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Would this be enough...?

2K views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  Left Hand Percherons 
#1 ·
Getting a 11 year old AQHA. He's a fairly easy keeper but hasn't been in much work. Right now he gets two scoops(Typical 3qt scoop I believe I don't have him here yet so not totally sure) of Purina Strategy a day then probably 3-6 flakes of some alfalfa mix hay I believe. I think it's O'N'A? T'N'A something of that sort... And he's in great shape fat wise.. Doesn't have much of pasture though but neither do we.

Right now I have a hermathia(sp?) jiggs round bale in the barn, and am planning on ordering a large alfalfa/timothy bale(800lbish square bale) to supplement with. Personally I would rather NOT have him on grain or maybe just like a cup of grain to mix in supplements with. I could go with a rationbalancer, but pricing out the supplements I picked out it's cheaper this way really...

Opinions?

I'm wanting to put him on;
Apple-A-Day - 5 lbs

Garlic Flakes - 2.2lb Bag

Mega-Cell - 5lb bucket

MSM - 4lb

The MSM is because he's 11 and also he may have sweet itch and I found garlic/msm supplements helped a bit with my old gelding's sweet itch. So I planned to put him on those, then the mega-cell is a vitamin supplement for grass type hays and the electrolytes as i'm in florida and he's going back into heavier work.

Does that seem okay? It would come out to $20.10 a month... Yes, I can go out and get grain but I'd rather not... The closest place with Ration Balancers is an hour away. Which isn't to far but I could just get this shipped easier..

Everyone tells me to get a mineral block and just stick that in the pasture but do they sell specific type of mineral blocks that are similar to a vitamin/mineral supplement??

Considering I'm paying $130 for a bale of T'N'A *sighs* I'm trying to keep him as economically as possible haha....
 
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#4 · (Edited)
You're pretty safe in thinking that he really doesn't need any grain and I would say that he probably doesn't need a ration balancer either. In the products you've listed, the Apple and the Mega Cell are redundant. Eliminate the Apple. Rarely does a horse really require a special electrolyte product because what are electrolytes? Salt, K, Ca and Mg mostly. All those product are found in every mineral blend plus some added salt. As far as sweet itch products, you should be incoporating an Omega 3 FA product. You can't go wrong with flax seed for the anti inflamatory properties. You can buy Omega Horseshine for an arm and a leg or just grind your own for $.16 a 4 oz portion. You can easily double or triple that amount when the bugs are bad. I've never tried MSN or garlic for sweet itch on horses but if you've seen it work, use it in conjunction with the flax. He does need something like the Mega Cell that is just a good all around vitamin/mineral blend. If you're all about being economical (not cheap), for $.12 you can feed Moorman's Grostrong plus mix in 50% stock salt for a grand total of $.14/day. The GS has by far the highest values (3X most of the mega cell values). As far as the mineral blocks, if you're talking about the regular trace mineral ones, save your money. They are 98% salt and only have very small amounts of the trace minerals. Your horse would have to consume most of the 50# block to get what he needs of those minerals. There are some soft lick products out there, Moorman's and Purina make one off the top of my head. They are better in that they have both the macro and trace minerals in them with only about 30% salt. They will be pricey ($20-30 probably) but they should replace the bagged mineral plus the extra white salt he needs.
 
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