Mixing your own feed

[seaview]

Does anyone have any advice regarding mixing your own feed?
I woudl eb very interesting in doing this as I will have 6 horses in during the winter.
Thanks
Nat

 

[Faithkat]

I like feeding straights because you can see exactly what your are giving and it can work out much cheaper than bought mixes but you have to make sure that you feed correct balances of things. E.g. oats need calcium to balance them etc. I used to feed my Arab on straights, he had oats, barley, maize and Alfa-A. He did really well and absolutely loved them.

 

[PapaFrita]

I'm with Forester; I feed straight oats (soaked) plus alfalfa and sunflower seeds. I summer I feed brewer's yeast to keep mosquitos at bay, and when I remember I also feed seeweed.

 

[Triskar]

I have 2 ponies & 2 horses and feed the following twice a day:

1/2 scoop alfalfa nuts soaked together with 1/2 scoop sugar beet pellets for 24 hours (which does all 4 equines)

1/2 scoop broad bran (yes I know its frowned on, but they like it and the sugar beet & alfalfa counteract the poor calcium/phosphorus ratio...)

Anywhere between a small handful (for the stroppy jumping mare) and 1/2 scoop (for the littlest, oldest - and toothless - pony) of steamed rolled barley.

They all have a mineralised salt lick, and the stroppy jumping mare has a magnesium supplement, and they have seed hay - which has to be rationed because they are all good doers - even the one that arrived as a poor doer! I do turn them out in a sacrifice paddock during the day in winter.

I've fed them (or their predecessors) like this for 20 years and they have always been in good condition, but I do know that it probably seems like a really old fashioned feeding regime. It is inexpensive, tho'!

 

[seaview]

i would look into it before I went ahead but where would you get the info about what quantities, did anyone find the oats caused excitability?
Nat
x

 

[seaview]

when u say steamed rolled barley is this just the barley you buy from feed shops?
or is it the flaked stuff? sorry just wanting to get all facts straight before i do anything?
do you feed anytype of chaff with it?
x

 

[Triskar]

I get it from the local feed place - it isn't as squashed as flaked barley, but its very digestible. I used to get rolled barley from another supplier, but it was very hard and indigestible, so I do think that the steaming makes a difference. No, I don't feed any chaff - these quantities make a decent sized meal for each of them because the sugarbeet and alfalfa hold so much water, so they feel full after it, and because it's all fibre they don't bolt it down anyway. In the summer, when they're out at night and in out of the flies (and off the grass....) I feed exactly the same, but only one meal as a reward for being caught. A bag of each of the ingredients lasts about a month in summer, 2 weeks in winter for my 4, so I end up spending around £1.50 a horse a week for hard feed in summer, £3.00 each a week in winter. What a cheapskate!

 

[seaview]

that sounds fab I always end up spending a complete fortune on my lot through the winter and definitely going to try it.
just as long as it doesnt make them nutty
nat
x

 

[Triskar]

No, it definitely is a calming diet - I'm a nervous rider and I can manage even the OH's giant ex-racehorse (who is currently being re-schooled - the horse, not the OH!)

 

[mandy4727]

For years and years and years. I always fed my ponies.
Bran
Sugar Beet
Mollichop
And the cheapest coarse mix you could get.

Margo lived until she was 29 and was still doing well.

Tartan is now 39. But must admit since the introduction of conditioning feeds and veteran mixes I have been messing around with these quite a bit. And he doesn't look half as well as he did or Margo did on the original feeds that they were given years ago. But yep old age might be part of it with Tartan now. He gets Alfalfa - big round scoop, bran (I know but he likes it and won't eat his feed unles it is in it!!!) and Top Spec Conditioning Flakes (which aren't conditioning him yet???) and he enjoys it and eats it all.

 

[the watcher]

In summer I feed molasses free sugar beet and alfalfa which carry the pink power,garlic, salts and any specific suppliments. In winter I supplement this with a produced rice bran pellet. I only have two horses so storing straights is not so convenient for me. If I had more horses I would definitely feed all straights

 

[Tia]

Ye I mix my own feeds too as I have generally around 20 horses to feed. I used whole oats, sunflower seeds, a low-sugar coarsemix, timothy cubes and then seperately soak sugar beet.

To buy pre-prepared feeds for this amount of horses would bankrupt me I'm afraid.

 

[JaneSteventon]

I feed unmollassed sugarbeet, alfalfa nuts and cooked linseed in varying amounts depending on the time of year. I add seaweed to this and my horses look great and are both very sensible to ride and handle.

 

[dunc_n_toby]

Mine are on livery but get straights - Yard rocket fuel for hunting! Sugar beet, alfa alfa, barley, oil, fancy bran stuff(can't remember the name) and some get conditioning cubes too, or a balancer

 

[dunc_n_toby]

oh and oats can't forget the oats!

 

[parsley]

I have just been discussing this with my mum who is a 72 year old horsey lady. She says she used to feed my 12.2 7 lbs of oats a day!!!!! She said it did make her a bit hot headed but I was OK. I was asking as I would like to feed my two straights - does anyone know where you can get feeding advice from. I was going to ask mum but I can't imagine how many lbs of oats she would want to give a 700kg 16.2!

BTW she was completly adament that barley should not be fed as it made them fat inside. We also used to feed micronised flaked maize, bran and chaff.

 

[allijudd]

at the hunt yard i used to work in we used to feed everybody 2 scoops of oats and 2 scoops of barley with 1 scoop dengie hifi, with redcell aswell. twice a day..but then they were hunting about 3 times a week and hacking everyday bar sunday......

thats really no help is it?

 

[Triskar]

A lot of people claim that barley is fattening - that's because it's more digestible than oats, so you need to feed 2/3 the amount that you would feed of oats. I used to feed my old TB oats instead of the barley, but oats have a seemingly hallucinogenic effect on my Arab - he gets really freaked out by hang gliders and microlights while he usually doesn't bother about them (or the MOD flying over the field so low that you feel that you could reach up and touch them!). I wouldn't feed them to children's ponies for the same reason - they can be a bit intoxicating. An old pony that I used to have had eyes that would go as black as boot buttons when he'd eaten oats, and he used to turn into the devil incarnate!

 

[seaview]

Thanks everyone for your advice.
I went to feed merchant and thought I would do it very gradually so I got the barley and Linseed at the moment I am feeding Barley Sugar Beet and Alfa A I will defo look into the alfalfa nuts next trip though.
Does anyone know re quantities as cos I am new to feeding straights dont want to do any harm!
she is 15.2 thoroughbred and as recovering from surgery isnt in work at the moment, she is in through the night and out on good grass during the day.
The other is her 2 year old daughter, very good doer as she is half bred,
the other is a 15.2 4 year old who will be ridden about 5-6 times per week in the winter.
Thanks all sooooo much!
x

 

[Triskar]

I'd start with 1/2 lb dried weight sugar beet soaked for 24 hours, with 1/2 lb barley and 2 lb Alfa A, divided between the 3 of them - so a mere handful for the not-in-work mare as a reward for coming in, a small feed for the baby since she's a good doer on good grass, and the lion's share going to the horse in work, then adjust according to condition and whether you need to increase the energy levels for the one in work.