What else can I feed?

S

Shilasdair

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Recommend me some more feeds for my horse please.
I am looking for chaffs, hays or haylages which don't contain grass (in particular not ryegrass) for a rather plump mare.
At the moment she is getting Hi Fi Lite, Horsehage Alfalfa, but I'd like some more ideas.
I need to get her completely off hay/grass for health reasons and would like a range of things to feed her.
S :D
 
Pea straw perhaps? Used to be used in the past. We also used to be able to source aflalfa cobs, which looked a bit like shreded wheat thingys. (think they were canadian)
Non molassed sugar beat should have a fairly high percentage of fibre.
 
Is the reason you need her off of grass products due to laminitis?

If so anything with Alfalfa in or "pea" related will not help. Peas, lucerne and Alfalfa are from the legume family. Both of which can and do trigger lami attacks.

if you soak your hay it be ok for lami, alternatively feed a mix of oat straw and hay (soaked).

Kwikbeet or speedibeet (unmolassed) are great sources of fibre and can be used to partially replace grass and hay.

Marksway horsehage high fibre (blue) is ok for some lami's feed as the main forage or as part of a mix with soaked hay or oat straw.

Or are there reasons other than lami which require alternatives? If it is due to choke or teeth/swallowing issues, then check out Simple Systems grass nuts and lucie cobs.

High fibre, low starch and sugar plus Exercise is best for reducing the equine waste line. Walks in hand will help if horse cannot be worked.
 
Is this the one allergic to grass?

I can't remember the name but my RI fed her old pony who had major dust allergies something which seemed fab. It was just like mushed stuff (sorry this sounds awful) I will try and find out for you though as I'm not being very coherent tonight :o
 
Marley&Me the horse Shills is posting about is allergic to grass, NOT a potential lamminitic. Grass nuts etc are therefore not an option, oh and lucey nuts are lucern, which is simply another name for alfalfa.
 
Kokopelli said:
Is this the one allergic to grass?

I can't remember the name but my RI fed her old pony who had major dust allergies something which seemed fab. It was just like mushed stuff (sorry this sounds awful) I will try and find out for you though as I'm not being very coherent tonight :o
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Is it Ready Fibre Mash (Rowan and Barbary)? This is great stuff too (I forgot it in my earlier post.


http://www.rowenbarbary.co.uk/horse_feed_products/good_doers/3
 
I would guess that a lot of chaffs/fibre feeds contain grasses. Your best bet would probably be to have a chat with an independent nutritionist, such as Clare Macleod. Or Simple Systems feeds who specialise in fibre feeds and know exactly what is in them.
 
Fnaarrr fnaaarrrrr........ snorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrttt!! Oops there go me tea!

There is that new feed isnt there by.. umm... wotsitcalled... Equinox Feeds PLC... CuSw (short for Cucumber Sandwiches).

Worked a treat for my boy. Bull to hatrack in just under three weeks. And you get a free nutritionist.
 
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Oh, just read that thread on "how do horses cope"...

It says in there people used to feed horses fish and chips!! There you go!!
 
I think straw would definitely be a good idea and best fed mixed into the Horsehage Alfalfa, would be more economical than chaffs, plus will reduce your reliance on alfalfa which can cause problems when fed to excess. Mixing the straw with the alfalfa haylage (rather than feeding straw separately) will help to reduce the risk of impaction colic.
 
TGM, it is quite possible that the mare will have a problem with cereal straw, as they are types of grasses. It is a real puzzle and I guess is going to take a lot of research. I wonder if it would be possible to use things like turnips and turnip greens? I would guess that commercial growers don't have much use for the greens, maybe worth a look into.
 
Thanks everyone.
Kokopelli/appylass - that Readymash stuff looks interesting - if I can source it, and she deigns to eat it.
So does the Horsehage Chaff stuff, although quite similar to HiFi Lite.
Marleyandme - thanks, but she isn't laminitic (yet) and has a grass allergy as some of the others have said.
I'm not sure what she's allergic to - she's too allergic to take off the corticosteroids to test - but I know what she's not allergic to (yet) - and she's probably ok on oat straw etc. I was hoping for an oat straw chaff, like Honeychop, but don't know if I can buy anything locally.
Really I should just have her stuffed and turned into a sofa, or a footstool.
S :D
 
Does the chaff need to be molasses free? Baileys do a a lightly molassed oat straw chaff:

http://www.baileyshorsefeeds.co.uk/whatproduct/chaffs/goldenchaff.htm

Re: YorksG's concern about whether she would be allergic to straw too, there is chopped straw in the HiFi Lite, so presumably if she is OK with that, then she should be OK with long straw too.

ETA: Mollichaff Herbal is also made from oat straw - but with additional herbs and garlic, which might put you off!
 
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Shilasdair said:
Thanks everyone.
Kokopelli/appylass - that Readymash stuff looks interesting - if I can source it, and she deigns to eat it.
So does the Horsehage Chaff stuff, although quite similar to HiFi Lite.
Marleyandme - thanks, but she isn't laminitic (yet) and has a grass allergy as some of the others have said.
I'm not sure what she's allergic to - she's too allergic to take off the corticosteroids to test - but I know what she's not allergic to (yet) - and she's probably ok on oat straw etc. I was hoping for an oat straw chaff, like Honeychop, but don't know if I can buy anything locally.
Really I should just have her stuffed and turned into a sofa, or a footstool.
S :D
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Really sorry Shils for my inappropriate retort there, really thought you were have me on... :o horse allergic to grass - that had me going....
 
Shilasdair said:
Don't worry, Tallyho, I'm not offended by your uphauling :p insensitive, cob-owner type retorts. :D
S :D
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Aww bless you xxxxx

p.s. I've used honeychop when my cob went off grass, as you do, well his liver did anyway. Alfalfa was a bit too protein-y so that did us for the duration of the lami. Soaked the hay overnight. It was like green cardboard but any grassiness had been well soaked away.

Good luck btw - how awful.
 
Shils, just out of curiosity, how does the allergy manifest itself? What I mean by that is it Lumps & bumps, swollen glands etc?

My lad often comes in off the field very swollen around the jaw and cheeks. Each year it gets worse and lasts longer, but vets have just said so long as they are puffy and not solid swellings, and they go down when he's off the grass nothing to worry about.

Sorry, a bit of hijack there!
 
Sorry i cant help with the feed situation, what a nightmare, never heard of that before :(

However i have a couple of minis here you could throw in with her to munch on, they should keep her going for a while with the fat their carrying at the moment!! :)
 
Ludi-doodi said:
Shils, just out of curiosity, how does the allergy manifest itself? What I mean by that is it Lumps & bumps, swollen glands etc?

My lad often comes in off the field very swollen around the jaw and cheeks. Each year it gets worse and lasts longer, but vets have just said so long as they are puffy and not solid swellings, and they go down when he's off the grass nothing to worry about.

Sorry, a bit of hijack there!
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It manifests itself in weeping crusty urticaria, colic surgery for Ileo-focal eosinophilic enteritis, lesions in her lungs and digestive tract which can be mistaken for cancer, high temperatures, unusual blood profiles and diarrhoea.
Trust me, it isn't a 'few puffy swellings'... :p
S :D
 
Shilasdair said:
It manifests itself in weeping crusty urticaria, colic surgery for Ileo-focal eosinophilic enteritis, lesions in her lungs and digestive tract which can be mistaken for cancer, high temperatures, unusual blood profiles and diarrhoea.
Trust me, it isn't a 'few puffy swellings'... :p
S :D
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Flippin Nora! Good luck with this, sounds a bloody awful for you and the horse.
 
I agree with the Simple System suggestion. I have ll of mine on it throughout winter and all look extremely well. Good coats, good weight and actually fed very little - certainly nowhere near the recommended advice. I also add in micronised Linseed and brewers yeast which could be useful for you as a feed balancer and gut reegulator. I personally would probably look to the straigh feeds - not mixes as unfortunately there are some odd things added in to the mixes which can have some negative effects. One of mine had real problems with a mix because of the maize, molasses and garlic. Non of which were mentioned in the contents, until I got to the tiniest of small print.
 
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