Anyone tried the new fibre block on sale?

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Hiya I have just seen that a well known company (dont know the rules on here for naming companies) is making a fibre block, which is designed for good doers, laminitis and those who bolt their hay. The Idea is that they have something (containing no sugar/ molasses etc ) for in the stable' that they can nibble at once their hay has been consumed. I believe it's a hard fibre block.
I have ordered a couple to try as I think they sound a brilliant ideore specially for my section a type mare. As I do worry about her being stabled at night, once her hay ration has been consumed, standing with nothing to eat for a long period of time.
if anyone is interested in knowing the make pm me, or if it's within forum rules I will happily name.
If anyone has tried them I would be interested to hear your thoughts.;)
 
No need to PM you can name feeds on here. Why wouldn't you be able to? People do it all the time when making recommendations or asking for advice. :)
 
Its Feedmark who are selling these now.
The company Halleys already sell them and various different types too :)

Mine wouldnt eat it but a friend says her horses love them.
 
Is it the Feedmark one? I got an email about it today and was thinking of ordering one, but I was a bit worried about whether I could leave my girl nibbling it all night - what happens when you get to the end? I think she would try to scoff a big lump all in one go! :eek:

haha x posted with everyone! My question remains though, do they try to bolt the last bit when they've nibbled off most of it?
 
Yup it is the Feedmark ones I have ordered, thanks for filling me in with regards to company names xx
Will let you all know how we get on, sounds like a very good idea...:D
 
Use Halleys - they're cheaper and have excellent customer service. Wouldn't surprise me if they are Feedmark's supplier - I believe they already supply Simple Systems.
 
katie_southwest said:
Its Feedmark who are selling these now.
The company Halleys already sell them and various different types too :)

Mine wouldnt eat it but a friend says her horses love them.
Click to expand...

It is indeed Feedmark, have been using the Halleys one for months now and both myself and Horseface really rate them. I use their Timothy Chop too instead of sugary laminitis-in-a-bag chaff. Each block is about a kilo and is SOLID (the Halleys ones anyway). No chance of your horse wolfing little bits down in one go, it's too dry for that.

It's worth checking if Halleys will deliver as they do loads of varieties depending on what your horse needs :) As far as I know Feedmark only have the one type of block so far.
 
I use them and I think they are great. My guys are all good doers, stay out all the time and only get hay. I use the blocks as treats. It means I can check them etc and they won't walk a way or poop scoop in peace. :D
 
Am I reading that right... One block is six quid including postage and provides just 1kg of forage? I can get Simple Systems hay blocks locally, admittedly not cheap compared to hay but still nowhere near the price of these!
 
I guess it will be different for different horses but how long approx. do they last? If I left one for my laminitic with his 3kg ration of soaked hay in the morning, would it keep him busy all day, or just a few hours......if its all day I think its worth the cost although I would try to buy in bulk to make the postage costs more reasonable.
 
OMG there's postage on top! With Halleys the price you see is price you pay, delivered! Only drawback with Halleys is they only sell in multiples of 4 bags of 12 blocks (or 2 bags for a trial but works out a bit more expensive).

I am not connected with Halleys - I'm just a very happy customer and think Feedmark are tacking the pee!

http://www.halleysfeeds.co.uk/ocart_halleysfeeds/
 
I've just ordered a trial pack of 2 different varieties from the Halley's website. If you buy in bulk (minimum 4 bags of 12 blocks) it is much cheeper than the Feedmark. I also got free delivery!!!
 
WandaMare said:
I guess it will be different for different horses but how long approx. do they last? If I left one for my laminitic with his 3kg ration of soaked hay in the morning, would it keep him busy all day, or just a few hours......if its all day I think its worth the cost although I would try to buy in bulk to make the postage costs more reasonable.
Click to expand...

Don't know if this is normal but if my boy has free access to a block it is gone within 30 mins. Depends if there is anything nicer available, he gets bored of them quite quickly.
 
WandaMare said:
I guess it will be different for different horses but how long approx. do they last? If I left one for my laminitic with his 3kg ration of soaked hay in the morning, would it keep him busy all day, or just a few hours......if its all day I think its worth the cost although I would try to buy in bulk to make the postage costs more reasonable.
Click to expand...

Older cob can destroy one in about half an hour. Big lad and new cob two tend to nibble a bit then eat hay then go back to the block etc so 1 block can last them hours!
 
I am not sure what is going on with regards to the postage rate on the website, as when I attached two onto my regular order, no postage fees came up, and normally postage from Feedmark is usually free anyway. So yes I found that I bit confusing too:confused:

Thanks for all your replies though, makes interesting reading....
 
starch (2.1%) and sugar (4.3%) - that's pretty friendly - I'd be happy with that for my BFers

I've just re-read the page and the postage cost only applies if you only buy the blocks. If you buy other supplement(s) as well as the blocks the postage is free. So not as horrifying as I first thought. But Halleys still cheaper!
 
Thanks Joanna710 and Ali2, that's interesing. Knowing my luck my boy would do the 30 min thing :D Think I will still give them a try though.
 
If you order with something else then P&P is free (makes sense they probably pay the courier the same for up to 20kg or so) but if ordering individually it clearly says postage is £5 each
 
I buy my chop from Halleys, so thought as I was due a few more bags of chop, I'd add some blox on to the order to see what the horses made of them.

I got the trial pack of the Big FIbre Blox (mix of oat straw and timothy hay) and a pack of the Timothy Blox. The horses already get the Timothy chop and seem to love it (depite the fact that it has nothing added and is just chopped hay!).

My idea was that if the horses liked them, we could use the blox for emergencies (lAst year we had an unexpected snow fall, and it would have been useful to have a bag of blox for while we waited for YO to make it to our field with the hay).

I tried a big fibre one last week to see how the horses felt about it. They were impressed ;). A single block lasted three horses 15 mins, so I would guess would last one horse about half an hour. They were free to go off and graze at any time, but chose to play with the block. They took it in turns to nibble, wiggle their lips to loosen the fibres, lick, kick, roll it around and actually seemed to find it entertaining.

That's one trial :D. I am saving them now for the snow, but am pleased to find something to liven up winter grazing. I worked out the Halleys blox were about 70p per block (they come in packs of 12). I think they do alfalfa ones too, but I don't feed alfalfa so was pleased to find something without.

ETA Halleys prices include delivery provided you get a minimum order? As far as I know they deliver all over the Uk, and their service has always been good for me so far.
 
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How big are the blocks ? If they only provide 1kg of fibre they can't be much bigger than a housebrick ?

If they only last half an hour I can't see the point. Surely a large double netted, well soaked net of last seasons hay would keep a horse occupied mentally and it's gut moving far better than a small solid brick ?

Are they meant to be a boredom toy or actual hay replacer.
 
I used the just grass blocks by Halleys as a boredom breaker whilst my tb was boxresting. They were brill! Not tried the feedmark ones, though.
 
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