What do you feed your good doers?

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Joyous70

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As in title really...... I have two good doers, and want to get some weight off them both, theyre both in light work, out 24/7 not much grass at the mo, with a couple of pads of hay a day. I wanted to give them just a little chaff at tea times, to give them a little more fibre without the calories, but the Dengie website has really confused me. :rolleyes:
 
I looked at the good doer, but wasnt sure, as theres the hi fi lite, unmolassed etc etc etc.!!!

How much of the good doer do you feed?
 
The new Dengi Hi Fi Mollases free is pretty good, Good Doer has 8% sugar!

Or you could give Fast Fibre, this is what my two have , just one handful once a day with magnesium

I would stop feeding hay in the field, they just don't need it even with " not much grass" its suprising how little they need even this time of year
 
ad lib hay - half a scoop of fast fibre and handfull of calm and condition - and handfull of chaff - twice a day - she lives out 24/7 365 in scotland fully clipped :)
 
Posie_honey - one of my boys is hunter clipped too - however the ad lib hay is a BIG no no!! my boys don't have an "off" switch, they will eat whatever you give them, in fact im sure if i gave them a round bale delivered in the field it would be gone overnight! they really are VERY good doers :)
 
Joyous70 said:
Posie_honey - one of my boys is hunter clipped too - however the ad lib hay is a BIG no no!! my boys don't have an "off" switch, they will eat whatever you give them, in fact im sure if i gave them a round bale delivered in the field it would be gone overnight! they really are VERY good doers :)
Click to expand...

ad lib has been the last 15 days since we've had a foot of snow and only 2 days above freezing! she has no man made shelter - only natural shelter in an 8acre field - so with the extreem temps she's needed the ad lib forage! they tend to pig out for the first few days then eat sensibly

when grass is showing again she'll have 2 wods during day and 3 wods over night - then will be left to nibble grass the rest of the time :)

tbh though if you're just wanting to feed a little something i'd recommend either a handful of badminton fibre nuts (big and chunky so take a while to eat - low cal and they LOVE them) or a cup of fast fibre soaked (v low cal)

in terms of vits and mins - my mare gets D&H equibites when on no feed - 10 a day :)

ETA - she was fit before the big freeze - ridden 6 days a week and fit enough for half a days hunting :)
 
My two very good doers have a scoop of Alfa A No Mollasses twice per day with Global Herbs Global Vite and approx 12lbs soaked hay overnight.... they are out during the day. I never put hay out in the field for my two as they just don't need it. When they come in at 4pm they have a snack ball with a handful of Fibre Cubes in as a treat. Both weight approx 475Kg (15.2 & 16hh Arabs)
 
Hi fi lite, big double handful and a feed balancer, twice a day. Also out at grass for 7 or 8 hours and 4 slices of small bale hay overnight.
 
My very good doer has a scoop of hi lite or good doer and a balancer, is in light work and pretty much has ad lib hay when stabled. However since the bad weather and basically no work for the last 3 weeks he has ballooned so on a bit of a diet now :(
 
My lad is out in the day on a bare paddock that I strip graze a small amount each day...no hay and then in at night with a third of a bale of hay - so 3 large pads or 4 skinny ones depending on the bale.
He has Dengie Healthy Hooves chaff to put his supplement into and has 4 handfuls of that per day. I was using hi fi lite but he got bored of it in the end and the HH has the same amount of fibre/sugars and digestable energy etc in it as hi fi lite.
I have to be quite strict on his food - I was giving him more of a strip each day when we had snow over his knees for 2 weeks and he has put some weight on...so he could obviously dig more grass than I thought!
 
I think George could survive on fresh air, but would be very sad if he had to :D He is a 16.3 shire cross and just has hay/grass and then a very small feed of 3/4 scoop of hi-fi lite with his quota of Baileys lo-cal and joint supplement. He spends most of his summer grazing time in a muzzle!
 
Our good doers have Top Chop Lite chaff, Top Spec Anti Lam balancer and a track system to graze on to keep them moving around. They do have hay when it's been snowing or is frosty, otherwise we just move the fencing a bit each day to open up a bit more grass.
 
Ad lib haylege and nothing else. They live out 24/7 with only natural shelter and no rug.

Best way to get them to loose weight is by forcing them to use fat to keep warm, as nature intended. If they're rugged reduce the thickness. Or take them off. If they're not rugged then clip out a small bib, or take a bigger clip and put a lightweight rug on (keeps them dry but not warm).

Try and get ahold of poorer quality hay - highlands in the next field are getting cattle hay which is much woodier. Or mix a little straw into the hay.
 
Mine has two handfuls of dengie good doer and a handful of slim and healthy - if he is doing more work or there is lots of snow so he can't eat as much grass I up his slim and healthy to half a scoop.
 
Has anyone noticed a change in Dengie Good Doer? I have just opened a new bag and would swear that it is more molassed than it used to be - I think I may try the new Unmolassed version next time. I see that this requires a balancer, but he is getting that anyway.
 
I just changed my laminitic prone good doer on to a new feeding regime.

Before she was on D&H Safe and Sound plus her supplements. But she went off the Safe and Sound for some reason after many years of gobbling it up :confused:

I have now put her on Falcon Fibre Care as this is the brand of feeds my yard feed their full/part liveries and the bonus is its seems to have less starch/sugers and more fibre content than Happy Hoof, Safe and Sound etc.. and is more of a substantial mix type feed rather than mostly chaff based.

Also I she gets D&H Equibites daily by hand as her general supplement. Her joint supplement goes in with her hard feed.

The hay at my yard is very good stuff and quite green. As I am not on DIY I cannot buy my own in so she is rationed hay (2 thick or 3 thin small bale wedges per night in small holed haynet) but also has a corner manger full of Dengie Hi-Fi lite to nibble on when her hay is gone. It can be fed a a forage replacer so it seems ideal for supplementing her hay.

Sadiemay
 
mine has a 4kg hay net in the morning and a 6kilo net at net with 2 meals of a scoop of hi fi and half a scoop of oats - he has 3-4 hours a day turn out. Would love to give him more but he is like me looks at soemthing and gains loads of weight :eek:
 
I used to feed my good doer a handful of Hi Fi Lite but since she had lami earlier this year her diet has changed.


I feed her 1.5% of her body weight. Her hay is weighed and soaked and is double netted and she has 4-5hours of grazing with a muzzle. This is the only way I can keep her at a nice weight as she doesn't have a "off button" :)
 
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