Stud Feed balancer- which one to use?

[mellissa]

Hello all,


Just a quick one- my mare is a bit of a fatty and I was going to use a balancer with her normal stud cubes for the last three months to ensure the right nutrients for foal.

Which one do you use- and consider the best in terms of value, and resulting condition of heavily pregnant mare etc. A bit of research before I troll on down to the shop!

Thank you!

XXx

 

[Tempi]

My mare is a very good doer aswell. Throughout her whole pregnancy she just had Baileys stud balancer and chaff - no stud nuts as they wouldve made her explode! A month before she foaled her feed was increased. Baileys advise you on how much you should be feeding and when to increase it etc, just give them a ring they are really helpful.

 

[Blacklist]

Have a look at www.feedmark.com very good and reasonable - we use benevit advance

 

[GinnieRedwings]

My mare is a very good doer aswell. Throughout her whole pregnancy she just had Baileys stud balancer and chaff - no stud nuts as they wouldve made her explode! A month before she foaled her feed was increased. Baileys advise you on how much you should be feeding and when to increase it etc, just give them a ring they are really helpful.

I have to second Tempi. Bailey's Stud Balancer with a bit of sugar beet pulp and soaked grass nuts is all I'm feeding my good-doing broodmare and she is looking fab on it & not overweight - well except for the baby belly, but that's different
The reason I chose Baileys is twofold:
1- I like them as a feed brand anyway because I have seen a couple of their nutritionists at demos and it is very obvious they care more about feeding horses right than flogging lots of shortfeed (they constantly remind you that most horses don't actually need cereal-based feed, provided they have ad-lib forage, which is better for their gut, especially if they don't do that much work and keep the weight on ok)
2- A recent study in New Zealand on thoroughbred mares with a genetic predisposition for having foals with Osteochondrointis Disecan (OCD) - a very common limb difformity, most thoroughbreds & warblood bloodlines throws one every now and then - showed that increasing the copper levels in the mare's feed in the last 3 months of gestation meant foals straightened up by the time they were 18 months old. The Bailey's Stud Balancer has the right (and much higher than normal) amount of copper - I should really get the exact amount/Kg of horse & will do if anyone's interested...
In any case, feed less volume and more nutricious stuff, I remember being pregnant and being starving most of the time, only to find that my daughter probably had a foot on my stomach, which meant I really couln't get very much down at all

 

[Blacklist]

Benevit Advance by Feedmark has 937mg/kg of copper per 2 scoop dose which is for horses upto 16hh - we have nine mares in foal all on Benevit Advance. Email Feedmark they are usually more than happy to advise. Although it could be difficult to mix B A with stud cubes as it is a powder, more of a supplement than a balancer.

 

[GinnieRedwings]

Blacklists, I may be wrong but I think the indication 937mg/kg indicates that if you feed 1kg of product, there will be 937mg of copper in that, so 2 scoops of powder would only be a very small proportion.
I found the recommended amounts from the study: 0.5mg of copper per kg of horse per day = 250mg for an "average" horse of 500kg in the last 3 months of pregnancy (or about 270g of product @ 937mg/kg).

 

[Blacklist]

Blacklists, I may be wrong but I think the indication 937mg/kg indicates that if you feed 1kg of product, there will be 937mg of copper in that, so 2 scoops of powder would only be a very small proportion.
I found the recommended amounts from the study: 0.5mg of copper per kg of horse per day = 250mg for an "average" horse of 500kg in the last 3 months of pregnancy (or about 270g of product @ 937mg/kg).

Point taken! I am well and truly put in my place!

I am only talking from experience as we have used Benevit Advance for around 4 years with no complaints.

Many people spend a lot of money on branded specialist feeds, they are good quality but expensive - when you have a large number of horses as we do other feeding methods (probably old fashioned) have to be used the main thing is a good quality balanced diet with added vitamins and minerals etc.