Affordable balancer

Paint Me Proud

Paint Me Proud

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I currently use Baileys Lo Cal Balancer but finances dictate i must now try something a bit cheaper.

Can anyone recommend a good feed balancer (to accompany dengie hi-fi and/or alfa-a) that is sensibly priced (ie below £20 for a sac)
 
I think Top Spec balancers tend to contain higher levels of most vits & mins so you could probably get away with feeding them at half rate without compromising what your horse gets. Failing that I'd have a look for a good powdered vit & min supplement as these tend to be a lot cheaper.
 
Racergirl said:
another vote for this - or feedmark do a powder balancer as well.

Got my mare on equilibra at the moment - and i have to say she doesnt look half as good on it as she did on blue chip.
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but blue chip is twice the price
you get what u pay for if u want blue chip results u need to pay blue chip prices.
 
spillers lite is on special offer at the moment

Nutritional analysis
Nutrient Lite Balancer
Digestible Energy (MJ/kg) 10.0
Oil (%) 4.8
Protein (%) 15.0
Fibre (%) 17.0
Starch (%) 8.0
Vitamin A (iu/kg) 40,000
Vitamin D3 (iu/kg) 4,000
Vitamin E (iu/kg) 2,000
Selenium (mg/kg) 2.0
Copper (mg/kg) 160
Magnesium (g/kg) 0.6
 
Paint Me Proud said:
thanks for the suggestions - think i may try pink powder (and it'll take up less room in the tack room, lol!)
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If you use this then you'll have to buy feed to mix it with which may not be a cheaper option. At least with a pelleted balancer you can feed it alone, no need to buy feed.
 
I've just started my lad on Frickers Lo Cal Performance Balancer and I'm extreamly impressed. He's on less than a cup full a day added to a scoop of Veteran chaff (he's not old but it's the best chaff with hardly any molassas!!) and he's looking amazing on it!! His energy has improved and at the rate I'm feeding him it's now costing around £20 a month compared to over £45 on his previous feed!!! I now only add his joint supplements to his feed so saved a fortune on the supplements I was using too.
 
You could just feed Fast Fibre by Allen and Page and forget anything else, tbh, I have just bought a six month supply of linseed, mins [including Steady-up], and vits to add to Speedy Beet but it was not cheap, if fed at full recommended rate [will asses condition in winter], it works out at approx £2.50 to £3.50 per week plus cost of SB, so still in the region of £7.00 to £8.00 per week total.
 
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The trouble with balancers is what exactly are they balancing?
Without doing a forage analysis its very much trial and error finding one that works for you and balances out your grazing and haylage.

I tried Top Spec once, I ended up with 5 lunatics, clearly it clashed with our grazing and haylage and they were either getting too much of something or an excess of one mineral was blocking the uptake of another.
Blue chip worked on one yard but when I moved areas I didn't get the same results, I didn't realise at the time why but it must have been the change in the nutritional value of the forage, Its an expensive experiment.
 
I use Pink Powder too for 2 of mine and it's fab stuff :)

My other one is on Spillers grow and win, it can be fed to older horses i believe too.
 
I've been using Super Codlivine Joint supplement as an overall balancer. I was feeding balancer, joint supplement, garlic, cod liver oil, and seaweed in my horse's daily ration of chaff. However, I realised that the Super Codlivine Joint had everything bar the garlic (which I was going to cut out anyway). Saved a fair amount - a tub lasts about a month or so for about £20. His coat is looking amazing now where it'd been looking kind of fluffy for all spring and much of the early summer.
 
EAST KENT said:
Fifty years of keeping horses and basic common sense.:rolleyes:
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That's not evidence!..rolling eyes right back at ya!

I know of several people who have kept horses for years..doesn't mean they know what they're doing.

Two of mine are fed Top Spec balancer and are in fantastic condition, they are fit not fat and are certainly not lunatics, quite the opposite in fact since I switched to TS and a handful of high fibre cubes along with forage (either hay or grass).
They are happy and healthy and do very well in the showring..the proof of the pudding is in the eating so they say.
 
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