Need A Cheaper Alternative

[LadyRascasse]

At the moment i'm feeding my mare on winergy growth but the price of it is to much for me to continue with in the long term, and a bag only last just over a week. she still needs some condition and will probably always need conditioning feed.

any thoughts?

 

[TGM]

I take it you are after a grain-free feed? You could try Dodson & Horrell's ERS Pellets, TopSpec's Cool Condition Cubes (which are unsupplemented so you need to feed with a vit/min supplement or balancer if you are worried about vit/min supply) or if you want something that is not quite as calorific as a conditioning feed but more than normal H&P cubes, then you could look at the Spiller's Slow Response Cubes.

Alternatively you could feed straight fibre feeds with a supplement or balancer - ie unmollassed beet, grass products, alfafa products with an oil source. Things like Fibrebeet, Alfabeet, AlfaA Oil, Speedibeet, Kwikbeet, Readigrass, Graze-On etc.

 

[Fleur100]

Try your local mill. They often have these type of feeds at a fraction of the pric of branded feeds

 

[Jeff3]

I used to feed this as well and changed for the same reason.

Firstly, if you look at the ingredients of Winergy Growth (and the other Winergy Equilibrium stuff) there is nothing special in it. Its basically just a chopped alfalfa and oat straw chaff with grass nuts and oil. The growth stuff isnt really as conditioning as typical conditioning feeds, it just has a bit more oil with less sugar. You can get the same results by feeding hifi lite with high fibre nuts or bog strandard horse and pony nuts and adding oil into the feed. If your horse drops weight a little, just add some more fibre.

Secondly, conditioning feeds are a con. Horses do not need as much protein and as much oil as the feed companies try to promote. My TB was very very skinny and I thought he would always need a conditioning feed, but he has maintained weight fine without it.

Thirdly, haylage is the best thing for keeping condition!

Good luck!

 

[LadyRascasse]

thanks for you replys haylage is too expensive for one and my gelding is allergic so don't want to be buy to different types. she has ad lib hay (and i mean ad lib 2 huge haynets at night that she never finishes and she shares her bf haynet through the window)

TGM i'm slightly (ok well very) confused what would you recommened as tried and tested. i'm not nesseracally (sorry can't spell) looking for a grain free feed, but is full blood tb nutter lol, she has enough eneregy, and has take to work very well.

the winergy growth has more caleries in it than standard feeds and she needed the immune system boost after being very ill with strangles. but is fine now.

 

[cellie]

I cant feed our new mare anything with high protein or energy content shes tbx and very fizzy.She was underweight when we bought her and possibly lost condition as she is stressy.She has put on nearly 40 kilos in 10 weeks just on ad lib hay big scoop of original chaff dengie and is now on speedy beet with added vits .She has tons of fibre and looks fit and healthy.

 

[maggiehorse]

bit more info please , age , workload , turnout facilities etc

 

[TGM]

[ QUOTE ]

TGM i'm slightly (ok well very) confused what would you recommened as tried and tested. i'm not nesseracally (sorry can't spell) looking for a grain free feed, but is full blood tb nutter lol, she has enough eneregy, and has take to work very well.


[/ QUOTE ] Well I purposely don't recommend just one feed and say 'that is fab', because so many people do that - instead I try to list a range of alternatives you can think about, and perhaps ring the relevant manufacturer for advice about quantities!

As to what I feed myself, I have a 7/8 TB veteran who starting dropping weight so I choose to feed her straights - sugar beet, veg oil and micronized barley. However, there is quite a lot of starch in barley, and starchy feeds have a tendency to hot 'nutters' up, so probably wouldn't be the best choice for your horse! I have also had success with Dodson & Horrell Build Up, but it does contain some cereals, so although it didn't heat my mare up, it possibly would yours.

In the past, I have also used AlfaBeet with added vegetable oil, for those that needed condition but no cereals.

A friend of mine has been feeding the Dodson & Horrell ERS Pellets to her horses - these are grain-free and contain more calories than standard conditioning feeds - and she has found them excellent for putting on condition whilst still keeping calm temperaments.

But you have to remember different things work for different horses - what works on one horse, won't work on another, which is why I have tried to list a range of alternatives.

To give you some idea of cost, here is a list of grain-free foodstuffs and how much it costs to supply 10 MJDE (horsey calories) from each:

Supabeet: 24p (low starch but 20% sugar!)
SpeediBeet: 37p
Top Spec Cool Condition Cubes: 44p
Alfa A (either Original or Oil): 46p
AlfaBeet: 50p
Dodson & Horrell ERS Pellets: 52p
Winergy Growth: 60p
Outshine: 72p
Equijewel: 94p

You have to bare in mind that only the Growth, the Outshine and the ERS pellets are fully supplemented with vit/mins.

 

[LadyRascasse]

thank you tmg,

she is and is ridden lightly 6 days a week though once she is fit she will be doing harder work and is turned out from about 8 til 4 sometimes long sometime shorter.

 

[Coffee_Bean]

Haven't read the whole post, but I have found Baileys no.4 with speedibeet, alfa a oil and barley rings great for keeping condition on.

 

[Scarlett]

I had to stop feeding Winergy due to cost too, I just couldn't stomach paying £15 for a bag of feed each week per horse. I've switched to Allen and Page feeds again and horses are keeping weight on well, despite being out 24/7. I'd recommend either Fast Fibre with a conditioning cube like Dodson and Horrell Build Up or Baileys No4, or A&P Calm and Condition to keep weight on without the usual fizzyness. ..

 

[pollypt]

I changed from Winergy to Allan and page, the first week she was a bit off, but after that no poblems.

 

[black_n_white]

Rather than expensive conditioning feeds you could try adding veg oil to her feed. I used to do that for my TBx and it really helped him gain and then hold weight over the winter.

 

[aran]

I'd try alfa, unmolassed sugarbeet, intant linseed and a vit min (like equivit) twice a day. If she needs more conditioning then try something like triple crown top up, topspec conditioning flakes or baileys no 1. If going for a conditioning mix/cube becareful adding supplements or any straights as you will unbalance it.