Readi Grass

[Birker2020]

I need to buy a bag of chaff for my 17.1hh WB gelding who is quite a good doer. He's currently out on grass but will shortly be moving to a sandpit for 2 hours a day and I'd like to keep some form of grass flowing through his system to the spring when he can go out again on grass. He's normally fed on Dengie Hi Fi Light or Good Doer but I'd like him to have some readi grass to ix with his existing chaff until it runs out and then carry on with it afterwards.

Is it very weight gaining? I am talking about a large handful fed twice per day so not very much really. He's hacked once a week, schooled other days, one day off a week and competed dressage/sj/ODE about once every 3 weeks now.

Is it very weight gaining fed in the quantities I have suggested.
I have also considered adding speedi beet to his feed as an additional source of fibre and to keep him warm and as a slow release energy.

Am I doing right?

 

[supsup]

Ready grass is pretty much the same as chopped hay, except that the drying process is slightly different. It is made of very rich ryegrass though, so it's higher in protein than "normal" hay, and I'm guessing also higher in sugar. The webpage lists it at 10MJ/kg energy, which is a bit higher than that of hay, but not by much, and higher than Dengie Hifi lite or good doer (7.5 and 7MJ/kg).
Despite what they say on their website, it is not the same as fresh grass, so IMO it won't help your horse stay used to pasture until spring. You'd still have to slowly introduce pasture grass again.

Why don't you just feed more hay? In terms of nutritional content, chaff really doesn't provide anything in addition to what hay can provide, unless it is fortified with vits&mins and fed at the recommended rate (of several scoops a day, for most horses). If you want to feed a small bucket feed and have a good doer, then I'd probably stick with the lower-calorie chaffs, though at two hands/day, even the Readi grass won't add a whole lot of calories. I'd probably feed some sort of balancer though (or vit&min supplement) if you're not feeding a fortified feed at recommended rate.

 

[Birker2020]

Ready grass is pretty much the same as chopped hay, except that the drying process is slightly different. It is made of very rich ryegrass though, so it's higher in protein than "normal" hay, and I'm guessing also higher in sugar. The webpage lists it at 10MJ/kg energy, which is a bit higher than that of hay, but not by much, and higher than Dengie Hifi lite or good doer (7.5 and 7MJ/kg).
Despite what they say on their website, it is not the same as fresh grass, so IMO it won't help your horse stay used to pasture until spring. You'd still have to slowly introduce pasture grass again.

Why don't you just feed more hay? In terms of nutritional content, chaff really doesn't provide anything in addition to what hay can provide, unless it is fortified with vits&mins and fed at the recommended rate (of several scoops a day, for most horses). If you want to feed a small bucket feed and have a good doer, then I'd probably stick with the lower-calorie chaffs, though at two hands/day, even the Readi grass won't add a whole lot of calories. I'd probably feed some sort of balancer though (or vit&min supplement) if you're not feeding a fortified feed at recommended rate.

Thanks for that reply, that is very helpful, you sound like you are a feed nutrionist - are you? The digestible energy is quite a lot higher as you point out but then he is in light to medium work and I intend to start feeding a competition mix soon (Spillers Response Instant Energy mix) as I used it last year with great sucess, it provided stamina but no silliness.

I already feed pink powder as he is colic prone hence trying to keep him on some form of grass until the summer (even if it is dried grass). I thought he might like it too, the problem with hifi light and good doer is that they are quite 'boring' to horses even with the addition of the mint they put in. I've put him a mix of garlic granules and mint from NAF and started putting that in his feeds about 5 weeks ago so at least its something a bit different i guess.

What do you think about speedibeet?

 

[autumn7]

I realise not a chaff but have you considered grass pellets? Simple System do an absolutely pure grass pellet which doesn't even contain binders. They do a blue bag (summer grass) and red bag (spring grass) version. Take a look at their web site. These have to be soaked as cubes but your comp. mix or any supplements can be stirred in.

 

[supsup]

Not a nutritionist, just an amateur with a couple of distance learning courses under my belt. I didn't realize you fed anything in addition to the chaffs you mentioned. If you'll be feeding a mix and pink powder anyway, then you're already feeding a fortified feed plus a vit&min supplement, so you'd be covered on that front (though it might be interesting to read labels and see how much you're feeding in total if you combine the mix and pink powder at whatever dose you feed it, and whether that hits the mark).

If the chaff/readi grass is really more of an add-on to the bucket feed to provide some extra fibre, then I honestly don't think it matters much what (or if) you choose to feed, as at two handfuls/day, the amount isn't going to contribute too much to the overall calorie intake. Personally, I find it a bit of a waste of money to add any sort of "fibre feed" to the bucket (at least from a nutritional point of view) because you're pretty much guaranteed to be better off (in terms of cost and overall calorie intake) just feeding more hay. But if the fibre feed adds interest to the bucket, or is used as a carrier for something else, I'd just go with whatever your horse likes. Readi grass certainly isn't a bad choice if you don't have a horse that is particularly sugar sensitive (might be too rich for a lami-prone horse).
Speedibeet isn't a bad choice either - low in sugar and starch, high in easily digestible fibre. My horse just hates slobber feed, so turns his nose up at speedibeet. One thing to keep in mind is that once soaked, about 4/5 of the volume is water, so the caloric content is pretty low. That's great if you have a good doer and you want to bulk out the feed, but can be a draw back if you're trying to put on weight, and the horse just can't cope with massive portions. Some people report their horses don't get on with speedibeet (upsets their gut). No reason "on paper" why it should cause problems, so I think it's one of those individual things, and you'll only know if you try whether your horse is one of those.

FWIW, my friend (whose horse shares the field with mine) has a tricky gut and tends towards sloppy poos, particularly in spring. She's tried a whole range of products to help the gut, plus some "straights" (yea sacc, brewers yeast) and has settled on a combination of NAF Magic and protexin. Just one person's opinion, but that combination seems to deliver the best results for her mare, though it doesn't eliminate the squirts entirely in spring.

Hope that helps.

 

[AdorableAlice]

I feed it along with speedibeet to my 4 year olds. Cheap and easy to use and good to hide any supplements/meds that may be used. It is one of very few chops that are not alpha or sugar coated.

Reading what your lad does work wise I would think he would be fine on just adlib hay. If I have read the work plan properly he is out of his box for 2 hours a day in the sand pit plus one hack a week and some work in the school, so he is stabled for around 20/21 hours over a 24 hour period.

If that is correct, and I apologise if I have it wrong, the only thing an equine gut will need is fibre, more fibre and yet more fibre. If you want to get grass into him and there is no turnout available until spring you would need to either move him or perhaps set aside an hour a day to hand graze him somewhere.

 

[Birker2020]

Hi Autumn 7. The trouble with the grass pellets comes from the soaking. We have to make our feeds up in advance as all the horses are fed at the same time (7am and 4pm) whilst I am at work. That's why I not really sure if opting for the speedibeet or grass pellets will be a good solution as it will be hanging around soaked from say 7pm the night before when I stick it in my feed bucket made up with the mix and supplements to 4pm the next day, nearly 24 hours.

Hi Supsup I tried the protexin at first but its ridiculously expensive which is why I opted for the pink powder which is much cheaper. My horse is on Magic anyway so that's interesting what you say about it. I think I will have to up his hay in the winter anyway as they only go out for two hours a day on the sandpit although they have a net to munch during that time, but it won't hurt him to have an extra net for the time during the day when he is in too in addition to the one before turnout and the three o'clock one.

Adorable Alice I thought of the Readigrass because coming up to the spring when it was lighter after work I was hacking him out/walking him in hand with the sole intention of getting some verge side grass in him in the weeks prior to him being turned out in the paddock and it was a bit of a fiddle and very time consuming to boot. I don't really want to move yards though, one of the reasons I selected this yard was because he was suspensory branch injured at the time and I liked the idea of the sandpit instead of the six inches of muddy fields I was used to at previous yards to help with his injury (which it did).


I am going to Your Horse Live next week so I might take a look at the feed stands and see if I can get an idea. He is only ridden four times a week in the school (one session of an hour, and three of 30 mins), two days hacking or one day hacking/one day competition or jumping practice, so its not like his work load is great I know.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Thanks for that reply, that is very helpful, you sound like you are a feed nutrionist - are you? The digestible energy is quite a lot higher as you point out but then he is in light to medium work and I intend to start feeding a competition mix soon (Spillers Response Instant Energy mix) as I used it last year with great sucess, it provided stamina but no silliness.

I already feed pink powder as he is colic prone hence trying to keep him on some form of grass until the summer (even if it is dried grass). I thought he might like it too, the problem with hifi light and good doer is that they are quite 'boring' to horses even with the addition of the mint they put in. I've put him a mix of garlic granules and mint from NAF and started putting that in his feeds about 5 weeks ago so at least its something a bit different i guess.

What do you think about speedibeet?

If he is colic prone I suggest you get some of this for emergencies http://pro-equine.com/products/colikare

 

[WelshD]

Readigrass sent one of mine nuts but he is fine with Graze On which has the benefits of being a shorter chop so more like a chaff and also is a lot cheaper

Mine get fed a small short feed then are left with hay and a trug with the grass in for them to pick at but you could also use it as a chaff in a feed