Feeding Advice Please ...

tonitot

tonitot

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I posted about Ethel's condition with some pictures of her and was told she needs more weight and more of a topline, SO .... I have decided to weigh out her feed to make sure she is getting the amount she needs. I don't know exactly how much she weighs, but I'd guess around 450/500kgs (15.1 TB) so how much would I need to feed her and how much of each feed would you give her? She has:

Alfa A Oil
Speedi Beet
Barley Loops

She also has pink powder but is there anything else you would feed her personally? Or any of the above you would change for a different feed?

To anyone who can help thank you so much :) I was taught all this a while ago, but I don't remember anything!! If I looked through my notes from college I'd probably remember, but god knows where I put those :rolleyes: So again, thanks loads to anyone who can help me :D
 
Alfa A Oil, Speedi Beet and Barley Loops. She has a haynet stuffed with hay for the night and is currently being moved into the other field with more grass, letting her through for longer periods of time gradually.
 
Ad lib hay/hayledge when not turned out, and personally I'd swap out the speedibeet for something like calm and condition. Does she get fizzy if put on lots of hard feed? I'd go for 2 scoops of each a day. You could try something like topspec or triple top up, too. Or micronised linseed... the list goes on - I think its just a case of finding what works for your horse. Good luck :)

Oh, and you could try phoning a feed company for some advice, too.
 
tonitot said:
Alfa A Oil, Speedi Beet and Barley Loops.
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But in what amounts? And how many feeds per day?

She has a haynet stuffed with hay for the night and is currently being moved into the other field with more grass, letting her through for longer periods of time gradually.
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Is the hay all gone by the morning? If so, give her more, so she can eat all night long. Ad lib forage is the best, cheapest and safest way to get weight on a poor doer. If you can swap to haylage, then even better.
 
Okay thank you Nutkin :)

TGM - The scoop I have is one of the small rectangle ones and she has ...

Breakfast - 1 scoop Alfa A Oil, 1/2 scoop barley rings and a handful of speedi beet.

Dinner - 1 1/2 scoops Alfa A Oil, 1 scoop Barley loops and a big handful of speedi beet.

Yes the hay is all gone by the morning, but she is out 24/7 so is always eating.
 
I take it she is out on her own then, so no-one else is scoffing her haynet? If she is in a paddock on her own then I would ensure that there is hay available ALL the time - the fact that she is eating all the hay put out tells you that she needs it, despite there being grass available.
 
i agree with the calm and condition comment - i mix it in with the speedibeet but that is personal preference. what about oats? I have recently added outshine to my mare's feed, its put weight on well but is a bit like rocket fuel!
 
I have struggled in the past to keep weight on my tb x 20 yo, but more recently have switched from speedi-beet to fibre-beet, (made by the same people) which has made a difference for him. Can't give him C&C as even this makes him too fizzy! You've just got to try different things and see what suits your horse best.
 
It's difficult to say with regards to how much to feed. If you read the back of the feed bags it will tell you how much to feed per day but if you feed that all in one go the horse will not absorb it all as their stomch is quite small and can only hold a certain amount. A good way of putting weight on is to feed 3 or 4 smaller feeds a day. Obviously this isn't possible for most people due to being at work etc. Is she at a livery yard where they can feed her at lunchtime for you or are you able to go down to feed her more often? I would swap the speedi-beet for alfa-beet. It is very conditioning and non-heating. I would also peoblably use a balancer like blue chip as this will ensure she is getting all of the vits and mins she needs.
 
xxRachelxx said:
It's difficult to say with regards to how much to feed. If you read the back of the feed bags it will tell you how much to feed per day but if you feed that all in one go the horse will not absorb it all as their stomch is quite small and can only hold a certain amount. A good way of putting weight on is to feed 3 or 4 smaller feeds a day. Obviously this isn't possible for most people due to being at work etc. Is she at a livery yard where they can feed her at lunchtime for you or are you able to go down to feed her more often? I would swap the speedi-beet for alfa-beet. It is very conditioning and non-heating. I would also peoblably use a balancer like blue chip as this will ensure she is getting all of the vits and mins she needs.
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Yes I can get to her to feed her more reguarly as she is two mins down the road from where i work and live, so its very possible :) What sort of blue chip would you use? Lots of people say to use blue chip but never tell me which one to use, I looked on their website and there were quite a few!
 
Why not do as we've just done and get an actual qualified nutritionist out from one of the feed companies. We've just had Louise from Dodson & Horrell out for the past couple of hours sorting out new diets for the whole yard and hopefully with her suggestions, should also be able to save some money. They don't charge for this - so why not make a phone call and ask. Most of the bigger feed companies all offer this service. If its only for one horse, they would also be able to help you over the phone. We take advantage of this service every year or whenever we think our horses are lacking something.
 
Penniless said:
Why not do as we've just done and get an actual qualified nutritionist out from one of the feed companies. We've just had Louise from Dodson & Horrell out for the past couple of hours sorting out new diets for the whole yard and hopefully with her suggestions, should also be able to save some money. They don't charge for this - so why not make a phone call and ask. Most of the bigger feed companies all offer this service. If its only for one horse, they would also be able to help you over the phone. We take advantage of this service every year or whenever we think our horses are lacking something.
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I was considering that but I always thought you had to pay for it, and as I always seem to be broke atm it wasn't possible, so very glad to hear its free!! I will have a look on their website and see if I can get the guts to ring someone ... I'm a complete wimp talking to strange people on the phone :o
 
personally I would let her have as much hay as she'll eat, and give her a bucket full of soaked sugarbeet to pick at over night so it's effectively ad lib.

I would then give her two or three small feeds of alfa oil and either barley (if she's ok with it) or full fat soya, and then a balancer to get the vits and mins in.
 
I would use blue chip pro. Alot of people don't use it beacuse they think it is for performance horses only but this is not the case. I know someone who uses it for her veteran (he's 38) and he does amazing on it. It is always worth ringing the companies too. They always have helpful people on the phones to help you decide what to feed and how much etc
 
jenhunt said:
personally I would let her have as much hay as she'll eat, and give her a bucket full of soaked sugarbeet to pick at over night so it's effectively ad lib.

I would then give her two or three small feeds of alfa oil and either barley (if she's ok with it) or full fat soya, and then a balancer to get the vits and mins in.
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The problem with the sugar beet would be she would scoff it all in one go, she loves it!! You can get her to eat anything as long as there is sugar beet in there lol.
 
tonitot said:
I was considering that but I always thought you had to pay for it, and as I always seem to be broke atm it wasn't possible, so very glad to hear its free!! I will have a look on their website and see if I can get the guts to ring someone ... I'm a complete wimp talking to strange people on the phone :o
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Well if you want Louise's direct number, feel free to PM me and I will let you have it. I know she's away on Monday so you would have to contact her after that.
 
tonitot said:
Yes she is out on her own, I'll start giving her two haynets then. I will try different types of feed, but how much in kg's should I give her?
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To be honest, if you increase the hay to ad lib you shouldn't have to increase the bucket feed too much. So start by ensuring she has hay available at all times (which will honestly work out much cheaper than bucket feeding and will help keep her warm as well), and see whether she starts to gain weight. If she still needs more, then start to gradually increase the amounts of Speedibeet and Alfa A Oil, rather than the barley, splitting into three feeds if possible. By the way, Speedibeet is more calorific than the AlfaBeet suggested by another poster. I'd feed up to a maximum of 2kg of Alfa A Oil a day, and 1.25 kg of Speedibeet - but work up to these quantities gradually - she made not need as much as that if on ad lib hay. The Pink Powder will supply vit/mins plus probiotics, if you choose to use a balancer such as Blue Chip it should be instead of the Pink Powder, not in addition to it.

The alternative is to switch to a conditioning cube - most people have their favourites and you will have plenty of recommendations on here - different ones work well on different horses! The feed manufacturers will give you various diets based on their own individual products, but their advice is free and they can help you with quantities.
 
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tonitot said:
The problem with the sugar beet would be she would scoff it all in one go, she loves it!! You can get her to eat anything as long as there is sugar beet in there lol.
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i used to think that too - and they do for the first night or two, but they soon get over the novelty of it, and at the end of the day it's only fibre so it doesn't matter if she does eat it all in one go!
 
I have very fine tbx and struggled to keep weight on her until I switched to calm and condition and fast fibre from a and p.They have helpline and nutritionist confirmed that I was feeding right amounts .
She has large scoop chaff small c and c and small fast fibre twice a day with plenty of hay ,as much as she wants I have hay bar and fill it to top plus hay in paddock at night.
She doesnt need priobiotic like pink powder it is added to cand c vits are all added at source as well.You can feed as much fast fibre as you like it wont do her any harm.
 
jenhunt said:
i used to think that too - and they do for the first night or two, but they soon get over the novelty of it, and at the end of the day it's only fibre so it doesn't matter if she does eat it all in one go!
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Ah okay, I might give that a go then :)

TGM - Thank you for all your help :) I will try that and see what happens
 
you could for a quick result give hayladge instead of hay (ad lib) and i would recommend blue chip keeps my girls looking there best

ooooh one other thing i find balieys cereal meal fantasitc if really struggling
 
If you want to feed Blue Chip then I would most probs just use the original as she is quite a young mare and in light work. My TBs were on original but now on Pro as they weren't doing as well as I liked. Got back in contact with blue chip and they suggested the switch due to their ages and not looked back. My youngster is on original.
 
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