The Horse Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Skinny Nursing Mare

16K views 25 replies 11 participants last post by  Whisper22 
#1 ·
I'm looking for advice on a better way to put weight on my nursing mare.
She currently gets 6lbs of mare and foal, per the directions on the bag, and 6oz of oil, and hay of coarse. I'm really just looking for a better feed than mare and foal that would help her put weight on faster. It's been six weeks since she foaled but she also lost a lot of weight during her pregnancy. The mare and foal feed seems to have kept her from losing anymore but not the greatest at putting it back on. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
 
#2 ·
Hmmm.......anyone?

I was thinking of keeping the mare and foal, but adding another scoop. So she would get 4lbs in the am and 4lbs in the pm. And then I was thinking of adding beet pulp, but I'm not sure how much to give.

Any thoughts at all?
 
#3 ·
She needs more concentrates and more/better quality hay. Some of my mares get 10-12# of concentrates per day when nursing (4-6 meals) so 6# can safely be bumped up. Get the foal on his own bucket of grain with 1/4# to start. Everything he eats on his own is that much less he will take from the mare. Adding 5-10# alfalfa a day is another easy way to get more calories into her. BP has roughly the same calories as grass hay amd much more expensive.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#4 ·
I don't know what kind of mare & foal feed you're giving, nor do you give the weight your mare SHOULD be at, so I'm gonna just generalize with Purina Omolene 300.

For a 1000 lb LACTATING mare she should be getting 12.5 lbs/day, so 6.25 lbs 2X/day or 4.2 lbs 3X/day. She should also be getting a minimum of 12 lbs of hay/day, but I prefer to give free choice grass hay. If you're feed directions on the bag are similar to the Omolene's then you should increase her feed by 1 lb per feeding, so from 6 lbs to 8 lbs/day for 1 week, then go to 10 lbs/day for 1 week and then 12.5 lbs from there on. If she needs to be bigger, then you increase proportionately. For me, I generally feed for a 1200 lb mare until I'm comfortable with how the mare I wanted to be 1000 lbs looks and then I back down to that amount of feed for maintenance.

You don't say how old or what size the foal is, so I can't really guess how much feed to give them in a creeper.
 
#5 ·
I went ahead and bought a bag of beet pulp since I hadn't gotten any answers all day. What I found in my online reasearch was that beet pulp has more calories per pound than alfalfa hay and certainly more than grass. Sky is photosensative so alfalfa was never an option and I thought the beet pulp could help give her the calories she would normally get from alfalfa. Today I soaked 2 dry lbs but she wouldn't touch it. Maybe it will be gone in the morning.

That being said, I made a big oversight. I was feeding Sky based on the pregnant mare instructions on the bag and not the lactating mare instructions. Another closer look today told me I should basically be giving her double what I have been. Poor thing suffers so much for her owner being a newb. I've never delt with a horse that had needs beyond hay, so it's a learn as I go process. The other mare at the barn, that had a foal two months before Sky, did just fine on a little extra alfalfa.

LHP, thank you for your response. Unfortunately Sky can not eat alfalfa, but it is the hay of choice around here, making the grass a take what I can get type thing. It looks to be pretty good quality and I get it from the main supplier around here who supplies to all the feed stores.
I'll keep in mind to start giving the baby a little of his own feed.

DA, thank you for your response. Sky SHOULD be about 950 pounds. At her current weight I am going to slowly work her up to 12lbs a day of the mare and foal, not the extra scoop that I stated before. The foal is six and a half weeks old.
 
#6 ·
Cheona was under-weight when we got her, @ 300lbs, and Switchback was only a few weeks old at that point. So I put out a round bale just for them and put her on 8lbs of 14% creep mixed with Patriot 14/6. She ate 3 round bales in a month and a half!!! But has filled out beautifully! Switchback wasnt interested in feed till he was over 2 months old but is doing great eating his own meals now at 3 months. I know the hay, which was freshly baled and brought straight from the field, played the biggest part in her weight gain. She has finally slowed down on how fast a 1000lb round bale disappears, ha! I also want to add that Cheona has her own 50lb mineral block and in 2 1/2 months it is nearly gone! That is important in itself as we are experiencing extreme temps already this year and she has to stay hydrated to produce milk!

Beet Pulp should help your girl with the extra needs she has :). Nursing mums need so much more than anyone else!
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#7 ·
I don't even know where to get a round bale around here haha. Even if I could, there's nowhere to put it. Space is pretty limited. The best I could do is throw her square bale in her pen with her. I don't know, do people do that? That's probably a stupid question, but you hear people talk about round bales or having hay in front of them all the time for weight gain, but not just chucking them a square bale to munch on. I have a feeling she would eat it really fast, being in her pen where there's nothing to do BUT eat. I'll do it though, if people think it's a good idea.

She won't touch the beet pulp. I soaked 2lbs, which made a crap load of beet pulp. Is that too much? Guess it doesn't matter until she decides to eat it.
Is there anything I can add to it, to make it more appitizing for her?
 
#8 ·
I use the beet pulp shreds with molasses, which is all I can buy where I live, and all my horses seem to like it.

Tossing a square bale to each pen is common practice at my place, but that's changing as hay supplies will not be plentiful. Once she gains some weight, you could consider using a small mesh hay bag, or even use the bale size one. You just put the hay net on the nale and put it in her hay feeder. There's a link to a pic on one of these threads, or you can look at any good equine supply website.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
#9 ·
You can give her 1/2 of the square bale at a time rather than throw it all out if you think it will get dirty. The more hay she eats the better. She needs the long stem roughage to make her digestive system work well.

I would rather feed my mare a bale a day of grass hay than to feed a limited supply of alfalfa. It comes out cheaper that to feed grass hay, and you can feed all you want to without hurting her. Regardless of how much she eats, if she is too thin, it is not enough. You cannot, however, just feed more and more grain. Eventually it will be too much.

My suggestion is feed more hay. And then more hay. Lots of hay. All the hay she will eat.
 
#11 ·
Don't beat yourself up, we all learn as we go. Working her up to double on the mare and foal is a good idea, just do it over a couple weeks and she'll be fine. I would put 1/2 bale of grass in with her and if you can put it in a 1/2 barrel or some other kind of feeder to keep her from bedding and peeing in it, it will save you money. I like to keep some kind of grass in front of my horses 24/7 whether small square or round bale, doesn't matter, forage is forage. If you soak the beet pulp over night, then put 1/2 in with her grain (start small and work up), she'll eat it. Horses are paranoid by nature and anything new is automatically suspect. The beet pulp will ensure she gets lots of water too and in the heat of summer that's excellent. You can make a little creep feeder for the baby if you want but at 6 weeks he's probably not really stealing enough from the mare to make a difference. I generally follow the 1 lb/month of age rule for my little ones until they are around 300 lbs or weaned. Then I start following the package directions.

Oh, I almost forgot. I put 1 oz of salt/feeding in the beet pulp, so if you soak enough for 2 feedings, 2 oz plain white salt, and that will also make sure she drinks lots of water.
 
#14 ·
Thank you all for your responses. I can definitely throw a half bale in with her, and we have plenty of half barrels laying around. The baby would end up sleeping on it and smooshing it into the dirt if I don't put it in something.
I'll start by giving her a couple handfulls. Of beet pulp mixed in with her feed and adding salt to the water to hopefully make it more appealing to her.
The tricky part is I don't live on the property and I pay my teenage neice to feed Sky twice a day. If Sky doesn't touch the beet pulp and then it spoils in the heat, how dangerous is that if her or the baby then decide to eat it? That's my biggest worry at the moment.

Again, Sky can not have alfalfa due to her photosensativity. The mare and foal has rice bran in it, so should she be getting more of just rice bran?
 
#16 ·
Thank you all for your responses. I can definitely throw a half bale in with her, and we have plenty of half barrels laying around. The baby would end up sleeping on it and smooshing it into the dirt if I don't put it in something.
I'll start by giving her a couple handfulls. Of beet pulp mixed in with her feed and adding salt to the water to hopefully make it more appealing to her.
The tricky part is I don't live on the property and I pay my teenage neice to feed Sky twice a day. If Sky doesn't touch the beet pulp and then it spoils in the heat, how dangerous is that if her or the baby then decide to eat it? That's my biggest worry at the moment.

Again, Sky can not have alfalfa due to her photosensativity. The mare and foal has rice bran in it, so should she be getting more of just rice bran?

Over the years, I've learned that simple works best for me. Most feeds are designed to meet the horses nutritional needs based on the amount fed. Feeding extra ingredients has not worked real well for me, so I try to keep things super simple.

So, my advice is,

Feed the Mare and Foal Feed per instructions
Free Feed grass hay
Make sure they have lots and lots of fresh water.
If you add Beet Pulp, start with a small handful soaked, and put it in with the Mare & Foal, so she can get used to it. I feed about 1/2 lb (dry) to each horse morning and night. I set up their buckets with the 1/2 lb of beet pulp and 1 oz of salt, then I add 2X the amount of water and let it all soak til the next meal. It will swell up to about 2 or 3 times the size of the dry stuff and the pellets will fall apart into shreds. Pellets are generally cheaper to feed than the shreds but take longer to soak. I can buy a 40 lb bag of pellets for 11.99 and the 25 lb bag of shreds is 13.99

I don't use rice bran at all, I found it very expensive and not all that effective. What has worked for me is making sure I weigh the amounts I'm serving to make sure if they should get 6 lbs, they GET 6 lbs at a feeding. Once you have your mare used to getting 6 lbs at a feeding, then if you want her to gain a little faster, I'd just add an extra pound per serving (so in effect feeding for a 1200 lb horse rather than an 1000 horse) until she's not looking skinny anymore and then you can take away the extra couple of pounds of feed.

I feed beet pulp more to make sure they are getting their salt and some extra water during hot or really cold spells. If they are thirsty they'll drink and if they drink sufficiently they'll also eat. I don't know why but a dehydrated horse also seems to go off their feed. For me, beet pulp is the cheapest and easiest way to insure they get thirsty and they like it once they're used to it.

As for spoilage, if it smells sour I don't serve it, it's a sign to me that it's been sitting too long. If you start with just a little bit and mix it in with her Mare and Foal, she should eat it right up and not ignore it, so it won't spoil. When I'm serving up their breakfast buckets I just toss the Mare and Foal or Strategy or whatever I'm feeding, right on top of the soaked beet pulp and I don't even have to mix anymore, they just go for it. But in the beginning I tossed it all together.
 
#18 ·
Ok, so I stuffed a half barrel full of hay and left it in her pen for her. Half the bale wouldn't fit, only about a quarter. Our grass hay just explodes when the baling twine is cut, so if it stayed in nice little packed flakes, I might have been able to fit half the bale lol. I decided to take some pictures to show that I do value this forum and the advice that I get.
Here's the barrel, looking a mess because Sky immediately stuck her face in it and pulled a whole bunch out. I read that she will probably eat it all pretty fast but the longer she's supplied with constant hay, she should slow down. That's the hope anyway, for the sake of my family being able to eat ourselves.

I keep forgetting to mention that Sky DOES have a mineral salt lick, as you can see in this picture.

And I thought I would throw in a picture of the awesome sunset yesterday as I fed all the horses. Stormy LOOKING but no actual storms.
 
#22 ·
Ok, so I stuffed a half barrel full of hay and left it in her pen for her. Half the bale wouldn't fit, only about a quarter. Our grass hay just explodes when the baling twine is cut, so if it stayed in nice little packed flakes, I might have been able to fit half the bale lol. I decided to take some pictures to show that I do value this forum and the advice that I get.
Here's the barrel, looking a mess because Sky immediately stuck her face in it and pulled a whole bunch out. I read that she will probably eat it all pretty fast but the longer she's supplied with constant hay, she should slow down. That's the hope anyway, for the sake of my family being able to eat.
She'll probably Hoover that grass pretty quickly the first couple of days but she should slow down soon. MAN! I miss those gorgeous bales of Bermuda that I used to get in AZ! I forgot when I said a half bale, that you guys get 100+ pound bales, I was thinking in terms of our 50 lb ones.

Can you post a side on pic of your mare so we can see what we're trying to fill out? It will help because sometimes they drop a few pounds and we think they look ghastly when it's really not that bad. Or sometimes they look ghastly and we think they're ok......
 
#19 ·
I have fed alfalfa all my life, and it can be free fed. In fact I have some senior horses and a Draft that eat free feed hay, no matter if it is oat hay or alfalfa hay. I dont use 'grains" barley oat etc, I use a senior feed as it does have grains in it, it has additional vitamins .My sr horses are in thier 30's and have had alfalfa for many years of thier lives.. I also feed alfalfa and molasses. FOr the beet pulp , add some Karo (corn ) syrup onto to it. Most horses LOVE corn syrup and will eat just about anything with the corn syrup on it. You might also try finding a pelleted feed liek an oat hay pellet or alfalfa grass mix pellet.
 
#20 ·
I just reread the post, you horse gets photosensitive to the alfalfa? I would look at that alfalfa hay and see what Weeds are in it! The paints i have owned got photosensitive from weeds and chemicals applied to the alfalfa. What type of grass hay are you feeding? She may be the type of mare that puts everything into the milk production, Corn oil should help also. It is basically a trial and error with each horse for what feed it needs. Having 20 horses here, of varied ages and breeds, I have a varied feed regimen. All get hay, free choice salt. Some get supplements. Some get only 3 quarts of sr feed and some get 6 or more quarts per feeding.
 
#21 ·
Sky had only ever eaton grass hay before I bought her. I planned on keeping it that way since, at the time, grass was cheaper than alfalfa and if that's what she was used to, I saw no reason to change it. Well, one day I show up to buy hay and the grass looked just awful. It was complety yellow on the outside, so I refused to buy it and got alfalfa instead. Even when the grass hay looked better, apparently there was a huge shortage and the price of grass passed the price of alfalfa. Here in Az I pay $15 a bale for grass and Alfalfa is about $12. So anyway, I chose to continue feeding alfalfa, until her face slowly started to break out in sores. It got so bad that the hair around her mouth and eyes started to come off in chunks. That's when I had the vet out who filled me in on the problem (I had never heard of photosensativity before that). He said to switch her back to grass only, and that's what she's eaten ever since.

Oh and it's Bermuda grass.
 
#24 ·
she will be a knock out when you get her fat!. The foal looks to be in great shape and she has a little fat roll on her side. She still needs some groceries
but it looks like with the free choice hay , some corn oil or canola oil, and the supplements she should start to put on weight, especially when that baby starts to eat more on its own. Bermuda hay has a good protein level. I have bermuda pastures, as the type of grass is different then the lawn variety . Grazing bermuda is a good feed. I only get hay in 100-110 lb bales. keep doing the same thing and dont get to exasperated, its easy for a horse to drop weight and hard to put it back on.. (sigh) wish I had that problem!!
 
#26 ·
Good, it's nice to hear she's not too terribly skinny.
I am giving her coconut oil but I don't know if it's really making much of a difference. I read somewhere that it's good for putting weight on a horses topline. I bought a gallon of Cocosoya just before she foaled and it made her really shiny. I have to order it though so I switched to just coconut oil I can buy from the store, but I wonder if there's an oil that would help her more, or does it matter?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top