Wasting my money? Feed related

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now_loves_mares

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If I can get off with it, I feed both mine plenty haylage, then Alfa and Sugar Beet with Top Spec balancer. This way I can keep the really good do-er on minimal feed, up the quantities for the TB, but not keep loads of bags of feed about.

However the TB has dropped some weight and condition (she doesn't seem to eat that much haylage, and yes have had her teeth done!). I decided to add Baileys no 4 as in the past I have had great success with this, but of course now I am complicating things as this will be unbalancing the feed plus probably wasting my money.

I assume the Baileys is more important than the balancer, so do I just make sure I am feeding the recommended dose of the Baileys and cut out the balancer all together? Should I add anything else to replace eg the probiotic in the balancer.

Oh it was so much simpler when it was all oats and barley
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Oh by the way she is a sharp little minx so noooo fizz please
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I was told by an independent nutritionalist that weight loss most the time is caused by a lack of forage. She suggested feeding buckets of unmolassed sugarbeet - you can literally give a big bucket full to a horse (i.e. over night in the stable) and she said they learn to eat it ad-lib.

gemma
 
which alfa are you feeding - out of the dengie ones alfa-a oil is much more conditioning that alfa-a original - means no extra spending on top!
 
Just the Original. I did wonder about the Alfa-oil, but then I wouldn't want to feed it to my other one (rather less under-condition!!)? The baileys bag takes up less room than another alfa bag, given I go through the alfa faster so would need to keep more in stock!! I know that's not a great reason, but my space is limited so I have to consider it. If she doesn't pick up soon on the baileys I will replace her Alfa portion with Alfa oil.

Oh wait just thought this out and realised I would only have to keep one bag of each, whereas I normally have one bag unopened, so wouldn't mean much more storage at all!! Is it really much more conditioning?
 
Yep I also recommend alfa a oil but beware it is unmollased compared to the original so fussy eaters sometimes dont like it. Apart from that, i like the speedi beet bucket feed idea or you could give a bucket feed of readi grass. Steer clear of high starch if she goes fizzy, I know some horses can get sharp on baileys no 4 but it is a great conditioning mix. Though if you started her on that I would stop the top spec but that means u are feeding different things which could b a pain and will not actually save u much money.
 
Soz just read your post, lots more conditioning it contains the usual 14% protein but has 12% oil compared to 3%! So it will put on non conditioning fizz!
 
I know it's not strictly true, but in the "olden days" you fed oats to give them energy - yikes
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Not sure I could handle my little darling if she got any hotter!!! But I do like the thought of good old fashioned grain.

God I'm showing my age here
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I know it's not strictly true, but in the "olden days" you fed oats to give them energy

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I always thought this too but I looked at the basic nutritional values of rolled oats versus Baileys No 4 and found all values were pretty similar except that the oats were slightly higher in fibre and energy (starch?)

but I now feed 1.8(ish) scoops of oats and handful cubes daily as opposed to 2 scoops of baileys no 4 and 2 mugs of outshine daily and he is a better weight and not overly sprightly. In fact he is better because he is nuts if he is feeling 'thin' and malnourished.

NB he also gets left at night with a bucket of Alfa A Oil and Sugarbeet (as well as in his normal meals) as well as he doesn't eat enough hay/haylage to keep weight on and this ensures he eats something with plenty of protein in it as fodder. This might be worth trying even if the oats are a no go as you are increasing her nutrient intake without having to buy extra feeds?
 
I wouldn't worry about that. Nowadays with these complete feeds it is so much safe than feeding grains and oats that are quite high in starch! Also I bet your little neddies don't care what food they get as long as they get some, grains or complete feed! LOL!
 
Are you sure its not the hayledge, sometimes some bales can be less tasty than others. Can you not try some good hay instead and see if that helps.
 
Wouldn't it be easier to feed either Top Spec Cool Condition Cubes or Top Spec Conditioning Flakes, as both of these are unsupplemented and designed to be fed alongside a balancer?
 
like psychick82 i would recommend feeding speedibeet or similar ad lib. the other option is to change to alfa beet or fibre beet ad lib as they are more conditioning than sugar beet.

fibre is definatley the way forward, and it avoids problems if you have to stop working horsey cos of injury or illness than cereals do.
 
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the other option is to change to alfa beet or fibre beet ad lib as they are more conditioning than sugar beet.



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Alfabeet (50/50 alfalfa and unmolassed sugarbeet) has 10.5 MDJ/KG
Fibrebeet (mixture of unmolassed sugarbeet and alfalfa) has around 11MDJ/KG
Speedibeet (unmolassed sugarbeet) has 12.4MDJ/KG

KG for KG, the speedibeet, which is the straight sugarbeet, would be more conditioning. Alfabeet has a higher % protein than speedibeet, but to gain weight we need more calories, regardless of where they come from. Alfabeet would be better to support muscle as well as weight.

My poor doer gets winter glow, summer shine and biotin for his vit and min needs. He gets 3 bucket feeds, which include 1 scoop (400g) Alfa A (he will not eat AA Oil), 175ml veg oil, a scoop of soaked beet (so he gets a kg of beet, dry weight, per day), 1/3 cup wgss, 1 scoop biotin. He then gets adlib hay.

This diet has helped him to stay in great condition; however, I used conditioning cubes to help when he dropped weight after losing his appetite due to a move. They sent him bonkers and he is a much nicer boy without them, despite their non-fizz claims. All horses react differently, but Bailey's were far more heating to him than Spiller's, although neither were ideal FOR HIM. I, therefore, decided to up the amounts of some of the other parts of his feed (the fibre, which I have always seen as most important), and slowly drop the cubes. So he now gets more beet and chaff than he did when on cubes iyswim.

He is given a bucket mid-morning as well if he is in during the day for any reason. Plus extra hay of course.

I would do as TGM suggests and feed a cube which means you can also feed the balancer. If space is a problem re the AA Oil, stick to the AA Original and add oil to the feed. I buy 20 litres from Makro for £18.
 
That's a possibility - but I've always liked the results with Baileys, and so far they haven't made her any hotter. In any case, is that not just more expensive ie balancer + cube, as opposed to just cube or just balancer?

The idea of ad lib speedi beet is interesting! Can I just check, before I do anything stupid, that I can't feed ad-lib normal sugar beet ie mollased?
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I've always just bought "sugar beet" and I presume it's mollased but not sure what speedi beet is, other than something that soaks faster?

The option could be to feed the baileys twice a day, but then alfa-beet overnight, and this way I could also replace my other mare's alfa and beet, but in much lower quantities!
 
Are you feeding Suregrow to your older horses? Mine was on Suregrow as a yearling and did do very well on it, but presumed it wasn't meant for older ones. Are you feeding your 4yo yearling cubes plus suregrow, or yearling cubes instead of suregrow?

Mine is rising 5 and quite possibly still growing a bit, which could explain why she is thinner this winter, now she is in work too.
 
I cant use baileys with new mare tbx although tb is fine on it.She becomes explosive .I have found cool and condition doesnt send her ott but she didnt gain any weight.yo on new yard deals with allen and paige so have started introducing calm and condition seems to be the best one for her she is gaining weight at last.It has linseed which is high in omega oils ,I believe, and she doing really well with this feed.Im now switching my tb as its so much cheaper buying of yo.
 
We started using calm and condition and fast fibre with t/b who lost weight really easy at the beginning of last winter and have never looked back! He put condition on and has looked fab ever since!
 
How lean is she? I always think that it's best to keep them a little under rather than over weight as youngsters, esp if they have a lot of energy!!
From my experience, the baileys no 4 is actually quite heating, despite the claims on the bag! I would be reluctant to cut out the topspec, as it is so much more benefical to the horse compared to a condioning cube.
I am in a similar situation to you, and feed AA oil, topspec and speedibeet. Seems to have worked really well.
And don't forget, it's not that long til the spring grass (hopefully!) comes through.
 
hi, i have had the exact same problem with my TB mare i changed her food and put her on alfa oil baileys no4 and pasture mix and now she has put her top line back on and her condition is fantastic! also feed as much haylage as they can eat and keep them well rugged! hope this works out for you! Thanks! :P
 
Not too lean - I tried to take pics and she didn't look thin at all! It's more from certain angles, she just looks a bit spindly
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Mostly it's lack of topline as she isn't in work at the moment and obviously as a young one has never really built up proper muscle. It just worries me that she doesn't seem to scoff down the hay/haylage.

Oops just realised a key thing I forgot - she does crib after every meal, so maybe she is just one of those cribbers who finds it harder to keep condition on.

Re the grass coming through - I'm in Scotland so it's at least early April before we see it properly
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Oops just realised a key thing I forgot - she does crib after every meal, so maybe she is just one of those cribbers who finds it harder to keep condition on.

Re the grass coming through - I'm in Scotland so it's at least early April before we see it properly
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If she's like that after every meal then maybe she's got stomach ulcers, worth getting that checked out.
 
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