Feed help!!! please.

A

Aoibhin

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ok so the 2 wee welsh mountain fence trashing mud monsters live out 24/7 with access to shelter (open stable) they are rugged when its wet & below freezing or very very windy but both have good thick coats.
they get through about 3/4 of a small bale a day at moment (putting a bale out every day & a half) fed from a low rack & kept topped up.
the boy is holding his weight lovley (no longer has a grass belly) but girlie is now loosing weight a bit. wormed them both only 3 weeks ago due to an ok but not great worm count.
he currntly gets a small scoop of balencer & some grass nuts, she was getting about the same but i upped it due to weight dropping off.
they are both lunged twice a week for 10 mins at present as they are coming back to work.
any ideas on weight providers without heating her up (she is a live wire enough as it is).
tried haylage but he wouldnt eat it & she went loopy.
 
How about something like Alpha A Oil, as it is classed as a conditioning and is keeping away from any form of cereal, so should in theory should help the weight while containing the wizz bang factor
 
She needs a high fibre, low energy feed. I would suggest adding something like Speedibeet (can't advise on quantity as I'm not used to the amounts of feed that little'uns should be getting). Also, check the label on the grass nuts for molasses - try and avoid molasses if at all possible as well as anything with a high sugar content.

Any closer to solving the "breaking out" problem yet?
 
Faro said:
She needs a high fibre, low energy feed.
Click to expand...

Actually she doesn't need a low energy feed as energy = calories, so this pony needs more digestible energy in her feed so she can gain weight. Sugar and starch is what tends to fizz ponies up, so best choice would be feeds with a high digestible energy content, but with the calories coming from fibre and oil rather than sugar and starch.

Grass nuts vary in calorie content according to the manufacturer, but the Northern Crop Drier ones contain about 10/11 megajoules of digestible energy per kg (MJDE/kg). The OP could just up the quantity of grass nuts, or partially or totally swap it for a higher calorie feed. Both the feeds mentioned above are good choices - Alfa A Oil has 12.5 MJDE/kg, and the Speedibeet has 12.4 MJDE/kg, so high in calories but low in starch/sugar.

Might be worth contacting a feed company such as Dengie so they can give you an idea of what quantities you need to feed, based on the size and workload of your pony.
 
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exellent off to raid the feed shop this afternoon, i contacted spillers but they said she was a fine weight for her breed/height despite being ribby to look at & vet commented she has lost a little in condition/weight & to keep an eye on it.

Faro they are now staying put (touch wood) fencing back up & renforced with angle posts along the long sides plus electric fencing so they cannot rebreak said post & rail. the female problem causer is also sporting a sexy clipped bib area as she was pushing the tape whilst it was on (not so keen now though) HA!
im also at a loss with native tiddlers, give me a big muscle house any day & im sorted.
 
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