Feed question?

[xxcharlottexx]

Hi, Has/does anyone use Bailey's lo cal feed?
Was reccomended this by feed suplier to feed my 5 yo TB, who did not get fed properly when he was younger, as he was sort of abandoned
Hes at the right weight now and is looking good, but need to make sure he has all the essential vitamins and minerals that he needs to grow properly

Only problem is, is that it costs £18.50 a bag and he would then need other stuff to mix with it, (he advised his own brand of mix for £6, and if he needs more energy to get the same miz but with the one that has oats added) and it was more than i was wanting to pay for a bag of food that will only last 5-6weeks as im still at college full time and only have a part time job

And was wondndering if it was worth the price tag, or can anyone reccomend and other feeds to give my horse

and help appreciated
thanks,

 

[AmyMay]

Have you considered giving him a good broad spectrum vitamin suppliment instead - fed with an 'ordinary' feed??

 

[bellaboo]

I feed lo-cal, really like it for my mare as she only has to look at abit of grass and piles the calories on

. She has two cups of lo-cal, and half a scoop of high-fi lite a day, if she needs a bit of a boot up the bum she has tiger oats, then she just gets the energy rather than the extra calories that are in a mix.
I didnt think you had to add any other foods to lo-cal unless you wanted energy, if you wanted a more conditioning feed perhaps it would be better to go for a standard balancer?

 

[Marquire]

I feed this to my boy. he weights 524kg and gets three cups of low calorie balances, half scoop of Alfa A, three squirts of soya oil and now it's winter 1 handful soaked speedibeet. he looks great on it.

A bag of the balancer lasts me around 2 and a half months.

Marie

 

[Kermie]

I'm a TopSpec fan. It's more expensive than Lo cal, but it has a higher ratio of minerals and vitamins. You can feed it at half the recommended ration if you have a horse that has no health issues. I feed it to 8 ponies and one bag lasts me about 3 weeks.

I'm not keen on feeding starchy feeds to horses, so I use grassnuts for energy. I also use alfa-a and speedibeet.

 

[Vicky7041]

Why don't you ring any of the good feed companies, they all provide free nutrional advice then once you're well informed then you can make an educated decision. If he's at an ideal weight then there is probably something just as good on the market a bit cheaper.
I am a huge fan of calm and condition (Allen & Page) but that may not be suitable for your horse but it does work and you mix that with ALFA-A or any chaff. I think its good value for money, but as I said speak to a nutritionalist they'll help.

 

[hannah1982]

If you are feeding a branded hard feed at the reccomended rate you shouldn't need to add anything extra at all. Ring the care line of whoever makes your feed and ask them how much you should be feeding.

If they tell you to feed a whole load of different thing it is just a con!

If you want to be extra sure or if you are only feedinga fibre then I agree totally with amymay, feed a vit and min supplement like equivite original at a fraction of the cost!

rant over, sorry bout that!

 

[xxcharlottexx]

Thanks for all your help!
will look into all your advise

ive seen that the Allen and Page was highly reccomeded, and the Baileys topline

Thanks again!