Forage 'blocks'

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ecrozier

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Can anyone remind me who makes those forage block things? Thinking of getting a sack as new yard keep them in when fields are really really wet, which is ok as get plenty of hay and walker twice and it's not been that often, think today is 5th time so far since August, but just thought the forage blocks might give them something else to do on 'duvet days'! And before anyone says wouldn't be at a yard where they weren't out every day etc, unfortunately there simply aren't many DIY yards left round here, and the ones that do turnout all year round without fail are also the ones that either don't have schools/rubbish schools, or dreadful hacking, and with a 6 year old with spavin, good hacking and a good surface are high priorities! :) thanks in advance :)
 
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vam

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Lol! You know HHO so well! Not much help but I’m at a yard that is similar (for the same sort of reasons to), only been kept in one day and it was only half a day at that but to be fair i did think i would have been better getting to the yard by boat than car :D.
I would be interested to know about the blocks as well, my nice chilled boy has now decided that life isn’t worth living if he can’t go out with his mates at this new place and is a bit of a stress head if on the odd occasion he is kept in so I want something that will keep him busy. I normally have Ready grass on hand over winter to give him through the day but wondered if the blocks might keep him occupied for longer.
 
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ecrozier

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That's my thinking Vam, he's actually got better each time they have stayed in, the first couple of times he just spent the day circling his stable! But today went back in and straight to haynet, so that's a good sign. This is first time its been 2 days in a row though :/ Can understand why they do it as there isnt masses and masses of grazing to trash, so they manage what they have very well.
Only time he gets stressy now is if the others go out, eg on walker once staff arrive - i am the only DIY on our block so they all go on walker en masse about 8.15 by which time I've gone home!
 
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ridefast

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I fed my cob blocks for a while thinking it would take her a good few hours to get through them. She took about 5 minutes to eat them
 
vam

vam

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ecrozier said:
Ps Vam how long ago did you move? I reckon I moved 2 months ago and he is possibly JUST starting to relax!
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Moved at the beginning of September. He was settling really well even thou he got kicked the second day out and needed stitching so he was on box rest for over a week, perfectly fine and happy. He went out on a small paddock for a while before going out with the rest of the group and has been fine until he got kicked again needing stitching about 2 weeks ago. He didn’t cope well at all, running round his stable with a full bandage on his back leg isn’t ideal, he did settle a bit but I was hand grazing him twice a day. I think that and struggling to find hay he would eat meant he got really wound up and lost weight.
He is out now and was starting to settle again until they had to come in as a mock hunt was going past and it set him off again. He can see the field they are in from his stable (winter field) which is his biggest problem, it’s like a kid being stuck in the class room while everyone else is out playing. Plus he can see when people are hacking round the field which makes his eyes pop out his head. He is getting there but I was gutted that my laid back to the point of asleep horse now gets wound up being in during the day. Like yours he is worse when he can see all the others going out, after they are out he will settle a bit until they come in again.
He will chill out in time, he has had a lot of changes in the space of a couple of months I think and after being on a yard where he was out on his own I can’t really blame him for being a bit stressed when he thinks he isn’t going to go out with the rest of the horses.

Not convinced the blocks are worth it if they dont take long to eat thou. I can see you can soak them to make a chop, would this take them longer to eat? If thats the case would you not be feeding the same as a bucket of chaff or Ready grass?
 
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Hen

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Mine get one or two blox each evening depending on how far they've got through their evening nets - they take around an hour to work their way through one block, fed dry.

Sometimes I soak one down into a wet chop feed and it makes a huge bucket, takes around the same amount of time to work through.

How 'ravenously' they attack a dry block depends on its flavour - they love the alfalfa and alfalfa/grass blends but can take or leave one with oat straw. Timothy grass lasts a while but it's not their favourite, they are alfalfa fans through and through :)
 
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9tails

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vam said:
I normally have Ready grass on hand over winter to give him through the day but wondered if the blocks might keep him occupied for longer.
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Judging by the way mine demolished a LucieBrix last night, in 5 minutes flat, probably not! The best thing I found to keep them occupied was to put larger fibre cubes in a decahedron, they don't come out easily at all and kept mine occupied if a little annoyed for the entire day.
 
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ecrozier

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Thanks all. He gets fibre nuts in a ball, but will attack that first before starting his Haynet and as he's a bit of a fatty, I can't over fill it really!
 
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Hen

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Enfys said:
Has anyone had any problems with choke feeding these?
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No, I've had 3 different horses try the dry blox with no problems. That said, although they are all food-motivated QHs, they are also used to trickle feeding so tend not to try to take big chunks out of anything, they just move those little jaws faster ;)

The brand I feed tends to crumble up into very small pieces, so they alternate gnawing with flitering up all the little bits with their lips. They are just fussy about the content!!

I do have a friend whose mare got very mild colic symptoms after trying her first one; that said, the mare had travelled 4 hours that day to a strange location and leaving her with a new forage stuff at night check probably wasn't the ideal thing to do.
 
3Beasties

3Beasties

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I got some samples of the feedmark ones from yhl. My mare seems to pick at it over night so each block is lasting a good few days. Not sure if she's taking her time because she doesn't really like them or if she isnt as greedy as she led me to believe!

How much are the blocks in the 3rd link posted and can then be bought online?
 
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starry94

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I got the feedmark ones from yhl but I just looked nd I think the halleys feeds ones might work out slightly cheaper so will probably buy a few of them when my feedmark ones run out to see if he likes them
 
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ABC

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Been looking at the halley feeds site, and it says £8ish for a bag, how many blocks are there in bag? It probably does say and I'm just being dim :eek:
 
Brightbay

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Halleys have 12 in a bag. You can order online from them and they deliver all over the UK. I believe they are the original manufacturers of the Simple Systems ones, so easier to buy direct (also they have a wider choice of different kinds... our horses aren't picky and will eat the BigFibre Blox, but fussier eaters may prefer the Timothy ones.

Ours live out, and I think like to nibble something dry to make up for all the wet grass they eat, so a block doesn't last long, but a horse with a variety of other forage (i.e. when stabled) will be less likely to munch the lot all in one go ;)
 
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