Feed in the USA

[sonners09]

I hope someone can help me !

I am relocating with my horse in December from the UK to the USA

Im struggling to find what i need to feed him.

He has COPD so cant have hay, only haylage- not a thing in the USA. Does anyone have any experience with this? He had one day of hay at the beginning of winter as yard owner put it out without thinking and his breathing got really bad.

He gets equine america airways breathing supplement- not a thing in the USA

hard feed wise he gets Baileys no.19 balancer, baileys every day high fibre mix and herbal molly chaff.
Hes a gooddoer but extremely fussy.
I cant really find chaff in the US, i doubt he will eat his food without chaff, also is very picky with food.
The past few days all i have been doing is researching food but there is sooo much of it out there and most of it is sooooo high in sugar.
He puts weight on easily so im trying to stay off high sugar feed.

Can anyone recommend anything similar to me please

Thanks

Sonia

 

[sbloom]

Have you been onto Chronicle of the Horse? I know we have some Americans on here but definitely worth posting there too. Dr Eleanor Kellon is in the US, she does seem to work for a feed company but I'd hope she's not biased as such an expert, I think she has a FB group or two?

 

[Cortez]

I hope someone can help me !

I am relocating with my horse in December from the UK to the USA

Im struggling to find what i need to feed him.

He has COPD so cant have hay, only haylage- not a thing in the USA. Does anyone have any experience with this? He had one day of hay at the beginning of winter as yard owner put it out without thinking and his breathing got really bad.

He gets equine america airways breathing supplement- not a thing in the USA

hard feed wise he gets Baileys no.19 balancer, baileys every day high fibre mix and herbal molly chaff.
Hes a gooddoer but extremely fussy.
I cant really find chaff in the US, i doubt he will eat his food without chaff, also is very picky with food.
The past few days all i have been doing is researching food but there is sooo much of it out there and most of it is sooooo high in sugar.
He puts weight on easily so im trying to stay off high sugar feed.

Can anyone recommend anything similar to me please

Thanks

Sonia

There are plenty of horses in the US with similar problems, so I'm sure there will be things to suit when you get there. Two things: the quality of hay tends to be super high in America, and depending on where you are there is less problem with mould. You could also soak the hay.

A lot of the bagged feed in the US is heavily molassed (sweet feed), but there are alternatives. Chaff's not a thing, but then if he's a good doer then he's unlikely to be much disadvantaged by not eating as much?

 

[Sussexbythesea]

Have you been onto Chronicle of the Horse? I know we have some Americans on here but definitely worth posting there too. Dr Eleanor Kellon is in the US, she does seem to work for a feed company but I'd hope she's not biased as such an expert, I think she has a FB group or two?

I was going to suggest joining the Chronicle if the Horse Forum which is a USA forum that is really helpful.

Whereabouts in the USA are you locating to? It’s a huge country with lots of variations. My sister lives in Virginia and I know she had issues as she had a Connie with metabolic issues and soaking hay isn’t a thing either. She had to get batches analysed for sugar content and buy in her own even on livery.

 

[sonners09]

I was going to suggest joining the Chronicle if the Horse Forum which is a USA forum that is really helpful.

Whereabouts in the USA are you locating to? It’s a huge country with lots of variations. My sister lives in Virginia and I know she had issues as she had a Connie with metabolic issues and soaking hay isn’t a thing either. She had to get batches analysed for sugar content and buy in her own even on livery.

Im moving to columbus. they were quite happy to soak hay, i just know when i tried it with UK hay it made no difference, i used to soak and steam it.

But i will have a look at Chronicle thank you!

 

[EnduroRider]

He gets equine america airways breathing supplement- not a thing in the USA

How ironic is this!!

 

[sonners09]

How ironic is this!!

OMG tell me about it! it was a USA based company that now moved to the UK and dont have a USA supplier. sooooo annoying

 

[Sussexbythesea]

My sister said Dengie do a lot of chaff type feeds in the US. Popular feed makes are Purina and Triple Crown. She also did say they do steam hay.

She advised to speak to your barn manager for advice on your horses particular needs.

 

[lynz88]

I'm from Canada and we do NOT feed haylage for fear of botulism which is common with haylage in North America. Hay and alfalfa are common though (and lots of it). I also agree that hay soaking doesn't seem to be a thing back home - had never seen or heard of anyone doing it until I came over here. I actually had the opposite problem - I could not find feed equivalents over here and I've still not found them apart from beet pulp! You also won't find chaff - I didn't know what this was or what "nuts" were when I came over here (tbh I still don't actually know what the difference is between "nuts" "pencils" and I think there is another odd term).

Definitely ask the BM about feeds - standard to stock hi fat hi fibre, sweet feed, hay cubes, beet pulp and maybe a few others though pretty much everyone feeds beet pulp and hi fat hi fibre as standard (at least where I'm from). Usual suspect brands include Purina, Triple Crown, Tribute, Masterfeeds (though this may be Canadian). For barefooters and TBs, California Trace or Vermont Blend are very popular.

 

[SibeliusMB]

Late to the party on this, and I hope you've already found answers that work for your boy. If not, if you need a feed through breathing supplement, check out what SmartPak (www.smartpak.com) offers. They might have something similar to the Equine America product he was on.

You said he was on Bailey's hard feed in the UK - if there are any Saracen equivalents, you can check out Saracen's US partner, Hallway Feeds out of Kentucky. They offer one of the more complete lines I've ever seen, and my guy was looking like a supermodel on their hard feeds. They also offer a balancer and high fiber options. If you're in Columbus, OH they hopefully have a Hallway distributor up there.
www.hallwayfeeds.com
www.ker.com/balance-partner/hallway-feeds/

People definitely soak and/or steam hay in the US if that's what the horse requires. You just have to have speak with your vet and barn manager to make sure everyone is on the same page as to what works for the horse. Dengie is available too if that might be helpful. Ditto on what lynz88 said regarding botulism and why haylage isn't a thing in North America. Quality of hay is (from what I've seen) lightyears better where I've been in the US than where I currently am in the UK.