A content and protein of the manna. Just now getting him back in work, but only riding 1 to 2 times a week at a walk.

So even though I like it, is there something better? Cheaper? Is there a reason I shouldn't feed it?
Thanks so much!

Since you're "an hour and a half from town", Calf Manna is probably all you can get.

1. I fed it to my horses for years and years and they did fine.

1.1 I won't feed it now because it's 25% protein and that protein source is soy meal. I have two metabolic horses and a third horse that is soy intolerant, so Calf Manna's out of the question, even if it meant I had to order something.

2. In this modern day there are lots of vit/min supplements on the market for horses that weren't there 20 years ago, if your horse starts to develop problems.

3. If that's all that is available to you without calling a catalogue company and "it works, then don't fix it".

I would just watch him for erratic, unusual/unruly behavior since it is 25% protein.

Watch his urine for change in color and also for a really strong ammonia odor. If the odor gets really strong that means he's dumping the extra protein out of his system and you may need to find something less than 25%

I'm sure others will come in with their thoughts. We had an Old McDonald's dairy farm when I was young and everybody but the dog ate Calf Manna - lol lol

I prefer Purina Ultium to Calf Manna because it's lower in protein and higher in fat. And once your horse is back to weight, you can feed very little to maintain condition. BUT....can you get it where you are? I play H*ll sometimes finding it here.

I generally don't like feeds that aren't designed specifically for horses- horses, cows, llamas, etc all digest foods very differently and have different nutritional requirements. It's very hard to determine Calf Manna's suitability as a source of complete nutrition since their guaranteed analysis is quite short. They show lots of added vitamins/minerals in the ingredient list, but don't tell you how much.

If it's all you can easily access, then I'd agree with walkinthewalk- it seems to be working, so don't fix it. However, if you can get access to a good quality horse feed, ration balancer, or vit/min supplement, it might be worthwhile to look into those.

I used it for well over 30 years with no problems. Only reason I don't use it now is I can get one specific to horses.

Thank you guys so much!

I've watched him closely for the past few days and it does not seem to be bothering him. I am limited to what I can get from my feed store! Pretty basic feeds, my options are either senior or basic all stock types which I and they don't like and a 12% horse pellet that's generic but slightly better. He's also a VERY picky eater and won't touch bran or beet, dumps it out.

Looking into the Purina Dreamcatcher, Sue what is yours called? Maybe I can get my lady to carry them, unfortunately it's rough around here and people just go with the cheap stuff if they feed them at all...

Thanks again!!
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LOL, I think we live in the same county.....I'm seeing lots of horses that don't look so thrifty and more and more going to auction.

I'm using a ration balancer, Nutrena Empower Balance. They also make one for hard keepers. At the moment I'm using Poulin's Equi-Pro MVP which is only available in the northeast, mainly New England. Only a recent switch because tractor supply pissed me off again. But my horses are air ferns and I live in a place where hay is cheap.

Feeding 2 lbs? Really? When I used it, it came with a little cardboard scoop that was about 3 x3 x3 and you just top dressed the feed. Then they quit giving the scoop but it still remained a top dressing to feed. Nothing close to 2 lbs. The horses I road often and hard as in way back when I was young got 2 scoops on their feed. I admit to loving the smell and tasting it. I probably ate a pound or two over my lifetime.

What state are you in? Maybe somebody can recommend something that's good but only available regionally.

I forgot about that cardboard container until you mentioned it!

Ditto all the rest, too

Calf Manna is not designed to be a complete diet; only a supplement. Even though the little cardboard scoop doesn't hold much, I doubt that 2 pounds a day will hurt anything. I used to use it when I did a lot of long distance riding. It really seemed to help my horse's coat and it was my impression that her energy level was up. I fed hay as well as grain along with the Calf Manna.