Feed question from a numpty - looking for some advice

sandi_84

sandi_84

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My friend just came round with a feed bin of Spillers Meadow Herb and Blue Chip Original Balancer because it's not agreeing with her horse and she wondered if I had any use for it.

I swapped her a full bag of Happy Hoof chaff mix (I feel I may have come out on top out of that swapsie :/)

Anyway, I haven't been giving my lad any hard feed since early last autumn/winter when he was on calm and condition because he had dropped some weight with the work he was doing. He did really well on it, bulked up a bit again to a decent weight and funnily enough he stayed sane on it too :D

He's looking at a decent weight at the moment probably a 3 on the 0-5 condition score.

So to dispense with the rambling the questions are:

Is this combo of feeds a good one?

Is this combo fed in a small amount going to a) put loads of unnessecary weight on him or b) making a raving lunatic?

How much would you feed for a lightweight cob who is in light work at the moment (sharer handed in notice so less exercise for him) but will be working more in the coming weeks (new sharer starts next week so more exercise again!)?
 
Purely looking at the nutritional values:
- Spillers Meadow Herb is lower energy, protein and fiber than Calm and Condition
- Spillers Meadow Herb is a lot higher in starch than Calm and Condition

So if you were substituting one for the other, you'll have to feed more Meadow Herb to keep your horses condition and he is more likely to become a loony due to the high starch values (starch is metabolized very quickly so they get fizzy).

I couldn't find any info on the nutritional values of Blue Chip Original so can't comment on that.
 
For your horse im not sure you have come out on top...

Thr balancer could be useful, some feed companies say that for a horse already in good condition the balancer may be better fed at half the rec amount - others say it renders the balancer useless though

I would be worried about the meadow herb though
 
SCMSL said:
Purely looking at the nutritional values:
- Spillers Meadow Herb is lower energy, protein and fiber than Calm and Condition
- Spillers Meadow Herb is a lot higher in starch than Calm and Condition

So if you were substituting one for the other, you'll have to feed more Meadow Herb to keep your horses condition and he is more likely to become a loony due to the high starch values (starch is metabolized very quickly so they get fizzy).

I couldn't find any info on the nutritional values of Blue Chip Original so can't comment on that.
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Sorry mix up there, he's not on calm and condition at the moment :o
Ok thank you for that :)

WelshD said:
For your horse im not sure you have come out on top...

Thr balancer could be useful, some feed companies say that for a horse already in good condition the balancer may be better fed at half the rec amount - others say it renders the balancer useless though

I would be worried about the meadow herb though
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Ah see the problem is she's mixed it all together :/
Would you be worried about the starch too? I know this is a bit naughty but he could do with some extra ooomph sometimes :o
If I were to try him on it, how would I go about introducing a new feed when he's not on anything at the moment and would I have to soak it?
 
You wouldnt need to soak it, just dampen down as you would any feed

I have to say i wouldnt feed it to a horse in light (or even medium) work that is already in good condition

Im guessing it will not keep till winter.....

What you need is someone with a bag of chaff you can swap with :D

If you are going to feed it then make them small meals!
 
Do you want to feed it just because you have it? If your horse doesn't need feed then I wouldn't feed just for the sake of it, especially one that is unsuitable. I have a good doer cob and he gets a token handful of the lowest nutritional chaff I can get my hands on just to get his supplements in him.
 
Use the Blue Chip whenever you like, it is a good vit/mineral balancer. I would save the Meadow Herb until winter, just to add a small amount for variety and extra value to what he has normally.
 
I think in your situation I'd hang on to the Blue Chip as a useful balancer and ditch the mix if he's already doing well. Look on the Blue Chip sack if you've still got it though, the recommended amount is really quite small - my horse has a tiny tea cup full and she's a 15hh cob x in medium work. Easy to over-feed if you aren't careful :)

I feed mine with a sprinke of alfa a because I'm soft, but do let her have it dry if I run out ;)
 
WelshD said:
You wouldnt need to soak it, just dampen down as you would any feed

I have to say i wouldnt feed it to a horse in light (or even medium) work that is already in good condition

Im guessing it will not keep till winter.....

What you need is someone with a bag of chaff you can swap with :D

If you are going to feed it then make them small meals!
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Ha Ha! :D The bag of chaff was actually bought for my sister's pony as something to put her wormer in when she had pinworm. I suggested they buy the smallest bag they could find and they came home with a HUGE bag that would never have been used again ha ha! :rolleyes:

BentleyBelly said:
Do you want to feed it just because you have it? If your horse doesn't need feed then I wouldn't feed just for the sake of it, especially one that is unsuitable. I have a good doer cob and he gets a token handful of the lowest nutritional chaff I can get my hands on just to get his supplements in him.
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No, I just thought I'd find out a bit more about it and then try him on it to see how he did. If his weight started going up or he turned into a maniac I'd stop feeding it. My thinking was that with the new sharer he'll be getting more work again, she'd like to do more schooling which will be slightly more labour intensive for him than the hacks he's been having and the chances were his weight would drop a bit. IMO he's at a good weight atm so I don't want him to loose or gain any so I may have had to start feeding anyway.
He's mr chilled out, sometimes too chilled out! ;) It wouldn't hurt to give him that extra oomph to get him going as long as it doesn't send him loopy.
The only problem with feeding him just the balancer is that my friend had mixed it all together in one feed bin so there's no way I'm going through it all just to pick out the blue chip stuff :/
 
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Thing is if it turns out to be completely unsuitable for my lad I'm sure I'll find some horsey person that would want it locally so it won't be going in the bin regardless. I just feel sorry for my friend spending so much money on something that she can't use :/
 
sandi_84 said:
The only problem with feeding him just the balancer is that my friend had mixed it all together in one feed bin so there's no way I'm going through it all just to pick out the blue chip stuff :/
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What a pain! would be worth asking how much BC she mixed in though... a sack of BC lasts me 2 months or so whereas I'd go through a sack of mix in a week if I fed the suggested amount. .. not sure how pre-mixing the 2 would work unless there wasn't much Blue Chip :eek:
 
milliepops said:
What a pain! would be worth asking how much BC she mixed in though... a sack of BC lasts me 2 months or so whereas I'd go through a sack of mix in a week if I fed the suggested amount. .. not sure how pre-mixing the 2 would work unless there wasn't much Blue Chip :eek:
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Hmm I'm not sure, I just assumed it was the whole bag...
 
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