The BEST feed for keeping weight on over winter??

C

Coffee_Bean

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I am so determined to keep weight on my mare this winter. What is the best thing to feed her??

She lives out but will be fed twice a day, very rugged up and will come in when it is really rotten. Please don't say bring her in as she box walks so would end up worse off anyway. But she does get hay in her field over winter. I am planning on clipping her as well for the first time...
 
My horse drops a lot of weight in the winter and I end up putting three rugs on him during the day when he is fully clipped.

I found alfabeet worked amazingly well for keeping weight on, I start giving it to him about Oct/Nov time (depending on weather) and he stays on it til about April.

I have also been recommended cereal meal as a good weight increaser.
 
I feed my 19yr old Tb (she lives out 24/7 all year) a mix of hay and haylage, a scoop of D & H 16 plus, a small handful of Graze On, and about half a scoop of Speedibeet with a little corn oil and vit/min supps twice daily.
I find rugging her really warmly is the key to her being happy out (she is incapable of growing guard hairs in her fluffy winter coat, so is not waterproof
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My two youngsters who live out with her, just get a handful of mix and a handful of speedibeet.
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Sugarbeet is wonderful stuff. All fibre so keeps her warm and you don't need to limit the volume like you do with cereal. Plus it's cheap.

I feed my lot a mixture of Alfa-oil (high oil, low sugar, all fibre) and sugarbeet and had to stop as they were getting fat - living out 24/7 without rugs!
 
Dengie Alpha A and sugar beet, we used it on all our RSPCA rescues at my old yard and they look fabulous on it once they had been fed up
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My boy Ralph was one of them, bay in my signature
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Winergy Equilibrium Growth.

It's not the cheapest - but very easy to feed. I just added a bit of sugarbeet to wet it.

My fussy mare who also likes to live out, but used to be a bugger to keep weight on, has thrived on it for over a year now.

Really great stuff and well worth a try.
Don't be put off by the fact it's called Growth - give them a call or email and they're very helpful.
 
The absolute best thing to ensure she maintains a good weight is to ensure she is well rugged, has good shelter and has access 24/7 to good quality haylage.
 
The only thing that used to work on my skinny highly strung arab was adding cereal meal and oil to his diet.

Used to soak it with some speedy beet and add it to his normal feed and it worked wonders.
 
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has access 24/7 to good quality haylage.

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Ditto that!! Ab lib good quality haylage is the key when wintering out IMO.
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Spiller's conditioning cubes are v good for keeping/getting weight on.

Would also recommend a top spec balancer (Star has the senior one) It's really boosted her!
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Keep feed the same ie dont change what you already feed just add up to two coffee cup per feed obviously building up gradually. You can use corn/rapeseed/sunflower oils and all this adds is calories.

Nikki xxxx
 
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