Cheap feed balancers - or should I not bother with one at all???

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wench

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Just contemplating do my horses "need" a feed balancer (looking at saving some pennies). They are not feed hard feed everyday, and when they are its generally about 1kg a go with a bit of chaff. They are out 24/7, and have enough grass at the minute.

So if they do need one - whats the cheapest one out there!
 
I think it depends on the quality and variety of the roughage they get, if they are not on regular hard feed. I feed a lo cal balancer (I think its Baileys) to make sure they're getting everything they need, but there are cheaper alternatives and also supplements and mineral type licks to throw into the mix.

I like to supplement their vitamin and mineral intake to ensure everything they need is going in, and just look at the ingredients and analysis of each to see which is the most comprehensive and which fits my horses needs.

ETA my grass is very lush and good quality with a huge variety of grasses and hebs available, but I still make sure I give them a broad range balancer or supplement.
 
All mine get topspec lite this time off year to insure they get all their goodness and than u don't have to worry with other supplements. So may people moan about **** feet this time off year but I never get problems when useing a balancer cause the goodness is going into them.
 
onemoretime said:
Pink Powder its brilliant and a lot cheaper than most on the market.
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Pink powder is £25 a tub for about a months supple plus u need to buy some chaff or what ever to put it in. I pay £27 for topspec lite which I feed on it's own for 40 day supple for a 500kg horse or 80 day supple for 250kg pony. I don't see the point in buying the food and adding powders which is a expensive way to feed exp when it comes to winter. Balancers all the way for me.
 
One of mine isnt on any feed atm but i do like to make sure he's getting some Vit's & Mins.
Ive just started him on Dodson & Horrell Equibites so that he feels he's getting something when the others are fed.
 
There are much cheaper ways to feed vits and mins than both balancers and pink powder. The key is to do your homework and read the labels. There are lots of general vit/min supplements that offer good value for money and some have yeast or probiotics if you want those too. A chelated mineral block is also worth considering if you dont feed every day- Rockies do a 10kg one for about £10 that will last for months
 
If they are good grazing or have access to quality forage when stabled then I think a balancer would just be wasting your money.

Mine is a good doer, he is on poor grazing and has 12 hour soaked hay while he is stabled during the day, he is also in medium work, as a result I give him a Lo Cal balancer because otherwise his diet would be lacking.
 
teddyt said:
There are much cheaper ways to feed vits and mins than both balancers and pink powder. The key is to do your homework and read the labels. There are lots of general vit/min supplements that offer good value for money and some have yeast or probiotics if you want those too. A chelated mineral block is also worth considering if you dont feed every day- Rockies do a 10kg one for about £10 that will last for months
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Rockies aren't that great vit/min wise and my horses won't touch them, also if the horses are living out the rain will disolve them and won't stand the weather. Horslyx offer a good block but is really messy. Most pasture blocks are chemical bound so smell horid and if they do swollow a lump it won't disolve where as the horslyx will. You can't guarentee what the horses are taking in with a block. Iv compaired most blocks, powder and have all the charts for the balancers and topspec all the way for me.
 
teddyt said:
There are much cheaper ways to feed vits and mins than both balancers and pink powder. The key is to do your homework and read the labels. There are lots of general vit/min supplements that offer good value for money and some have yeast or probiotics if you want those too. A chelated mineral block is also worth considering if you dont feed every day- Rockies do a 10kg one for about £10 that will last for months
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Can you suggest any?
 
I feed my cob Baileys lo-cal with a small double handful of good doer everyday and found it to work really well for him. he is 'light work' which includes schooling and hacking 4 times a week and on restricted grazing which is keeping his weight right this year :p

His feet are fab (very strong) and is barefoot too.

Also the good doer lasts ages as on so little of it.
:)
 
trendybraincell said:
If they are good grazing or have access to quality forage when stabled then I think a balancer would just be wasting your money.
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This is fine if you get your forage regularly analysed. Vit and min content can change daily in grazing and even if you get your hay from the same place all the time, there are lots of factors affecting content, so analyzing it once wouldn't be sufficient. It would need to be regular.
 
Tennessee said:
This is fine if you get your forage regularly analysed. Vit and min content can change daily in grazing and even if you get your hay from the same place all the time, there are lots of factors affecting content, so analyzing it once wouldn't be sufficient. It would need to be regular.
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so true and also my field have lovely lush looking grass which people would say is great BUT after having the soil tested it is in fact **** grass and low in most things so unless you have hay and soil tested you don't know what your horse is getting or lacking.
 
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