Best conditioning feed that doesn't need soaking?

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Lulabella

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As title, looking for something to add some condition to my 23yo cob who is looking a little poorer than I'd like. Hes already on ad lib forage.

Having searched the threads, most things appear to need soaking which im hoping to avoid if possible for various reasons. His teeth are fine.

Alfa A Oil? Or any bog standard chaff and add micronised linseed?

Thanks!
 
Any of the conditioning cubes if his teeth are good, Equi Jewel is superb too. Or go old fashioned with rolled barley and oats. BUT, if you go down the cereal route which is by far the cheapest, introduce very carefully and consider any under lying health issues he may have.
 
There's a barley and linseed nugget available, highly digestible. Can't remember the brand, your feed merchant or Google might be able to help.
 
Is he getting any hard feed at all at the moment? Might be worth looking at vit & min supplements or balancers to make sure he’s getting all the required nutrients.
For some extra condition I usually add a mug of linseed to their usual feed….but if he’s not getting a feed already then you’d need to look at this first.
 
Omega rice, it’s great stuff and can add it to any existing feed. Failing that micronised linseed will also add some condition
 
My mare came to me quite poor from a racing yard. She has done really well on Bailey's No.21 Ease and Excel. You can feed it dry or it'll quickly soak to a mash like consistency. It's a really nice conditioning feed, whilst still being low starch and sugar. It also has their Outshine in it and Protexin. I really rate it.
 
I love the D&H Cushcare which has piled conditioned back onto my veteran even fed in relatively small quantities. It's a crumble which is sort of like broken up cubes and can be fed as a mash or dry - I just mix with a little water 30 seconds before feeding and it soaks into a mush pretty quickly. Or you can stir it into their normal feed dry as you would a cube or mix.
 
frankieduck said:
I love the D&H Cushcare which has piled conditioned back onto my veteran even fed in relatively small quantities. It's a crumble which is sort of like broken up cubes and can be fed as a mash or dry - I just mix with a little water 30 seconds before feeding and it soaks into a mush pretty quickly. Or you can stir it into their normal feed dry as you would a cube or mix.
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Oh I've been looking at this so interesting to know you're happy with it! How much do you feed / how long is a bag lasting? From the amounts stated on their website it looked like it would work out pretty expensive 😬
 
Lulabella said:
Oh I've been looking at this so interesting to know you're happy with it! How much do you feed / how long is a bag lasting? From the amounts stated on their website it looked like it would work out pretty expensive 😬
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I love it to be honest, I really liked that it was so low in sugar & starch and derives all the calories from oils and fats rather than grains so I wasn't having to add loads of other stuff like linseed on top. I find it pretty economical - I started off feeding 3/4 scoop twice a day but my boy went from being ribby to quite fat quite quickly and my vet told me off 😳 So I cut down to half a scoop split between 2 feeds a day over summer and he has held his weight really well despite basically living off hay as it's so dry we have no grass. Just recently upped a little to a stubbs scoop a day split between 2 feeds ready for autumn.

Last winter I was feeding a conditioning feed, mash and linseed & copra, so I'm thinking the Cushcare is going to be much more economical this year!

It's very energy dense so I think you could even start just introducing a cup in each feed and see how you got on - I'm not sure if it's because my boy can digest the calories from the oil better than he was with grains but he definitely seems to get 'more' out of the feed at lower levels if that makes any sense!
 
I'm another that has used cushcare with huge success. My big clydesdale with dreadful teeth had a scoop a day all winter and looked better than ever! Doesn't require soaking. I wet it and just take it straight to the big guy.
It works out very economical too; I was feeding about half the recommended minimum and saw great success.
 
ta, reading this thread with interest for my retired 32yo with bad teeth....he's currently on 2 mugs of soaked Fast Fibre, mug of micronised linseed and 2 mugs of Baileys No.15 senior mix, fed this twice a day. I shall look at Cushcase instead of Baileys.
 
Suechoccy said:
ta, reading this thread with interest for my retired 32yo with bad teeth....he's currently on 2 mugs of soaked Fast Fibre, mug of micronised linseed and 2 mugs of Baileys No.15 senior mix, fed this twice a day. I shall look at Cushcase instead of Baileys.
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Im going to pick up some cushcare tomorrow, it's persuaded me with the fact you don't need to feed large quantities to get results 🤞 may be worth you swapping the fast fibre for this if you're wanting weight gain? Think FF is a low calorie option
 
Suechoccy said:
ta, reading this thread with interest for my retired 32yo with bad teeth....he's currently on 2 mugs of soaked Fast Fibre, mug of micronised linseed and 2 mugs of Baileys No.15 senior mix, fed this twice a day. I shall look at Cushcase instead of Baileys.
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Mine is 30 and thriving on it. He also has bad teeth but manages the Cushcare crumble texture well and seems to prefer having a bit of something to 'chew' rather than just pure mash.
 
I have had loads of compliments since switching mine onto CushCare. He isn't monsterous weight wise (that would be fab if he was) on it but he has slowly been gaining (beyond typical TB). He gets just under 1kg per day (at least he should - it depends on who is feeding...read that as you may....) and my ideal would be to pair it with Fast Fibre as CC is lower in fibre but I already have to pay ontop and livery is already super expensive so is paired with beetpulp (realize this is fairly fibre-ous) and extra vits/mins as he is also on soaked hay/haylage.
 
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Lulabella said:
Im going to pick up some cushcare tomorrow, it's persuaded me with the fact you don't need to feed large quantities to get results 🤞 may be worth you swapping the fast fibre for this if you're wanting weight gain? Think FF is a low calorie option
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I was recommended Cushcare by posters on here for my mini shetland who lost weight after illness. She will only eat dry food.

She's picked up fabulously and is looking (and clearly feeling!) so much better.

I added a mugful a day to her normal rations (a balancer and Baileys Soft and Lite). She's a very picky madam but she really likes it.
 
Another vote for Equijewel here, alternatively Omega Rice and Baileys Outshine are similar and also very high Digestible Energy mj/kg options that don't need soaking.
I think in terms of DE mj/kg Omega Rice at 14mj/kg is the lowest, the Equijewel at 18mj/kg and Outshine at 24mj/kg is the highest, but contains soya so maybe not suitable if there are any known intolerances to it.
 
Bobthecob15 said:
Omega rice, it’s great stuff and can add it to any existing feed. Failing that micronised linseed will also add some condition
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I'm converted to Omega rice it's done a far better job than micronised linseed of adding condition to my TB's and it costs about £15 a month at conditioning rates. It's been an absolute life saver this year where we've had no grass.
 
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