Traditionalists please - feeding straights

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emilynej

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Hello all,

With feed companies putting their prices up like its going out of fashion, Im intrigued about feeding straights. Neddies are 3 tbs that will hunt weekly in winter on ad lib good quality hay. They work hard and do need conditioning feeds, but not something that will blow their lids.

With this in mind, what would people with experience of feeding straights recommend alongside ad lib hay, salt lick and vitamin and mineral needs met.

Thanks in advance!
 
you could start with oats, I have had good results with oats in the past though the digestibility of normal rolled ones is a bit variable, one of mine could only do naked oats. You would need to balance the Ca: Phos ratio, alfalfa and a blob of sugarbeet would be useful towards that, same needed if you used a biggish ration of micronised linseed.
 
I've used beet as the basis for feeds for years. If you're organised the 24 hours soak stuff is fine in winter. Oats for anything needing more oomph or bulk out with chaff for anything that doesn't really need to eat much.

I've had two itch on linseed which has put me off that a bit.

The Equibiome gut project guys say it can take a while for the gut microbes to adjust for oats so they might not get broken down for a few weeks and passed straight in poo
 
beetpulp, oats and an oat balancer. along with cheap Tesco rapeseed oil. works brilliantly!

as regards quantities, I just see how the horses look and how they are coping with level or work, and adjust accordingly.
 
We feed sugarbeet & oats/barley to everything in varying quantities. Pony nuts for the ones that cant handle oats.
 
If you can't or don't want to feed beet (I have 2 horses that are a bit sensitive to beet) then soaked grass nuts are a good alternative but oats are brilliant; cheap, simple and generally very much enjoyed! Linseed is wonderful stuff too.
 
Yes soaked grass nuts are excellent as well and if the horses are adult some bran which mixes brilliantly with soaked grass cubes for when hydrating them is important .
I generally don’t feed beet my horses don’t do well on it it just does not fit into my system .
Alfalfa is a excellent feed for horses in moderate to hard work it’s also a very good source of Calcium which makes it a excellent acid buffer on the stomach .
 
I've fed alfalfa pellets, linseed, sugarbeet and oats at various times. Also grass chaff, I feed Grasstatic and Copra which is a more modern straight but useful for non fizzy calories to get weight on.
 
I feed straights and have done for years. It’s not affected some seriously hot horses I’ve had (nor has it brightened a seriously lazy horse I’ve had either!).

Oats
Linseed oil over micronised
Readigrass

Is a very good starting point. If you want more fibre saracens fibre cubes get my vote.

If you need more calories have a slobbermash is fantastic. Saracen enduro is similar and more widely available.
 
I love the idea and have always tried but I do think it depends on how fussy your horses are. I just couldn’t get my fusspot to eat enough particularly when hunting. Compound feeds worked better for us.

they didn’t hot him up though and linseed was my go to!
 
I always had great results with the D&H barley rings or just simple flaked barley. Straights tend to have a high protein content, so can make some horses stock up if they're not turned out much.
 
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