Feed advice please

Groom Mum

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My two boys came to me in Nov 15. They were in pretty good shape but my youngster couldn't hold his weight well. So I was advised by my vet to feed him the following twice a day: 500g mare and young stock handful alfalfa A and Hanful of chaff. My older one all the above but no mare and young stock. So now I'm noticing with 24 hr access to grass and a mixed haylege/ hay haynet they are looking quite tubby. i have cut the youngster down to 250g now instead of 500g but I'm wondering if I should cut the feeds out altogether now and just let them graze and give them a mixed haynet at night between them. Any ideas please ??
 

Pinkvboots

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If they are looking too well on the grass I would cut the feed out, if they still want to eat a hay net I would continue with that and see how they go, if they start dropping you can always add in 1 feed a day.

I do similar with mine they come in during the day and get a few small hay nets and 1 small feed in the morning if they seem hungry I just up the hay, my grass is really growing at the moment so they are quite happy grazing not that bothered about the hay.
 

supsup

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If you are feeding a vitamin supplement (I'm assuming it's an all-round vit& min supplement?) in addition to the feeds listed above, then I would keep the handful of chaff to feed the vitamin supplement in, and reduce all other feeds (including the hay/haylage, since they have 24 hour access to grass). The handful of alfa A or chaff will be relatively low in calories, so keeping a handful as a carrier for the vit&min supplement won't add a lot in the overall picture. The Mare and Youngstock will be most calorific, so I'd cut that out completely, and if they are on the tubby side, I wouldn't feed extra forage in the form of hay/haylage either. If they start dropping weight, I would restart feeding additional hay/haylage before adding more to their bucket feeds.
 
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