Does Anyone Not Feed A Stud Balancer....

[charliesarmy]

I ask as went into a different feed place to purchase some balancer guy behind started asking questions about what I'd bred said mares due in Summer....well he WOULDNT sell me balancer as in his opinion hes seen so many mares struggle to foal because they and foal is overweight.... anyone else agree??? my farrier also agrees with feed man and thinks you should feed up once foal arrives...please PM me if you prefer as I was/am just going to start the food transition soon...

 

[the watcher]

Feeding adequate minerals is one of the triggers that enables the mare to produce milk - feeding this after the delivery wouldn't be good. You can feed these through a balancer which should not add weight or extra condition.

 

[charliesarmy]

I understand this

as had a fantastic chat with Baileys who tailored a diet for my mare with the balancer for the vits and minerals and shes on stud cubes for the calories but just can't beleive I've been refused to be able to buy it

then I started a panic on wether I should be giving it her

I'm a first timer so doing all by the book so to speak there just seems to be lots of variants of *The Book*

 

[Fleur100]

I breed natives (New Forest ponies). I don't feed a stud balancer but the mares do get hard feed 3 months before they are due to foal. They get a high fibre mix & chaff which ensures they get the correct vitamins & minerals.

They are not overfed and they produce strong healthy foals.

What you feed will depend on the condition of the mare, the breed etc....

 

[Thefuture]

Never used a stud balancer and been breeding for over 20 years. Did look into them a couple of years ago when they became the fashonable thing to feed, but was not convinced that they would improve my stud management. To date have always had straight limbed foals, born around the time they were meant to be, from mares with plenty of milk. My foals have continued to grown from birth to full grown and maintain a happy healthy life (barring a few accidents)

Stud Balancers seem to be promoted on the forum by many people who are breeding - but they cannot and do not replace good sound knowledge and good husbandry handed down through generations. The feed companies who manufacture these products have certainly done a tremendous job convencing the "newer breeder" that they cannot and should not manage without - however I feel that in the majority of cases they are not needed.

 

[volatis]

how ludicrous. A good balancer means you dont need to feed stud mixes etc so that the mare doesnt get overweight, but the growing unborn foal, will receive the all the nutrition it needs. The last 3 months are key in development, and you dont want to deprive the mare (especially a young one) during that vital stage.

 

[irishdraught]

You also need to feed less as opposed to a mix/cube and therefore reduces the bulk a mare has to eat.

 

[the watcher]

[ QUOTE ]
Never used a stud balancer and been breeding for over 20 years.

Stud Balancers seem to be promoted on the forum by many people who are breeding - but they cannot and do not replace good sound knowledge and good husbandry handed down through generations. The feed companies who manufacture these products have certainly done a tremendous job convencing the "newer breeder" that they cannot and should not manage without - however I feel that in the majority of cases they are not needed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Was that supposed to sound like 'anybody who feeds a balancer is clearly a fool who has been duped by advertising'?

With the greatest of respect, a good deal of research has been done over the last 20 years. Diet guidelines for feeding in-foal mares go back further thasn this and in every case they stress the importance of feeding adequate vits and mins to support the developing foal and the processes of pregnancy. If you can manage this with a broad spectrum of feeds, and have sufficient numbers of horses to get through straights, great.
If you are a one mare owner with a horse that has a tendency to porkiness (!), then a balancer is an economical easy way of ensuring that the diet is adequate.

It is that simple

 

[MillionDollar]

I sometimes feed D&H Suregrow, but at the moment I am just feeding a few Pony Nuts, handful of Alfalfa and Feedmarks Benevit.

 

[Touchwood]

Echo Volatis. Stud balancers are a wonderful thing for those of us who have slightly porky mares but want to make sure her and the foal are getting essential nutrients.

Thefuture - while I agree with you that the art of feeding is a dying art, and many feed companies do overly push their products on people, I think its rather short-sighted to dismiss current scientific evidence on the nutritional needs of mares in their last trimester. Times move on, and in this case I don't think this is a bad thing. Don't get me started on leisure owners feeding up their non working horses to obesity though...

 

[teb]

I don't feed a balancer to a few of my horses, but I do still use them in certain situations.

All the scientific research that has gone into them is great, but it's not great when you have horses that changed for the worse and big feed companies tell you you're mad in the head.

Maybe you all might take something from this, but most likely probably not. By the way, the 3 horses I'm talking about are TB's and one warmblood/TB cross.

Where to start. Well I had a once easy breeder mare whose cycles went haywire and she wasn't doing anything right. All vet checks said mare was fine reproductively. Missed that year. Made plans for her getting in foal in 2007. After not catching her first 3 times, sent her down to the studfarm where she was bred 5 times in 11 days finally ovulating and becoming pregnant. Fine fair enough. Then in the summer without a foal she started getting fat pads and not looking like I wanted so had to start dry lotting her. She was only getting a total of 1pd of stud balancer per day at this point with my custom made diet from big feed company. Fine had her foal. Due to a paddock accident foal died and back to the overweight non pregnant mare again during the summer. At this stage her 2 daughters were having issues with weight on a skint paddock, but eating away at recommended levels of balancer. I was really getting concerned and decided I probably had IR horses and needed to get vet out, go through all sorts of diet changes and lots and lots of money.

But then read a story about balancers and soya. Because basically your balancers are all soya. Horses can be sensitive to soya as with any food. Soya also plays havoc on hormones. So when I read the thread it was a light bulb moment as to what was happening with my horses. No I just didn't read something off the internet, I did a bunch of research and thought, well this is something that won't kill them and it could be less expensive than going the IR route, which I would have done if this plan didn't work.

In the meantime I called my feed company as I'd been a loyal customer and was looking for some help. HAHAHAHA. Nope me, I'm the crazy lady and no horses have problems with soya. And advice was keep them dry lotted, limit hay, and get grazing muzzles. In other words just make them misreable but keep feeding them the balancer.

Put them all on a handful of speedi beet, flax seed, and D&H Surelimb. It was summer and no one obviously need worry about calories. Anyway, the transformation in 3 weeks was truly amazing. Fat pads went away, horses could graze normally, sore feet went away, and lo and behold my then 2yo's attitude changed dramatically. Away went the higher than a kite mentality. I was shocked that something so simple had huge major changes for my horses.

As winter rolled in I added some grass pellets and oats as needed. Yes oats which changed nobody's attitude as they needed them. With much research and help of those who weren't promoting a feed company, I had a diet which was cheaper and worked much better. I've learned good hay and the other things I'm feeding do in fact have enough protein. Something balancer pushers would have you believe not.

My mare is back cycling normally and has already been bred. Won't know the verdict on that for a week and a half. You all can take this for what you will and rely on balancers. But everyone should try and have a better understanding of feeding as a whole instead of relying on balancers to be the be all end all. I have saved money feeding straights and have never seen these horses looking better or healthier.

Anyway, that's my balancer story.

Terri

 

[Thefuture]

Im not totally against the stud balancer and agree that alot of scientific work has gone into producing and marketing the various products. Those in favour always quote the fact that it enables those with mares which do well, to feed said balancers which will make sure the resulting foal has all the right balance of minerals and vitamins which it needs.

But how do you know your mare was not providing these anyway? When you watch your mares in the fields, they feed off the hedgerows at times, they bite down into the roots of some of the natural plants occuring in the pasture.

How many of you have had a soil analysis done; how many of you have had you hay / haylage analysed? How do you know the stud balancer you are feeding is "balancing what your mare has to hand naturally"?!!

 

[nijinsky]

Interesting thread as my mare has just gone into her last trimester.

My mare is fed a feed balancer throughout the winter anyway and does very well on it. Is there any point changing from a feed balancer to a stud balancer? Is there a difference in your opinion?

On speaking to the balancer company I use they said I didn't need to go over to the stud balancer.

 

[Maggie2]

I read a thread on COTH about soya intolerances and indeed it opened my eyes to some things going on with my horses on various feeds, including a stud balancer.

The only foal that has been born with a deformed limb, now expensively corrected,from a tried and tested family of mine was from a mare fed a balancer while in foal. i pm'd someone on here a while back who had a yearling on a balancer with hot feet and possibly LGL. Other posters said a yearling couldn't get Laminitis from a balancer, I say it could.

 

[charliesarmy]

The main reason I put madam on the stud balancer is come March she seems to *go off* hard feed and even forage can be a struggle...so with the stud feed you feed less ammounts so she eats all her meal hence getting all vits she needs....she has done the March food thing every year for the 13 years I've had her

I thought she would eat up this year being in foal...I was wrong

you think I big 17.3 IDxTB would eat me outta house and home

 

[Touchwood]

[ QUOTE ]
Im not totally against the stud balancer and agree that alot of scientific work has gone into producing and marketing the various products. Those in favour always quote the fact that it enables those with mares which do well, to feed said balancers which will make sure the resulting foal has all the right balance of minerals and vitamins which it needs.

But how do you know your mare was not providing these anyway? When you watch your mares in the fields, they feed off the hedgerows at times, they bite down into the roots of some of the natural plants occuring in the pasture.

How many of you have had a soil analysis done; how many of you have had you hay / haylage analysed? How do you know the stud balancer you are feeding is "balancing what your mare has to hand naturally"?!!

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't necessarily disagree totally with you. Incidentally, we do have our soil and haylage analysed....

I've always been a very much 'stand back, look at the horse' feeding kind of person. I have a lot of horses that don't have hard feed during spring and summer, as I know our grass is good.

But - in a mare's last trimester, there will be pretty much zero goodness in the grass - for the time of year our mares are foaling (and we have good grazing), and in at night, there's only a certain amount of haylage you can feed (we don't feed it in the fields...there is ample grass, and no one tells the horses there are no nutrients in winter grass, so they leave the haylage

)
I also feed my competition horse the stud balancer...she is also a good doer, and rather than buy in another type of feed, I just put her on the stud balancer.

I'm just going by what I see - the mares look great, they produce healthy offspring, and thats all I'm interested in.

 

[teb]

My problem with the Balancers aren't the balancers themselves, but people who tell you they can't and don't cause problems for horses. I think the majority do quite well on them. I have 2 of my mares on them, one who just foaled recently. For them they work and I don't see any of the problems I do with a few of my other ones.

When the COTH thread appeared the feed company told her it was her breed which was the problem. My horses with issues were TB's and a TB/Cross.

Hay and soil analysis is essential as well. So many things make up a complete feed program. When I first started the change my head was swimming from all the info, but I'm so glad I did it. I have a much wider understanding of feeding now instead of looking at a bag for how many cups I need!

And as I've said before, I would never say don't use a balancer, but I do like sharing the other side of the story if you like, because some people could be having problems with their horses. And if like me, you go to said feed company for advice, they will tell you it can't possibly be the balancer. Then you're left with no alternatives but IR checks and expensive vet bills. I chose the simple route first before going the vet option.

Terri

 

[amandaco2]

my ISH mare was on a stud balancer-she foaled and did fine.
shes a good doer and i didnt want to feed a mix.shes also fizzy and heats up on loads of feeds, so i wanted mineral and vits only.

i now feed it to all 3 of my horses-TBx 5 year old and 2year old WB.they are all good doers and get fed loads of hay with it.all do really well and have good feet/coats.the ISH had laminitis a few years ago but the Baileys balancer doesnt upset them at all, i just have to watch her grass intake.

 

[shirleyno2]

Never fed balancer to a broodmare in my life, they only have hard feed for a couple of weeks before foaling, except the few that need feed - this year I have 2 being fed out of 24.
You're all welcome to look at mares [and foals when born]!!! They have good haylage 24/7.

 

[CrazyMare]

I have mine on feed balancers - I do know ONE who had an issue foaling, and the owner blames it on the balancer, although it was a huge stallion on a little mare - width wise - and the colt got stuck at the shoulders and hips. Given as she had problems foaling to this stallion the previous two times, I'm not convinced it was the balancer as the owner stressed it was.

What I do know, is I have two fab looking, even headed (and one is a nightmare hot head on ANY mix), nicely covered, good footed horses. What is also a bonus is the reduction in feed bills and riding time - I now don't have to burn off the feed before getting the work, she just knuckles straight down.

 

[BayJosie]

Isn't this just like everything with horses? You do what's right for YOUR own horse. There's no right or wrong way to do these things. It's the first time breeding for me, so I've asked my vet and she's said that for my mare, keeping her on her normal feed is going to be absolutely fine, but to maybe put her on a vit and min supplement becuase our grass is fairly poor. Another horse may be completely different.
Do what's right for your horse basically.

 

[daisalph]

I have been feeding 1/2 scoop of stud cubes mixed with a large handful of chaff for the last two months of my mare's pregnancy. She has adlib hay and now spring grass. She's looking very well - just about the right weight I'd say. She's due to foal on Saturday.

I don't believe in supplements and additives - where is the hard evidence that they do good? The feed companies do a brilliant PR job - convincing everyone that they need a horse nutritionist and reducing their confidence and skills. Common sense and intuition seem to be undervalued assets these days - to the detriment of many horses I reckon.