dengie molasses free and good doers

curio

curio

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ok so My 15hh trad cob was weighing in at 1235lbs on the weightape and i couldnt find his ribs at all he had a huge apple bum.
he was eating a 1/4 to half stubbs scoop of fast fibre and 1 scoop dengie good doer and was also on adlib hay and went itchy all summer adn up to the snow
now iam giving him 30lbs of hay in 24hrs (double netted as hes a pig), and a scoop of good doer once a day he is stabled on shavings and no grass,
he has lost weight but still needs to lose more he has also stopped itching so much but was still itchy till i stopped all feed in the snow as not able to exercise him
he is currently only hacking but will be driven again when the weather breaks

Am I feeding him too much hay for weight loss and would he be better having hifi molasses free he wont get fast fibre again because i started him back on it after the snow when i could start exercise and he went all itchy


Now the other horse 15hh welshie varies his weight and seems to need his hard feed otherwise he drops weight quick is on 1/2 stubbs scoop fast fibre and a scoop of good doer and 30lbs hay he is also only hacking at the moment and needs to keep his weight when his work increases again i was thinking he might be better on alfalfa molasses free rarther than fast fibre

any suggestions would be appreciated thanks
 
We feed our good doers ad-lib forage as I really don't like the idea of horses standing in with nothing to eat for half the night, so we supplement the haylage, which we are having to feed this year because of the hay shortage in this area, with good quality straw. Last year we were able to feed oat straw and hay. Until last week we were only able to get wheat straw but have now found some nice barley straw which they seem to like. This works well as they can eat all they like without putting on weight.
In your position, I wouldn't give a bucket feed unless you want to give supplements.
 
Have you tried Hi Fi Light? I have a 12.2hh section B who was out of work during the summer and on box rest and it was suggested that I supplemented her morning hay for Hi Fi Lite, as well as being lo cal it takes longer to eat, and she lost a fair amount of weight which she needed to without seeming to be hungry. The amounts to feed are on table on the bag and it gives lots of options. I also feed it to my 14.2 good doer cobx who heats up on any type of cereal base feed but is in light to medium work. I do feed a balancer aswell.
 
I'd personally feed straw instead of hay, and stick with good doer or hifi lite if you wish to give a bucket feed, I wouldn't use molasses free as it's quite oily and oil is high in calories! The molasses free range seems to sit between hi-fi orig and alfa a oil in terms of feed value, and is aimed at those who may fizz up on a higher sugar diet.
 
hi thank you
at the moment the trad is lightly hacking from 1.5hrs up to 2 hrs at a time we do get a good trot and canter going when the ground allows
by the end of this month ia aiming to get him driving again ready for the wedding season where he will be working on the carriage for at least 3hrs each saturday and plenty of fittening during the week ridden and driven
last year he started the season quite fat and i got his weight down from 1235lbs to 1172 lbs but i couldnt get him any lower than this despite his workload but he was fed fast fibre and readigrass and he seemed to lack stamina and suffered with the heat so i really need to change things for this year
 
hackinharry said:
I'd personally feed straw instead of hay, and stick with good doer or hifi lite if you wish to give a bucket feed, I wouldn't use molasses free as it's quite oily and oil is high in calories! The molasses free range seems to sit between hi-fi orig and alfa a oil in terms of feed value, and is aimed at those who may fizz up on a higher sugar diet.
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The new Hi Fi Molasses free has no oil in it, and is sugar free;

Good Doer is much higher in sugar at 8%

TBH I wouldn't bother at all with any of the chaffs as he's getting ad lib hay anyway, unless you want to feed a balancer like Low Cal, but you don't need any chaff, just feed on its own

His stamina will get better the fitter he gets and the more weight he loses
 
AngieandBen said:
The new Hi Fi Molasses free has no oil in it, and is sugar free;

Good Doer is much higher in sugar at 8%

TBH I wouldn't bother at all with any of the chaffs as he's getting ad lib hay anyway, unless you want to feed a balancer like Low Cal, but you don't need any chaff, just feed on its own

His stamina will get better the fitter he gets and the more weight he loses
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Hackinharry is correct. Molasses free is 6.5% oil, whereas HiFiLite is 1.5%.
 
I too have been pondering over good doer vs mollasses free. The only thing that puts me off is that the mollasses free is higher in calories than good doer. My mare only has a tiny amount to put her vit supplement in so I don't suppose it would make any difference in real terms to the amount of calories she gets.
 
My good doer is currently getting a token scoop of Hi Fi Molasses free to carry his vits and mins powder. He gets good hay but before the freezing weather I was soaking it for 12 hours. He had lost a bit of weight before the freeze but our taps all froze so I couldn;t soak his hay. Now he is back in work he should start to drop again.
Have you tried TopSpec TopChop Lite? I think it's even lower calorie than hifi, and a bit cheaper too. It's really nice stuff. I would feed it my horse but he is picky and has gone off it!!
Also have you tried rugging less as that seems to work best of all with my lad.
 
noblesteed said:
My good doer is currently getting a token scoop of Hi Fi Molasses free to carry his vits and mins powder. He gets good hay but before the freezing weather I was soaking it for 12 hours. He had lost a bit of weight before the freeze but our taps all froze so I couldn;t soak his hay. Now he is back in work he should start to drop again.
Have you tried TopSpec TopChop Lite? I think it's even lower calorie than hifi, and a bit cheaper too. It's really nice stuff. I would feed it my horse but he is picky and has gone off it!!
Also have you tried rugging less as that seems to work best of all with my lad.
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TopChop Lite is excellent stuff if only it weren't so finely choppped! It doesn't give much chewing time.

Agree 100% about the rugging. Nature itself is the best way to control weight, especiallyinnatives.
 
AngieandBen said:
Well I didn't know that! thanks, I like others automatically presumed it didn't have any! God its a minefield :)
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Me too!! TBH I was preparing to tell poor HH that he was talking nonsense and decided I had better check first! :D

Back to the TopChop for mine I feel.
 
For your cob to lose weight you need to feed him 1.5% TOTAL of his body weight, this includes any grass, 30lb of hay does sound quite alot, my 14.2 show jumper has 9lb hay, 1 stubbs scoop of Happy Hoof, 1/4 scoop of Horse & Pony nuts twice daily & 8 1/2 hours turn out with grass daily, she is not overweight. My retired 13.3 has 3/4 scoop Happy Hoof twice daily, 8lb hay & same amount of turn out, she is fine weight wise too. Hope that helps, good luck.
 
kizzywiz said:
For your cob to lose weight you need to feed him 1.5% TOTAL of his body weight, this includes any grass, 30lb of hay does sound quite alot,.
Click to expand...

thank you i was thinking it was quite a lot of hay but he has gone from adlib to 30lb and i give him 10lb at midnight to see him till mornining then 5lb at 9:00am and further 5lb nets throughout the day and evening
to a total of 30lbs
i first weighed his hay a week before christmas at at first he was acting very grumpy and hungry now he is ok with this
everytime itry to cut him down 5lbs he gets grumpy angain and starts fighting his neighbour

I was thinking of giving him the last 5lbs in straw so he has chewing time with less calories and hopefully stop him being grumpy he will eat it as if he is bedded on straw the whole bed will be gone in the morning
each hay feed is small or double netted and fastened in the bottom of his hay bar to try and slow him down but he still seems to spend ages not eating :( I watch him on the cctv
thanks
 
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Crumbs! Didn't realise the molasses free Hifi was so high in oil!!!! Back to Top Chop for mine too, if only he would eat it :(
Is there ANY brand that's just plain chaff without mint, garlic, oil, molasses, jojoba extract, norwegian manuka honey blah blah added to it? Grrrr!
 
noblesteed said:
Crumbs! Didn't realise the molasses free Hifi was so high in oil!!!! Back to Top Chop for mine too, if only he would eat it :(
Is there ANY brand that's just plain chaff without mint, garlic, oil, molasses, jojoba extract, norwegian manuka honey blah blah added to it? Grrrr!
Click to expand...

The thing is, most low cal chaffs contain a good proportion of chopped straw which isn't the most appetising stuff, which is why manufacturers add various flavourings to try and make it more tempting!
 
TGM said:
The thing is, most low cal chaffs contain a good proportion of chopped straw which isn't the most appetising stuff, which is why manufacturers add various flavourings to try and make it more tempting!
Click to expand...

Plus the dengie chaffs and topchop lite have alfalfa in it which needs a coating of some sort to preserve it. This can be oil or molasses or sometimes Molglo which is a mixture of the 2 and used in some of the lite options.

If you want pure ingredients then honeychop do a plain straw chaff or dengie alfalfa pellets are straight alfalfa.
 
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