Anyone use/have knowledge of Simple system feeds?

[alsxx]

I've been looking on their website and looks like their range could be a good solution for all of mine. There is no stockist locally so I would have to use the delivery service. Does anyone use this, if so how much is the cost of delivery?

If anyone could pass on comments of their experience with SS that would be much appreciated as I don't want to order and then find it to be a complete waste of time!

My two good doers, currently I feed them lo-cal balancer and hi-fi good doer - which admittedly they look good on and I don't necessarilly (sp!) want to change them off of this but am happy to give something else a go. They live out and so really only need a little top up to supplement their diet.

However the TB can't have molasses (equals unpredictable, stressy, grumpy git - although doesn't affect behaviour when ridden strangely) and I have also avoided cereals and starchy feeds. He has lo-cal balancer too, speedi-beet and Alfa-A oil. He has lived out this winter, and looks well - shiney coat and has held his weight, however I would like to get a bit more condition on him. Can anyone 'recommend' any of their products??

I am thinking of giving them a call and seeing what they recommend, but wary of being advised to buy a list of their products as long as my arm!! Yup, I'm wary of feed companies and their recommendations

!

 

[rlhnlk]

I spoke to them and they were helpful, I was put off though as I would have had to pay to try a sample and I don't dare buy a bag usually as mine is fussy. Thats probably me being tight but Im used to the likes of baileys who send a couple of sample bags out at the drop of a hat.

In the end I bought a sack of northern crop driers grassnuts (SS had recommended their own grass nuts). The NCD gass nuts were cheaper and put a nice bit of weight on my tb too.

 

[alsxx]

Interesting re the grass nuts - will bear that in mind. What made me want to hear other peoples experiences was reading some of the case studies, and in some cases they were feeding about 5 or 6 different products all at once - which makes me wonder if they will automatically advise more to generate extra £££.

 

[Cloud9]

I just started using it - luckily for me we have a local supplier who delivers for free. I rang and told them about my horse who is a heavyweight cob and a very good doer and they recommended Lucie Stalks plus the total Eclipse. I said 'is that it? do i need anything else' and she said no thats it! He loves it too. However i do feed garlic too. However that is Global Herbs. But thats it.

 

[rlhnlk]

Now you mention it, they suggested a combinaton of feeds for mine, but when I mentioned that she isn't keen on alfalfa it ruled out most of the suggestions.

I found grass nuts to be fab for putting the weight on. I fed 2 full scoops soaked per day and just left them for her to eat over night. You could replace the speedibeet with this. Alternativly dengies alfabeet is amazing for putting the pounds on (until they decide they dont like alfalfa anymore).

If you decide you need more calories than the fibre feeds can provide I have found baileys endurance mix to suit my tb really well. It doesnt send you silly but she doesnt tire and is looking realy good condition wise.

 

[alsxx]

Yep, mine is the same with alfalfa - not particulary keen on it -if I give him just alfalfa he wont eat it! I think I will try him on the grass nuts though. Do they have to be soaked?

 

[scm]

my horse has been on it since mid summer as found allergy to most things (rye,molasses,wheat,oats,barley,maize).He is doing well on it and events with enough energy.I use the lucie nuts and eclipse balancer.I did use lucie stalks too but now use topspec top chop which is unmollassed alfa with mint.

 

[Angelbones]

I've tried their Lucie brix (compacted Alfalfa for chewing on, in a brick shape) but none of my 7 will eat them, and their blue grass nuts, but again mine aren't keen to eat them, and their version of Ready Grass (the lower cal one) but i think its miserable dull stuff and yet again mine won't eat it. So I've spent the money, and am left with bags of stuff uneaten. Re the grass nuts, it says on the bag to soak them but the lady on their helpline said that they put that there to cover themselves in cases of bolting food, but I fed them dry (mine are used to a 'nut' in their food) and it didn't cause any probs, although they were fed with other damp food. They do absorb quite a lot of water so I would be apprehensive about feeding them neat and dry to a horse as a sole food.

 

[rlhnlk]

I fed them soaked. I think you can feed them dry out of a ball or mixed in with other feed but ive never tried it, and I prefer to make sure there is always a big bucket available.

Angelbones - this is just what would happen to me but I am tight and dont like to buy samples.

 

[AngieandBen]

I love Ss feeds; have been feeding it to my three for years.
I feed Lucie Stalks, Unmollassed beet, Total Eclipse, they all live out and look great.

Dengie do an Alfalfa Pellet which you soak for 10 mins, no added sugar
I think they charge £8 for delivery

 

[hayleyc]

I bought some but when I got it home changed my mind, I got the lucie cobs, red bag nuts and eclipse balancer and really didn't like, I was going to feed one of mine to see how it was but he wouldn't eat it. lucky enough a friend of mine uses it so I sold it to her.

Each to their own but I thought it was awful stuff.

 

[AngieandBen]

How can feeding your horse natural ingredients be awful!!

So many people give their horses high sugar, high starch feeds then complain when they are either overweight, too fizzy, got bad hooves etc.

 

[foo]

Feed all mine on it and they love it. I use Lucie cobs, Lucie stalks. Purabeet and Total Eclipse. I find it very economical and easy to use. Everyone I know that uses it would never go back to their old feeds.

 

[TGM]

[ QUOTE ]
How can feeding your horse natural ingredients be awful!!


[/ QUOTE ] However natural a feed is, it is not much good if the horse won't eat it!

 

[Bosworth]

I have 16 horses on it and have never in 12 years of using it had one horse that won't eat it. All of my liveries have changed across to it as they have seen how well mine do on it and how sane they all are and every horse that we have moved on to it eats it all up. I use Lucinuts, red grass nuts and pura beet and add in linseed and brewers yeast. fantastic feed. Most horses that won't eat it will if you don't give them something heavily mollassed instead such as cool mix and conditioning mixes. Its a bit like offering a a child salad and fruit or crisps and sweets - I can guess which they would choose and I know how revolting their behaviour would become on just that diet never mind their health

 

[alsxx]

I definately think I will give the grass nuts a try, but will probably get the NCD stuff as my local supplier stocks them. If he doesn't like them I'm sure the ponies will eat them......

 

[Scarlett]

We have our guys on Simple Systems now - would definately recommend them for the lovely BeeBop.

They all get Lucie Nuts and Purabeet with either Red nuts or Blue nuts added as required - blue for weight, red for energy. All fat, shiney, sane and literally lick their feed bowls clean. Only thing I add is a bit of brewers yeast and linseed, both bought locally.

L

 

[hayleyc]

[ QUOTE ]
How can feeding your horse natural ingredients be awful!!

So many people give their horses high sugar, high starch feeds then complain when they are either overweight, too fizzy, got bad hooves etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

none of my 5 horses are fizzy or overweight and they all have good hooves. I did not like the feed and everyone is different, some love it some hate it.

 

[alsxx]

Where do you get yours from L? Thinking maybe I could swing by on journey home to parents as I usually go A3 way.

 

[Alibear]

Yard of them on it , lucie stalks and total eclipse ( home made verion of it). All thriving and doing well. Some get sugar beet in winter as well.

 

[Scarlett]

[ QUOTE ]
Where do you get yours from L? Thinking maybe I could swing by on journey home to parents as I usually go A3 way.

[/ QUOTE ]

I get it from a place just outside Alton on A31....

 

[Coffee_Bean]

Never used it but have seen others with it and all the faffing around soaking seems a bit silly to me.... each to their own

Also, possibly a stupid question, why is everything called lucie?!!?

 

[PennyJ]

lucie = lucerne, which is another name for alfalfa.

 

[Halfpass]

I changed my girl onto it a few weeks back for weight gain. I had her on the blue grass nuts and lunar eclipse but she just wouldn't eat the eclipse as it was too powdery.
Have kept her in the grass nuts which she loves (very fussy eater) and the change in 3 weeks was amazing. I feed her these plus Alfa A oil and a linseed pellet and she looks great. I don't soak the nuts as she won't eat sloppy food and she is fine on them.

 

[AngieandBen]

Gosh all the "faffing about soaking feeds".......... takes all of a few seconds. No problem at all, just soak the mornings in the evening and the evening feed in the morning!!

 

[Scarlett]

lol@ 'faffing about soaking feeds'.

I put the nuts in a bucket, add a scoop of water and by the time I'm finished bringing horse in it's ready too feed, even quicker if you use boiling water.

 

[coen]

I also contacted them for advice but really when you look at the ingredients it is mostly very basic but costs quite a lot I would also need to pay for delivery and one 15kg bag would only last me a week on their recommended amount.
When it came down to it all it was was alfalfa and a balancer, well im giving him afla a oil & multivits for half the price.

Another thing that put me off is that most of their stuff needs to be soaked & I have just come of calm & condition as that seemed to be packing him up.

Another similar company is pure feeds but again very expensive for basic feed.

 

[Theresa_F]

I very much like the way of feeding and have done so for several years.

However, I do buy linseed and brewers yeast from Charnwood Milling as I use a fair amount and it is cheaper.

My two are a gypsy cob and clydesdale - rising 6 so still both growing and filling out. Farra is in light work and I show Chancer but his work is not that hard. They have ad lib hay in winter and the summer grazing is not lush and often I put out hay from August.

They both get Just Grass - though you can also get this from Dodson & Horrell - also called Just Grass which I did last month as I could not get SS brand from my feed merchant. I have to say it seems exactly the same and is far cheaper. I also feed Green Gold which is an alfa chaff.

They get grass nuts and if I want more go go for Stinky, I feed the red bag which is the energy equivalent of oats.

They also get speedibeet which I prefer as I only feed a little and stick it in the feed direct, add lots of water and leave for 20 minutes or in the case of breakfast, overnight to give it time to soak up the water.

Cairo, the old clydesdale was a good doer so he had lucie stalks and Just Grass and if he looked a bit tubby, I changed the Just Grass to Ruff Stuff.

All of mine have done very well on this way of feeding, Cairo had more stamina, Chancer has thrived on it since a yearling. They have great coats and no gut problems.

The delivery service is good, but you do have to buy a certain amount which is ok if you have storage space. I used to use this service but now my local feed merchant stocks SS so I get mine from them.

 

[AngieandBen]

Ah but with most low energy/low sugar chaffs they are made up with alfalfa and straw!!!

There's no way I'm going to be paying over £10 for half a bag of straw.

 

[Taffieboy1]

I contacted them, all they suggested to me for my boy was Lucie Stalks & Lucie Fibre nuts, nothing else didnt try an sell me lots of other products or anything.
My boy was prev on D&H Fibre nuts, and Dengie Senior, he always left a bit of it, but the SS licks the bowl clean.
Is no soaking or messing around, as easy as when I used D&H