What do you feed your yearlings in the winter?

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LuandLu24

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hey guys,
I've had horses for years but its my first time having a 1 year old. Winters coming.. ahh! what types of feed do you but your yearlings on in the winter? mine is currently on a yearling feed with chaff but now its getting colder i'm gonna need to add to it. I have some feeds in mind but just wanted to see what you guys do. Thanks. PS: no hate please.
 
Hay and hay mine will be getting.
You don't need to add to it because its getting colder unless weight becomes an issue but either way I would increase the fibre first so add more hay over night.
No hate??? I really hate that saying its something you see all the time on these stupid chit chat Facebook sight full of kids, not horse and hound ;)
 
thatsmygirl said:
Hay and hay mine will be getting.
You don't need to add to it because its getting colder unless weight becomes an issue but either way I would increase the fibre first so add more hay over night.
No hate??? I really hate that saying its something you see all the time on these stupid chit chat Facebook sight full of kids, not horse and hound ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah its just the grass isn't great at my place so gonna be getting some fibre feed. I know but the horse word can be 'bitchy' and I've seen a few nasty comments on here when people ask a question and being accused of being stupid
 
Don't know what type/breed it is but I would be looking at D & H Suregrow which you can feed completely alone if it's a good doer type or add SB, chaff etc and that is fed alongside ad lib forage whether that be hay, haylage or good grazing.
 
I've always been told that grass and hay are the only things a youngster needs. Given what you've said about grass, I'd up the hay first - but only if your youngster starts to lose weight. An overweight youngster might have growth problems with joints, etc. taking more strain.
LL was 14 months when I got her, but that was July 2009 so I had a short while to get used to her before winter. I ended up having to give her hard feed because their paddock was all mud and no hay was put out and the YOs were in charge of feeding your horses hay as it was included in your livery. It transpired that they had no idea what they were doing so they didn't feed enough to save money. My girls lost a lot of weight fast and developed behavioural problems - needless to say I moved as soon as I could! - and I ended up spending £40 every 2 weeks on hard feed. It was painful because I had no intention of giving LL anything other than some chaff so she wasn't left out when it came to "feeding time". They both had Molichop (which I won't touch nowadays), SS had Calm and Condition and LL had Broodmare and Yearling cubes. The amount I went through was horrendous and I was devastated but I had to do it to keep any weight on them. I couldn't speak out because I'd seen how they treated others' horses who had and I didn't want LL to be traumatised. I told everyone when I left :p
If it had been up to me, LL would have had a handful of chaff, something proven to be very low in sugar and that would have been it. When I moved, she was on grass and hay only and was up to weight and looked fantastic within 3 months :) x
 
I've upped the chaff (non mollassed) for my yearling now its getting chillier and when it gets colder still will separate the feed in to two feeds a day not one. I also fed my ponies hay blocks a lot last winter which kept them occupied and gave them some extra fibre, I buy those in big bags not the individually sealed expensive ones and they work out less than £1 each
 
My TB yearling got a bit of hard feed over the last winter. I gave him a cup of youngstock cubes (mole valley own, but have heard suregrow is very good as well), a double hand full of chaff, a cup of speedi beet and some vitamins & minerals. I found that was enough to help him keep weight on and he grew a lot! He also had access to ad-lib hay and a mineral lick.
I know many people don't rug yearlings, but my boy always had a little full neck sheet on if it was going to be raining and that also helped him to keep weight on as he wasn't getting freezing cold from being soaking wet. Obviously they grow out of them very fast so try looking on ebay. I got a perfectly good rug for £2.20 once and it had free delivery!
 
[SUP][/SUP]Adlib hay/Haylage and a good balancer with chaff. No need for any expensive specialist feed. So long as protein, minerals and vitamins are keeping pace with growth the most important food for your youngster is good quality fibre.

I must admit I don't rug my youngster, they are kids and spend hours playing which does get quite rough and rugs get vandalised. A damaged rug can become a dangerous weapon when in tatters, legs get caught and damaged, or youngster gets frightened by the flappy rug.
 
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Hay, grass and a handful of unmolassed chaff with a broad spec supplement in... I like a grass chaff and tip top equimins supplement
 
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