Badminton High Fibre Cubes?

FigJam

FigJam

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 May 2005
Messages
5,716
Location
West Lothian, Scotland
teamhopalong.blogspot.com
Just wondering if anyone else fed these? What's your opinion of them? The guy in my local feed store was raving about them and said they would work out as a complete feed for my mare, sounded fairly cost effective.

My mare is 15.2 LW Cob-X, she will be out during the day and stabled at night. All going well at her vet check up (coming back into work from injury), she'll be back to normal work load which is 3x light schooling sessions through the week and 2x 1-2hr hacks at the weekend. She is 16 and a pretty good doer although on the skinny side at the moment on vets orders due to her injury.

I was thinking of giving her 0.75kg of the Badminton High Fibre Cubes along with a handful of happy hoof (I know the cubes are effectively a hay replacer, but I want to bulk out the feed a little to keep her sweet!) and 100ml apple cider vinegar. This would be split between her breakfast and dinner feeds.

She gets a stuffed haynet of 50:50 hay/haylage overnight also.

Does that sound reasonable? Of course I'll keep an eye on her losing weight/condition, but just wondered if she would need a vit/mineral balancer on top of this?
 
I've not fed them myself, but sounds like quite a sensible diet for a good doer. If you weigh tape her once a week you can see if she is gaining or losing weight and adjust the quantities accordingly.

Regarding whether you need to feed a vit/min supplement, I suspect the amount you are feeding is significantly less than the recommended daily amount suggested by the manufacturers, so won't supply the full RDA of vit/mins. To check what the recommended amount is, you could email the company at: info@badmintonfeeds.co.uk with the size, type and workload of your horse.

If it does turn out that you are feeding a lot less then the recommended amount, then if you are worried about her vit/min intake you might like to feed a supplement or balancer pro rata to make up the difference. For example, if you are feeding half the recommended amount of cubes, you would add a supplement at half the recommended daily rate.

As to whether to choose a balancer or broad spectrum supplement, much depends on the forage you are giving her. Balancers contain a source of protein, whereas normal supplements do not, so if her forage is something like good quality haylage or good grazing she will probably not need the extra protein the balancer provides. However if the forage is restricted to hay of a low nutrient level, then a balancer may be advantageous.
 
Thanks, that makes sense. I'm a bit wary of taking advice direct from the manufacturer as surely they'll tell me to feed as much as possible?! Wouldn't really be in their best interests to say "nah, don't feed as much as it says on the pack"!
smirk.gif


It's so tricky figuring out what they actually <u>need</u> as I obviously want to do what's best for her but don't want to waste money by feeding unnecessary stuff.
 
I think you misunderstood my post - I'm not saying you should feed the manufacturer's recommended amount, but you should find out their recommended amount, so you know whether to supplement or not!
cool.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top