what do you feed?

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aregona

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I'm just after ideas on what you feed your horses and youngstock. I'm currently feeding all my horses the allen and page feeds but im looking to change to something cheaper.

i have a wide range of horses from yearlings to 17yr olds. Some being lazy WB's and some needing extra weight. so Im just cirious what you feed and how you keep costs down for large ammouts of feed without the horses lossing any condition.

than you :)
 
My youngsters are out on nice grass anywhere from 12-24 hours a day depending on weather and if we are prepping for a show. They get a foal pellet (moving onto a balancer when they are yearlings), all in one, rice bran, flax seed bucket with a wheat germ oil drizzle everyday.

They seem to maintain weight/condition very well on that. When the grass starts to fade away then they will get free choice grass hay. It is expensive, because I feed the best on the market to a large number of horses (I'm feeding 5 pregnant mares, 4 mares who have just had their foals weaned, 9 weanlings, 2 yearlings, a 3 year old and a stallion :eek::o).


I personally think feed is something worth splurging on, especially for growing horses. When you compare the ingredients of different feeds, some cheaper ones are packed with fillers giving empty bulk rather than providing any real nutritional content.
 
For foals and yearlings I feed D & H Suregrow alone or possibly with soaked grass nuts if they need a bit extra. For the older ones I feed rolled oats with either soaked grass nuts or sugar beet with the most basic (cheap!) nut and they have brewers yeast and micro linseed added. They have ad lib haylage too when in and are turned out all day.
The oats and SB diet is the cheapest but it also seems to suit them as well as a compound feed would; 25 kg farm rolled oats about £6, SB or Graze On grass nuts £7, basic nuts, feed merchant's own, £6 (which they have alone for breakfast for simpleness as OH feeds then) both linseed and BY I get in bulk from Charnwood; the BY lasts (and keeps well if you put some in a plastic container to use each day and the rest you seal up tight and keep dry; I don't know how long it'll keep if you went into the big sack each time which lets the air in)) for two winters, the linseed, I'll need 2 bags over the winter I think, never really timed/measured them TBH and it depends how many are on them of course.
 
I keep costs down by feeding good quality haylage, adlib to youngstock and old retired competition horse. Measured amounts and double netted to riding horses and brood mare.

Suregrow to the babies. Just Grass chaff, own brand pony nuts and Kwikbeet to riding horses, (small amounts). Broodmare won't get fed until Christmas, the retired horse is spoilt with Rowanbarry Soft and Soak which is expensive, but he has been really poorly and is a very special boy. All, except babies, have a mug of linseed twice a day.

I do think unless the horses are hunting hard most can be kept looking good and sane in the mind on good quality hay or haylage. Including the haylage (big round bales) I reckon I am spending approx £55 a week at the moment. It will go up by Christmas as the haylage consumed increases. I feed 7 mouths, 1 x 17.2 M/W. 2 x big yearlings, 2 x 15.2 ridden horses, 1 x 15h broodmare and 1 companion pony at 12hh. Without being able to source good haylage/hay I couldn't afford to bag feed them.
 
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maesfen - thats really interesting, I've always stuck to the 'ready made' feeds but with the ammount of horses im feeding im thining it would be cheaper to mix my own. im currently feeding:- (sorry long list)
17yr old mare x 3 - good doer, living out
16.1hh TB type gelding, in work 14yr old. needs more energy but condition ok.
17.2hh 12yr old WB, in work, condition ok but needs more topline and energy
15.2hh 6 yr old, in work, good doer but still developing
retired TB, needs more condition
then a 6yr, 5yr, 3 rd and yearling all out (until the rain starts)

i have just bought in rolled oats (my plan was for the working horses for energy) barley rings (for the condition) ready grass for everyone, sugarbeet for everyone and then a scoop of fast fibre as a base for everyone.

maerfen why do you feed oats? (ive never feeed them before) and is boiling linseed a good idea? we have a rayburn on 24/7 in the house so slow and long boiling is a viable option for me.

cheers guys
 
There is no need to boil your own linseed. Messy, time consuming and god help you if it boils over.

Look at Charnwood Milling on the internet. 20kg bag ready to feed. Wonderful stuff, just a coffee mug full every day will improve the skin and feet very quickly.
 
i've also just searched grass nuts, again, never fed before, im thinking this could be cheaper than fast fibre as a base and by the sounds of it has more nurtitional value to it aswel?
Are there any straight feeds i need to keep away from the youngster and if so why?
 
i have a 15.3 4 year old welsh x mare who is on 18 pounds of haylage a day and has a breakfast and tea feed which consists of Alfa A orginal and Bailey's horse and pony cubes
 
aregona said:
maesfen - thats really interesting, I've always stuck to the 'ready made' feeds but with the ammount of horses im feeding im thining it would be cheaper to mix my own. im currently feeding:- (sorry long list)
17yr old mare x 3 - good doer, living out
16.1hh TB type gelding, in work 14yr old. needs more energy but condition ok.
17.2hh 12yr old WB, in work, condition ok but needs more topline and energy
15.2hh 6 yr old, in work, good doer but still developing
retired TB, needs more condition
then a 6yr, 5yr, 3 rd and yearling all out (until the rain starts)

i have just bought in rolled oats (my plan was for the working horses for energy) barley rings (for the condition) ready grass for everyone, sugarbeet for everyone and then a scoop of fast fibre as a base for everyone.

maerfen why do you feed oats? (ive never feeed them before) and is boiling linseed a good idea? we have a rayburn on 24/7 in the house so slow and long boiling is a viable option for me.

cheers guys
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I feed them because they do well on them, enjoy them and I think they're much better than barley which some animals can react to. Contrary to opinion, they're not rocket fuel for most horses (same can be said for barley; but both suit some and not others, it's trial and error I think)
I wanted to get back to basic feeding rather than most stuff that is doused in molasses and you can blame on here for that with hearing about so many colic cases. I'm sure there are lots of factors for this but being an old timer, I just don't remember anything with colic at all from lots of different yards and several hundred horses when we were feeding basically so I feel we must have been doing something right back then to what's happening now and the feed industry has to be one of the biggest changes we have made to what is basically, the same horses; they haven't changed but our management has and not always for the better I'm afraid. Sorry, off soapbox now! :o

AdorableAlice said:
There is no need to boil your own linseed. Messy, time consuming and god help you if it boils over.

Look at Charnwood Milling on the internet. 20kg bag ready to feed. Wonderful stuff, just a coffee mug full every day will improve the skin and feet very quickly.
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Definitely agree with this although there is nothing like the smell of boiling barley or linseed on a cold night - unless it's escaped the pan and is pouring all over the top of the cooker of course! At least with the micro stuff you don't have to worry if you forget to soak/cook any; the same goes for the grass nuts, they will be ready within 15 minutes; in winter I tend to use warm water to soak them as it makes me feel better, lol!

Grass nuts are just that, grass; you can get alfa nuts too but mine don't like those as much (but they don't like alfa either) They're quite good at keeping weight on so you might have to restrict them a bit to your good doers.
 
The base of all my feeds is soaked grass nuts with some added chaff to give them something to chew. They all get a heaped cup of micronised linseed and pink powder as a general vit/min supplement. The good doer in regular work gets a basic pasture mix and a little micronised barley and brewers yeast as he has mild sweet itch and can also be nappy when hes stressed.

The older ones gets more barley as well as middlings, and the stressy older mare gets brewers yeast as well. She is still too thin, but to be fair has been for years, as long as she is well in herself , ive given up worrying about it.

They all get almost ad lib good quality hay when they are in, as there really isnt much grass left on my paddocks. Oh and the carrot delivery man has started again, so they get 2 sacks a weeks between them and the shetlands
 
I've never fed any of mine, they are all out 24/7 on very good grazing. They all look fab too. Only one I feed is my ridden cob. However, I'm getting a 6 month old Welsh D colt in a few weeks and he'll go on Alfa A Oil, Fast Fibre and 365 Complete.
 
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