Cheap feeds for weight gain?

wellsat

wellsat

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I've never had a poor doer before, both of my last horses have lived on carefully restricted diets and the odd handful of Happy Hoof.

Gerry has come to me looking a little poor and I'd like to get some weight on him but not sure where to start. His previous owner was feeding him calm and condition but its clearly not that effective as he's skinny!

We've got really good grazing on our yard so I'm not worried about him long term, there isn't a thin horse out of the 35 there. I'd just like to get a little more weight on him before the temperature drops.
 
I like to use Calm and condition from allen and page, I have been using it to put weight on my youngster that is doing quite hard school work and its worked wonders, I am probably going to go through a bag every 2-3 weeks now though as I have upped his feed for the winter but if it is just for maintenence you would probably use 1 bag a month, costs around £11 a bag.
I give him that with just grass and safe and sound which aren't very weight gaining at all, they are quite low calorie so you could use a mollichop instead.
We also use build up for another horse, can't remember the make but its in a blue and yellow sack.
 
wellsat said:
His previous owner was feeding him calm and condition but its clearly not that effective as he's skinny!
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That is not necessarily the fault of the feed! It could be that the previous owner had him on poor grazing and/or wasn't giving him enough hay/haylage. Even with this winter's prices, ad lib good quality hay or haylage usually works out the cheapest way to get weight on them, with the result you need less bucket feed. Sugar beet is a cheap, fibre-based way to add extra calories - but unmollassed is better. Some feedstores do sell pelleted normal soak unmollassed beet at a similar price to normal sugar beet, but often you end up paying a premium for the quick soak stuff. Soaked grass nuts also work out quite cheap as well.

Is he living in or out at the moment?
 
ad lib haylege i find is the best for weight gain - esp as grazing may look good but nutritionally its getting pretty poor by now (up here at least!)
good rugs
for hard feed: barley rings, added linseed oil or linseed suppliment, baileys No4, outshine, alfafa oil, alfalfa or grass nuggets... the list goes on - depends what feed suits him :)
 
Fibre Beet is good stuff too..

and as TGM says, decent suplimentary fodder such as haylege

i've always found C&C good stuff, though.

Am also assuming you don't want to "hot" him up..
 
I would also recommend sugur beet or the nonmolased beet now avilable mixed with some chaff and ad lib hay or haylege, also I would look into feeding him a bit less in each feed for more often like 3 times a day rather than 2, the old saying feed little and often really does work, if you are pilling lots of hard feed in at one time he might not be getting to digest it properly and is loosing the benifit of it.

I have used the likes of Spillers conditioning fibre and build up but only on horses that were in a decent amount of work, I wouldn't want to be using the likes of these on horses/ponies on no or very light work.
 
A nutritionalist from saracens told me that hay or haylage is the best way to gain weight and little and often to help with absorption. They also of course recommended some of their feeds ;-)
 
Lots of grass and turnout (in a warm enough rug) then lots of good hay/haylage so that the net isnt empty (atleast for more than 30min!) and a high fibre feed. I highly recommend The Pure Company Feeds...I didnt have a local supplier and I organised with my feedshop and them to stock it...was VERY easy!! and the feed is fantastic :)

x
 
PC Steele said:
Dodson and Horrell build up cubes are fab!! Also Baileys No. 1 or Outshine you only have to feed two mugs so a bag lasts for ages
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I like these two, have had fab results on these. I now just stick to fast fibre, oil and an all purpose supplement. The FF and oil is excellent for promoting a 'steady' weight gain over time without overloading the horse. If I were to put my mare into competition mode I would probably feed FF and Outshine.
 
Hi,

PJ was very skinny when we got him!!

And we were also on a bit of a budget, so he had haylage coming out of his ears!! and 2 big feeds of Countrywide Conditioning Nuts (about £6 a bag), Mollichaff (because he is spoiled) and vegetable oil from the Supermarket! Lots of rugs and fuss! I now have the problem of his rugs not fitting due to porkiness :) but thats a much nicer problem to have!

Good Luck! Before and after pic's please
 
nativeponies said:
IME if a horse/pony fails to gain weight on C & C then there is invariably an underlying problem..like ulcers or bloods?

have him checked out
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C & C did not work on my horse either, it really did not agree with him, and he was fine!!!!

I use alfalfa, build up and now going into winter adding a bit of SB, Dodson and horrell also have a new feed called build and glow, I have not tried it myslef yet though
 
I have a very elderly gelding who i fed on Rowan Barbury's Fibre mash about £8 a bag. it is excellent, needs soaking for about 5 min and is full of soya and linseed. i have put my other boy on it now its fab! A horse on our yard couldnt gain weight due to having worms have you wormed him? Im sure you have but just in case
 
Thanks everyone for the helpful suggestions, sorry I didn't reply last night. Don't have a digital camera but did get a video of him tonight so will upload that asap. I did weigh tape him tonight though and he weighed in at 597, not horrendous but not telling the full picture as he's very deep barrelled. For his height and build I'd expect him to be nearer 700.

I've started him on sunflower oil with added vitamin E tonight, didn't want to make too many changes all at once. Will prob swap him onto Baileys topline cubes once we've used the bag of C + C up.

Would he still benefit from hay if he's got loads and loads of good grass in his field? I assumed he's get more calories from the grass?

Thanks :D Ben and Jerrys all round
 
I wormed him on Sunday night when he arrived as we always do with new ones. I don't think its worms but you never know.
 
Trouble is, now there is pretty much begger all in the grass. You will see far better results if you give ad lib hay.
One of mine weighs in at 600 and gets 2/3's of a bale overnight, leaving only a tiny amount by morning. Thats without what the greedy moo gets in the field!
 
Will have to try some hay and see. He's not eating that much of the grass though. My last two horses have had the appetite of locusts and would happily eat until they burst. Its a bit odd to see a horse just look at its haynet, nibble three strands and then go back to admiring the scenery.
 
wellsat said:
Will have to try some hay and see. He's not eating that much of the grass though. My last two horses have had the appetite of locusts and would happily eat until they burst. Its a bit odd to see a horse just look at its haynet, nibble three strands and then go back to admiring the scenery.
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First of all, his appetite may be reduced as he is in a new home and may still be unsettled. He will find looking around at all the new scenery and new companions more exciting than his food. Our new horse didn't eat a huge amount in his first week here, but now is back to his normal enormous appetite now he has settled in! Is he out 24/7 or part-stabled?

Obviously the other thing to get checked, if you haven't already, is his teeth, because if they aren't right he will eat much more slowly, and therefore put on less weight.
 
Thanks TGM :)

He's out 24/7. Apparently he was in at night in his old home but I prefer to have them out if possible. He's got a lovely snug Rambo on though, I've been making sure he's not cold.
 
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