Probiotics for squitty haylage bottom - how long till they work?

[soloequestrian]

My mare has been really squitty for a few weeks, but the two boys are fine on the same haylage. They all live out and so share a feeder. I've been giving her Yakult for 5 days now and I think it's getting a little bit better. How long would you expect it to take and should I be giving her more than one per day?
Thank you!

 

[glenruby]

Probiotics are probably not going to do anything for the scour. Certainly not in that quantity. The only place I know to actually use probiotics with measurable success used to require 60mls of probiotic yoghurt twice daily. Even calves and foals need similar amounts. 1 yakult is highly unlikely to be of any benefit to your mare.
Using a specifically veterinary product like Diarsanyl or Pro-kaolin is likely to be far more beneficial.

 

[milliepup]

I've used Yakult for years but put it on 2 a day, 1 morn and 1 night. It does work wonders.
Good luck

 

[cm2581]

NAF haylage balancer should help. I think its designed for exactly this problem. Mite be worth giving it a try!

 

[soloequestrian]

Thanks, I'll up it to two a day. I'm hoping I'll be able to cut down again after a bit - would that be correct?

 

[legaldancer]

You could try yea-sacc. It used to work on one of mine. I use Biotal Gold now when the grass is rich in Spring so that may help.

 

[splash30]

I have just used NAF biotics, its a 10 day course to help get horses insides back on track, i don't normally go for these type of things at all (i normally think a waste of money) but my horse had loose droppings from the haylage, so i thought i would give it a go, and the difference in a few days is remarkable, im very impressed as im normally a pessimist when it comes to these things.

 

[Natpillai]

My horse had a similar problem. I put him on Baileys Digest Plus and that worked quite well, although I also had to swap him from haylage to hay and it has cleared right up (we're very lucky to have an excellent hay supplier near us who does really good quality stuff).

Is it just me, or does this seem to have been a far more prolific issue this year? Any ideas why?!?

 

[K27]

yes you can use live yoghurt as a probiotic .
In the past I've used Bio Premium Probiotic on my horse when he was young that couldn't take the haylage- it worked very quickly, in fact overnight! , in the end though it wasn't cost effective to keep him on it for weeks and weeks at a time so we just ended up changing the type of haylage and he was much better.

 

[glenruby]

I probably should have been more clear.
k27 hit the nail on the head. Its not economical to use yoghurt (the place I mentioned that did so with success is actually also a yoghutr and cheese factory with a dairy herd and yard full of pointers.) Yakult in those quantities would not be sufficient to treat anything other than a (small) foal. I was going to suggest a change in haylage but presumed that would be easier said than done.