TB feeding - new option?

[Mkw]

I have a 4 yo TB mare. She's in decent condition, but as many TB's she's not exactly cheap to keep that way
Aside from lots of hay, she gets ERS pellets from Dodson & Horrell, and it works fine it's just a hassle to get where I live and is expensive.
Then I just saw that pavo has a knew variety called ease and excel and was wondering, what people thought? The ingredients etc can be seen here
https://www.pavohorses.co.uk/products/pavo-easeexcel

I want something she doesn't need to eat a ton of to keep weight and also low starch, as she has a tendency to ulcers but other than that, I'm pretty clueless, since I've always had easy keepers.
Pavo is only a little cheaper per kg but as I won't have to pay shipping etc. as I can actually buy it near to where I live, it bol be a lot cheaper. That's assuming she will keep weight on the recommended amount of course, but won't know that unless we try it.

 

[Leo Walker]

I've never heard of Pavo but I swear Havens make slobbermash and someone else does ease and excel?!

 

[Leo Walker]

For keeping weight on economically I highly recommend the rice bran oil product Keyflow make.

 

[Mkw]

Oil is sadly not an option, as she won't eat her food if I put oil in it. Same goes for wet foods such as mash etc.
As I said, she's fine on the ERS pellets, so I'm mostly just curious about this one from Pavo, because so few make low starch feeds for anything other than easy keepers, which I find strange, as a lot of those in hard work and/or that are hard to keep weight on, are also the ones that often have tendencies to have gut problems.
So just curious what people think, as I'm considering trying it out.

 

[maya2008]

I use micronised linseed. The linseed is absolutely amazing for keeping weight on, and my TB will eat it, unlike oil!

 

[ester]

I've never heard of Pavo but I swear Havens make slobbermash and someone else does ease and excel?!

Baileys do

 

[honetpot]

I have tried most things and money wise Red Mills soya four,https://www.millbryhill.co.uk/equestrian-c4/red-mills-full-fat-soya-p1397
Its a 25kg bag and seems to have no smell, mixes well and you only need a couple of mugs a day.
It got a high DE. Its also high protein but so watch if they have poor renal function. Rice bran is good but its expensive, I think Saracens has the best price per kg.

 

[TGM]

If the ERS Pellets work have you not got a Dodson & Horrell supplier locally who will order some in for you with their regular delivery of D&H feed? That is what I do and they don't charge me any extra.

 

[SEL]

Never heard of Pavo so it's hard to comment. There is a real mix of stuff in the ingredients.

D&H seem to have changed the ERS pellets to 'cubes' per our feed store. I can't work out if this is just branding or a product change.

 

[DabDab]

Yeah it looks fine - it's using soya for the low starch energy/weight gain element rather than linseed in the ERS pellets. It's 18% higher energy than the pellets though, so it might be worth weighing meals of each one to check you're not overfeeding her.

I think 'Gain' make some similar products too, and I'm pretty sure Redmills make a high fibre/low starch cube with about the same energy as the ERS pellets.

 

[DabDab]

Oh, or another suggestion - sure grow...Which is meant to be a youngstock feed but I've fed it to everything

 

[Leo Walker]

Oh, or another suggestion - sure grow...Which is meant to be a youngstock feed but I've fed it to everything

Its a balancer designed for good doer youngstock so not sure it would work?

The rice bran oil product is pellets not oil and is designed for exactly your circumstances. I fed it to mine when any sort of starch or sugar sent him off his rocker but he still needed calories due to being in genuinely hard work.

http://keyflowfeeds.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Keyflow-Key-Plus.pdf

 

[Mkw]

If the ERS Pellets work have you not got a Dodson & Horrell supplier locally who will order some in for you with their regular delivery of D&H feed? That is what I do and they don't charge me any extra.

D&H is horribly expensive where I live (Denmark), so it's cheaper to get from Germany and pay the shipping and always buy big amount to get it a bit cheaper.
That's why I thought, if the one from Pavo was any good, I might just try it.

 

[Mkw]

The rice bran oil product is pellets not oil and is designed for exactly your circumstances. I fed it to mine when any sort of starch or sugar sent him off his rocker but he still needed calories due to being in genuinely hard work.

http://keyflowfeeds.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Keyflow-Key-Plus.pdf

Oh ok, then I've tried a similar product of another brand though. She wasn't a big fan, but maybe she will eat it from another brand, if I end up needing it

 

[nikkimariet]

Pavo has a fair amount of fillers from memory. I feed Fig the Havens Slobbermash. It's the least I've had to feed him even if it's still £££.

 

[JaneB]

I have a 4 yo TB mare. She's in decent condition, but as many TB's she's not exactly cheap to keep that way
Aside from lots of hay, she gets ERS pellets from Dodson & Horrell, and it works fine it's just a hassle to get where I live and is expensive.
Then I just saw that pavo has a knew variety called ease and excel and was wondering, what people thought? The ingredients etc can be seen here
https://www.pavohorses.co.uk/products/pavo-easeexcel

I want something she doesn't need to eat a ton of to keep weight and also low starch, as she has a tendency to ulcers but other than that, I'm pretty clueless, since I've always had easy keepers.
Pavo is only a little cheaper per kg but as I won't have to pay shipping etc. as I can actually buy it near to where I live, it bol be a lot cheaper. That's assuming she will keep weight on the recommended amount of course, but won't know that unless we try it.

Pavo Ease & Excel is available throughout Europe and is sold under contract from the UK manufacturer, Baileys. https://www.pavo-hestefoder.dk/ease-and-excel www.easeandexcel.co.uk

It is low starch yet with a high enough calorie content to support performance and promote condition.

 

[honetpot]

When you look at the ingredients, you would be better buying them separately.

'Soya Bean Hulls, Oatfeed, Alfalfa Meal, Alfalfa & Green Oat Straw Chaff, Soya Oil, Distillers’ Grains, Ground Beet Pulp, Micronised Wheat, Soya Bean Meal, Molasses, Micronised Soya Beans, Micronised Linseed, Wheatfeed, Vitamins and Minerals, Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Sodium Chloride, Beta-Glucans (0.15g/kg), Magnesium Carbonate, Fructo-oligosaccharide (3g/kg)'

I had to look the last one up,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructooligosaccharide
Interesting is it to make it more palatable?
We are learning so much about nutrition, mainly keep it simple and preferably forage based.

 

[Mkw]

Sure, I could buy it all separately, but then I would need to know a lot more about horses nutritional needs and also have space to store 10 different types of food etc. I'm ok with paying a manufacturer to mix it all up, it makes if easier for me

I'm not necessarily looking for the cheapest option, just curious about this particular new product from Pavo.
That it's also cheaper is a bonus - but if it's a bad choice of food, she'll stay on the ERS pellets, as they work well for her

As said, I'm not that knowledgeable about feeding this type of horse, my main concern has always just been restricting the grass intake and picking tasty vitamins for my very easy keepers.
So just curious to hear other people's thoughts of this product .

 

[DabDab]

Its a balancer designed for good doer youngstock so not sure it would work?

Designed for breeding stock in general. It's not really a mineral balancer in the traditional sense, so you can feed quite a bit of it if required. These are the ingredients:

Dehulled soya bean meal (genetically modified), Wheatfeed, Extracted sunflower, Unmolassed sugar beet, Calcium carbonate, Rice bran, Dicalcium phosphate, Cane molasses, Sodium chloride, Rapeseed oil, Fructose oligosaccharides, Mannan oligosaccharides

 

[honetpot]

I do not think you need 10 different bags of feed.
I have youngstock, fatties and oldies. A basic balancer like Suregrow can be fed with adjusted rates to everything. A basic good quality chaff, a basic grass nut then what ever you decide to add the extra calories, oil/fats being better then starch. Every thing should have a digestible energy listed per kg, dry weight.
Its the difference between buying a Mr Kipling slice, nice packaging, very sweet and costs a lot and making a homemade cake made from eggs, sugar, milk and flour. You know exactly what's in it. If you feed yourself you can feed a horse.
I have just that chaff, grass nuts, a what ever is the cheapest energy boost, which for me at the moment is soya flour. So that's three different things fed in different ratios to seven different animals or varying types and breeds in varying amounts for the time of the year.

 

[Mkw]

Dabdab - but it's still D&H which is a hassle to get where I live. If I'm having the trouble and expense of getting D&H I might as well just keep buying the ERS pellets that work so well for her

Honetpot - but I have no idea how to mix something low starch and gut friendly especially as she won't eat if I just pour some oil on her food and in general is a very picky eater. Furthermore I've read that stuff like calcium/phosphorus ratio apparently is very important and so are other vitamin and mineral ratios, and I just wouldn't now how to get that right.

My old horse eats everything you give him and just gets beetpulp an vitamins. When he was still working, we added some grain to that for energy. Not really enough for the TB and she wouldn't eat it anyway, as it is wet food.

I know I'm paying for fancy packaging etc. I'm ok with that, as it makes it easy for me.

 

[maya2008]

No idea if this would help (or if you can get it in Denmark!), but I have found that when on Equilibra balancer, my TB needs far less hard feed and keeps her weight on far better. It is designed to do this, and I have only ever had problems with her weight when I have taken her off the balancer.