Why do people not feed youngstock anymore?

T

thatsmygirl

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 May 2010
Messages
4,341
Visit site
Iv got a lovely 7 month old foal who has had a fab start in life by his breeder. Now iv brought him ( stunning dales) he is fed topspec stud balancer to receive his goodness in a handfull off topspec chop. He's a good weight and growing nicely.
Now the other foals nr me, are poor and just turned out. The owner asked me what I do for my lad to look so good. ( stabled at night, brushed daily and fed) they looked in horror when I said I feed him. Her reply was " they have the grass what's what they are ment to eat" get goodness from there.
Is it just round our way or is it becoming the norm not to feed growing youngstock?
 
Hi there.

I think that there are alot of people that dont even handle there youngsters. I bought my lad as a weanling. He had a halter put on the day before he came to me and that was the 1st time he was handled by anyone. I stables him till he had his injections done and was allowed (by yard owner) to go out. He was fed just hay and slowly introduced to D&H Youngstock mix but that seemed to have too much cerial and grains in for him and blew his brains. He is out 24/7 in summer and is not fed till grass is eaten down as he is 3-4 ID and a good doer. He does come in a few times a week to be brushed and handled and i show him inhand! He is now fed on topspec Comprehensive balencer and a hand full of alfa a. I do get alot of complements on how well he looks and i am 99.9% sure its down t topspec!!

If i ever got another youngster i would feed it a Topspec balancer from the start!!
 
thatsmygirl said:
Iv got a lovely 7 month old foal who has had a fab start in life by his breeder. Now iv brought him ( stunning dales) he is fed topspec stud balancer to receive his goodness in a handfull off topspec chop. He's a good weight and growing nicely.
Now the other foals nr me, are poor and just turned out. The owner asked me what I do for my lad to look so good. ( stabled at night, brushed daily and fed) they looked in horror when I said I feed him. Her reply was " they have the grass what's what they are ment to eat" get goodness from there.
Is it just round our way or is it becoming the norm not to feed growing youngstock?
Click to expand...

I have bred my first foal..and have been advised by vet to keep him on the slim side, as he is going to be a big horse so dont want to put pressure on his tendons/joints...so he was on Baileys stud balancer..now on A+P's yearling cubes..always has access to a mineral lick..and as much hay as he can eat...vet jabbed him last week and condition scored him..I thought he looked a little lean...she said she'd like to feel more rib..but to stick with what I'm doing as he's looking good...most youngsters can live off hay/grass/lage but need a good mineral lick.
 
I feed mine. They share their mum's feed when they are small then from about 5-6 months they get small feed. Alfa-A non-molassed beet and surelimb powder mixed into quite a moist feed with a handful of mare and youngstock.

We were warned about the dangers of OCD and so had our CB filly x-rayed at 14 months, as she is such a big girl. No problems.

She looks good and all my youngsters get handled. They are groomed and used to having their feet picked up. By 6 months they have had at least one rasp with the farrier.
 
I don't feed mine as the booger is fat. When I was feeding him last winter he was only getting a handful of Happy Hoof... I did have him on stud balancer for a while when I first got him but it was too rich for him.

Seriously, does this yearling need any more grub?

76085_1450211496069_1256686644_31065181_6297335_n.jpg


He'll be wintering out, too, with just hay.

You need to feed the horse in front of you. And the horse in front of me would like to get laminitis when he's older.
 
Our babies dont get any hard feed.
They do well enough just being on their mums.We have a 6 months old filly at the moment,who has just had to have corrective shoeing,and trimming,because she has grown far too quickly.This mare does all her babies too well,so in the future we are going to have to wean anymore of her foals early, to slow the growth down to prevent this happeneing again.
 
Well we only fed hay on top of the grass unless they needed any more which they generally did not. They did used to have a little nibble on their mums stud mix but that was not substantial.
If I had a youngster that needed a little something more I would have no qualms about giving them a very simple feed, but I think often, particularly natives simply do not require it on top of grass and hay
 
My weanling is feed D & H Suregrow and a handful of mollichaff and ad lib grass/hayledge.

I would not be surprised or think bad of someone not hard-feeding youngstock, although it is not my choice, it is IMO safer than pumping them full of stud mixes, etc. Foals have grown and survived for many, many years before feed companies came along, living just on sparse grass. The D & H my filly is on is just basically providing the vits and mins she needs. I would rather grow her slowly and hopefully avoid future joint and bone problems.

I don't aim for my filly to look 'good' she's a little ribby with a yak-like, but shiney coat. I would rather her on the ribby side than anything else, again to avoid too much pressure on joints.

As for the ways people keep youngsters, it's very personal- personally I prefer mine to be out 24/7, with the occasional night in when the weather is bad. However you prefer to bring yours in- it's all down to personal choice!

P.S. Your boy sounds lovely!
 
Last edited:
Fresh air, exercise and grass is the advice I was given for producing a healthy horse, without accerated growth. Mine only given a bit of chaff to put 'Surelimb' in. Vets advised against feeding anything other than grass and hay and vits. She had a much turnout as we could manage - impossible to find grass livery in our new area, but eventually we did.
 
Stinky has been fed fibre products and a good youngstock vit and min supplement and ad lib hay and I kept him on this with a little speedibeet in winter until he was 2 1/2. Now that he is 6 he is on almost the same diet, but with an adult vit and min supplement.

He did need a bit of feeding as a youngster and the grass is not great where we are. Had we good grass, he would have had a handful of chaff and the youngstock supplement and been out a lot more.
 
All my youngsters are fed the whole time. I use the Scaracen Level Grow Mix and it's brilliant. Again as someone has mentioned they are not allowed to carry excess weight and I go steady so not to encourage OCD's. Depends on breed and type of horse I assume. Mine are TB's so hardfeed is needed due to their growth rate.
 
I think if you spoke to any vet RE: youngstock and ocd djd, they would say keep the feed to a minimum!! I would expect a vet to say that its better to just feed grass and hay, with an allround mineral and vits supplement, rather than get the feeding wrong and potenitally get into growth problems ect!! Also to add re:growth issues they can be genetic and no matter how you keep your youngstock they are going to experience some djd or ocd!! A pet hate of mine having said that, is seeing overweight youngstock its basic common sense to keep the body light and lean to not over load, legs and joints, if they are going to suffer growth issues for what ever reason they stand more chance on a light frame imho! It was such a wonderful breath of fresh air to see most of the youngstock at the BEF evaluated on a realistic basis for the age of the horse!!!!
 
pinktiger said:
It was such a wonderful breath of fresh air to see most of the youngstock at the BEF evaluated on a realistic basis for the age of the horse!!!!
Click to expand...

Agreed! I must admit come Oct Sales - I don't like seeing a lot of the yearlings being paraded like fat show horses, it incenses me. I like cover on the youngsters but not fat.
The in-hand shows I did with the filly in my sig, I never won a class due to her not being in "show" condition. She's a yearling in that photo but is now two.
 
As a general rule, none of the youngstock at the stud where I work are fed untill they are backed and in work. They are kept in barns during the winter with as much hay as they can eat and a vitamin supplement in the form of a block and out at grass all summer. There will always be the exception though.

Some of them do look a bit scrawny as yearlings, but I have to say that they all turn into lovely horses.
 
So most off you do give vit/mins in some form ( mine is the topspec stud balancer)
so how many people don't even give a lick. The youngstock round my way are just turn out with what grass they have. No hay or licks for vit/min.
 
Youngsters shouldnt have feed just for the hell of it as it can do their joints some real damage.

HOWEVER, my littley is now getitng a woman's handful of chaff, lots of oil and a scoop of haylage balancer a day as she started eating rails. But I wouldn't be giving her any real hard feed, not at all.
 
so how many people don't even give a lick.
Click to expand...

Me. I tried him with a lick but he wouldn't use it and it mouldered away. It's debatable whether a horse needs a vitamin supplement unless it actually has a deficiency.

http://horses.about.com/od/feedingyourhorse/f/vitamins.htm

Again, feed the horse in front of you. If Wolf needs something, he'll get it, but if he doesn't, he won't. I tend to supplement more with the older horses who are in work.
 
You should only feed a youngster if it needs fed!

Usually here you only feed a foal if it is going to sales or the like; to make it look more impressive/mature.

Although most youngstock seem to do well on grass here, with hay in the winter and a vit/mineral block!
Must be the irish grass :p
 
the feed for youngstock must be balanced to avoid joint problems. that doesnt mean no feed,it means appropriate feed. I have 2 weanlings. one has youngstock mix 1/3 the amount it says on the bag ,and a top up of youngstock balancer. the other had just youngstock balancer. i consulted the feed manufacturer nutritionalist about this. both get a mug of soaked sugar beet [something succulent]and a little salt [as they were wood chewing] mixed in. they also have ad lib hay, daily turn out onto a decent paddock and free acess to salt lick. Under feeding ,ie not providing enough vits and mins and correct suitable essential amino -acids means the horse will not reach its full adult potential,and an unbalanced,perhaps "homemade" mix can cause joint problems.
 
I'm not feeding my 2 or 3 year old because they are sooo fat lol :P they are major good doers. The 3 year old gets a vitamin supplement with a handful of food and the 2 year old is an exmoor so i cant give her anything.
 
The urge to feed is largely driven by advertisements rather than necessity

None of my youngsters have ever been fed, however they are often left on the mare for a year (to keep her weight down!) and are good doers

They get ad lib hay and a lick, and are overwintered in a big cow barn with a wind proof coral. This means they don't need rugging and don't lose weight keeping themselves warm from the wind.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top