Where to bulk buy grass nuts/ which brand is best?

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Polos Mum

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After some really bad news today about my ponies teeth I'm looking to stock up on a winters worth of grass nuts or equivalent - what do people recommend as a complete hay replacer and how much roughly will he (14hh companion) eat in say a week?
 
How much would you say he weighs, roughly? He should eat between 1,5-2,5% of his body weight per day in forage. Since grounding reduces digestibility, you should point towards the 2,5% mark (maybe even higher during the winter to keep his body condition).

Beet pulp and soy hulls are also great forage replacers.

But please beware you'll still need to feed some long stem forage in order to keep the intestinal tract working - can he eat chaff?

Your biggest issue will be to provide a continuous supply of food since horses eat pellets pretty quickly - so you need to feed little and often.

As to where you can buy them bulk, I don't know but would love to.
 
My equine dentist recommends alpha beet for horses with limited teeth.

There are a few places you can get grass nuts from these days, might be worth contacting the suppliers direct?

http://www.northerncropdriers.co.uk/product/grazeon-pellets

http://www.emeraldgreenfeeds.co.uk/products/

http://www.gjwtitmuss.co.uk/farming...s/pid1845/cid335/titmuss-grass-nuts-20kgs.asp

I've fed the GJW ones in the past, they did the job just fine.

Edit to add, if you are worried about weight over the winter, coolstance is a good feed for adding a bit more to just grass nuts, it goes to a nice mush and is pretty economical to feed.

How much you need, hmm, my little lad cob 14.2hh, was going through about 1 bag grass nuts a week, plus coolstance, beet and redmills cubes on top in the deepest part of winter on a no grass and unfortuantely limited hay.
 
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We paid about £7 per 20kg bag from Argo and I've just paid a little under £8 from Northern Crop Driers yesterday. Our old lass used a bag every 10 days or so. She also ate a little haylage and plenty of dried grass (Graze-on), with Speedibeet. Because they are soaked with added grass they don't eat them too quickly.
 
Many thanks all, I'll look at those manufacturers sarahann1.

he weighs c.400kgs so 2.5% would be 10kgs - that seems a lot? a 20kg sack of grass nuts would only last 2 days??
I assume dried weight or would the 2.5% be soaked weight - might make the sack lasting a week more realistc.

What is the difference between grass nuts (which I understand are just dried grass) and graze-on (which a few people have mentioned now)?

He lives at home so I can pop out and give him some all through the day, very late and very early without any trouble so thankfully the trickle feeding shouldn't be an issue.

On chaff I didn't think there was much nutritional value in it so I didn't want to fill him up with that (he will eat it with sugarbeet) won't the soaked grass nuts count as forage in his gut?

Sorry for all the daft questions not dealt with horses that can't eat hay before - lots of good hay is usually my answer for most feeding questions !!
 
I buy Grazon grass nuts from our local Wynnstay, they stock them pretty much all year round so unless there is a big price benefit I wouldn't think buying in bulk is worth it - you get all the risk of wet/rodent damage etc.£7.90/bag, they do offer discounts for pallets full butthen the delivery cost evens it out. I feed half and half with Speedybeet, plus some alfalfa nuts which are a lot more expensive but contain more protein. I would be wary of copra, it is quite high in sugars - my oldie has Cushings so I keep sugars as low as possible. She is a 14hh arab and has two flexi tubs of that soaked mix overnight which she picks her way through. I do offer her a small net of haylage which she chews and quids, I'm not sure whether she gets and nutritional benefit from it, she is starting to do the same with grass. If yours can cope with sugars and starches you could add some well rolled oats or barley to the mix to soften them, and oil is also good for condition, but introduce it gradually, some don't take to it well. Micronised linseed is also good - if you are anywhere near a Wynnstay branch they have got some for me so saving £8 on postage.
The ratio of body weight to food weight is dry matter and 2.5% is to add weight, less to maintain it but I think you will find there is a limit to what they will eat in a bucket. Sabria keeps weight on just about on the three tubs of that soaked mix/day. The Coursera Equine Nutrition course is being re-run starting in January, you would find that very useful if you can do it.
 
Polos Mum said:
he weighs c.400kgs so 2.5% would be 10kgs - that seems a lot? a 20kg sack of grass nuts would only last 2 days??
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If the grass nuts are his only source of fiber, than yes, you definitely shouldn't go under 1,5%. If you are using them as fiber source + maintain condition, then you should point toward the 2-2,5% mark.

Polos Mum said:
What is the difference between grass nuts (which I understand are just dried grass) and graze-on (which a few people have mentioned now)?
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Graze on is a chaff, so would be considered long stem forage - which you should feed a little of to keep the intestinal tract working. So either grass nuts/beet pulp/soya hulls + chaff (graze on/dengie) or a bit of hay/haylage if he can still chew it.


Polos Mum said:
On chaff I didn't think there was much nutritional value in it so I didn't want to fill him up with that (he will eat it with sugarbeet) won't the soaked grass nuts count as forage in his gut?
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Grinding reduces digestibility and doesn't stimulate gut movement, so you will always need to feed long stem forage. You have various types of chaff - plain straw chaff is just a filler, but graze on, dengie Alfa A and Dengie Hi-Fi senior are also chaffs but have a much higher nutritional value.
 
If you email Dengie, they have a fantastic information sheet they can email you with regards to hay replacers.

Dodson and Horrell have a YouTube video too.

I used to feed my old girl a combination of sugar beet, high fibre cubes and chaff as her hay replacer with a good probiotic.

The weight of feed required for weight gain is 2.5% and that is dry weight!
 
I think you said in your other post that you have a decent amount of land and should be able to rotate your fields so the pony gets good winter grazing, so you should find that will obviously reduce the amount of grass nuts you will need from the amount stated above. To be honest it will be a case of trial and error of how much to feed as you can't calculate how much grass the pony is eating when grazing.

Graze-on is a brand name used by Northern Crop Driers and they produce a flash-dried grass chaff as well as grass pellets and a grass/straw blended chaff. Other types of grass chaff are Readigrass and Dodson & Horrell Just Grass.

Chaff is just a name for short chopped fibre, so it's nutritional value will depend on what the chaff is made from. Grass and alfalfa chaffs will be higher in nutritional value than a chaff made from chopped straw, for example.
 
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Thanks all, lots of options to try and you've all given me hope after an absolute shock of seeing the worst teeth imaginable!

TGM we have 12 acres and just the two boys - usually I let them trash one 2 acre winter paddock and give them tonnes of hay. This year I'll change routine and rotate them round all five fields so he can get some grass all winter - hopefully that'll help.
 
I use Simple Systems Blue Bag Grass Nuts.

They are the equivalent of summer value grass, rather than spring grass which Graze On etc., are .

I love them, and they suit my slightly quirky horse!!

You can buy in bulk. If you don't have a feed supplier that stocks them nearby - which I don't, they will deliver which makes life easy.
 
If weight is an issue have a look at Rowan Barbary feeds, I have just got a bag for my quirky mare to top up my lack of grazing and it seems good. Last winter I went through shedloads of grass pellets and couldn't keep the weight on, when I discussed it with the dentist he said it wasn't the teeth but the fact that the winter was so long, wet and cold.
 
For anyone else looking a bulk buys Emerald Green Feeds have just quoted me £340 for a pallet (50 x 20 kgs)inc. delivery for their grass nuts, if they are any good that's good value!!
 
Polos Mum said:
For anyone else looking a bulk buys Emerald Green Feeds have just quoted me £340 for a pallet (50 x 20 kgs)inc. delivery for their grass nuts, if they are any good that's good value!!
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they are good just the same as graze on etc mine love them
 
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