crazy feeding guides ?!?!

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hannah28

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i feed my horse dengie hi-fi origional in the winter, i was looking on there website today and looked at the feeding guides and it said for his group (medium horse) he should be eating 1.5-2.5 kg of feed !? meaning i would go through a bag in 10 days if fed at 2kg per day

i was then looking at the hi-fi balancers which i am considering using, any good anyone? and it says i should be feeeing 5.5 cups (1 cup 100g) a day ?!?!

do any of you guys stick to these guide lines ??
 
Ya I saw that too on my feed recently.....its a bit nuts! I dont follow it, I feed to the horses requirements and what they need.
 
I dont follow the feeding guides :rolleyes: i just feed what i feel is right for the horse at that time of the year ... mine is on about 3kg of performance mix over the summer (1 bag per week) it suggested 4kg but hes fine on the 3 with chaff! he is lazy in the summer but over winter he would get about 2.5kg of conditiong cubes along with 1-2kg of alfa a oil depending on what his weight is like!
 
No I never feed what the guidlines say! I'd be broke for a start!

Couple of handfulls of Fast Fibre and thats it for my boys, apart from some magnesium oxide
 
Most horses do not need the amount of compound feed recommended by the manufacturer. However, the manufacturers do formulate the amount of vitamins and minerals they add according the the amount they recommend to feed. So if they recommend feeding 3kg a day and you feed 1kg a day, then you will be getting only a third of the vit/mins the manufacturer intended. However, this may not be a problem if your horse is healthy and on good grazing or quality hay/haylage as this will provide a lot of your horse's micronutrient needs anyway. If you do want to ensure that your horse's vit/min intake is up to scratch then you can add a broad spectrum vit/min supplement or a balancer at a reduced rate to make up for it.

However, HiFi Original is not a supplemented feed (ie vit/mins are not added to it in manufacture) so you can just feed as much or as little as your horse needs to maintain weight.

Balancers are slightly different from most compound feeds as they are very concentrated feeds with all the vit/mins contained in quite a small amount of feed. But again if you reduce the amount fed you will reduce the amount of vit/mins, so you have to think about exactly why you are feeding a balancer in the first place, as most people feed balancers to supply vit/mins! If the horses are on good grazing they might not actually need a balancer at all thoughl!
 
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I never feed that much, the fatty mares would be just blobs (and I would be a very broke owner)!! I feed fast fibre or topspec top chop lite (about a scoop) with their pink powder and magnesium. If you feed less than the recommended then you might need to supplement the vits and minerals.
 
Good point TGM, this is why I a feed a broad spectrum vit/min all the year round, it means I can juggle quantities of feed throughout without worrying about deficiencies. I have never fed the recommended amount of any feed , not even in the coldest winter
 
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