Winter feeding, Spillers Senior balancer - any good ?

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Ladylina83

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Morning all - This rain has kick started me into considering this winters feeding for my 2.

I have a 19 year old TBx Conny and her son 1 x ID. She is a very good doer in the summer and suffers a sugar intolerance plus can be quite excitable at times. Last year they wintered out (rugged up) but this year will both come in at night as the lady dropped quite a bit of weight (mainly topline) late on last year, I think this was due to the fact she had been on Mare and youngstock mix until weaning at Christmas time coupled with the fact it had been rather bleak !! as such I want to completely readdress thier needs for this year she had never needed much feeding in the winter before but clearly the mix was giving her that bit extra she needed. She stayed out of work until about April when she had topped up from the grass.

Last Winter

Mare - Fiberbeet + HiFi light x 2 Adlib hay out 24/7
Lad - Fiberbeet, suregrow, barley rings and Hifi light x 2 adlib hay out 24/7

The lad has been on the same all summer minus the Fiberbeet and looks really well. Mare just gets HIFI Mollasses free to carry her Glucosamine. I made the switch to the mollasses free and am now on my second bag and all 3 of us really like it. It seems to have lots of good stuff in and is pretty much a complete feed. ( to them it's just chaff though I think lol )

I have never used Spillers feeds before I tend to lean towards D&H and would like advice on adding their Senior balancer for my mare as it already has Glucosamine added (RRP £35). I have also considered Micronised Linseed instead and replacing the yearlings barley rings with this (extra bag extra bin etc) Any other advice on feeding a veteran minus any fizz would also be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all - dry socks for getting this far
 
Sorry don't know about the balancer but I did used to feed Topspec senior and found that very good for a couple of years. Then I switched to Allen & Page Veteran Vitality when it came out last winter and it is so much better for my 2 oldies than all of the other stuff I've fed before. They keep weight on really easily, it smells minty and they find it really palatable, very easy to feed as you add water just before feeding and it makes a lovely soft mash - I use warm water in winter for them and didn't have problems of it freezing solid like I had been having with the sugar beet I was feeding previously! Its sorted out one of mine's scouring that had been constant for about 9 months without any cause being found and while on pre/probiotics, he hasn't had any recurrance since. I only have the one bag of feed open for them instead of mixing balancer/chaff/sugarbeet/whatever, its saving me money, my picky feeder eats enough of it to keep his weight up which hasn't always happened before. I do still feed collagen II as a joint supplement for them, but between that and the feed itself both of them are far more bouncy and active than they have been the past few years.
 
Hi , my field mate uses spillers senior balancer for her 20 yr old pure arab as it has the extra glucosamine along with spillers conditioning fibre and he always looks great. i use the original balancer which is almost exactly the same but with a lower quantity of glucosamine , ours were both out 24/7 during the winter and both did extremely well. Both boys are really chilled , i don't think there's much worry about these balancers making them excitable , ( my boy was on A & P calm and condition and he was sooo spooky it was unreal ) , i know that bringing your girl in over the winter nights is going to make you feel better but if she could stay out and keep her joints moving , and you could do the balancer / fibre and ad lib hay / haylage , i think it would be better for her state of mind anyway.
 
I'm another who feeds Veteran Vitality. Might be worth considering for you, too, if you also want to feed linseed, as this is one of the ingredients. It also has yeasacc in it and other pro&prebiotics, so for me it saved a lot of hassle, although it's a tiny bit more expensive than fast fibre at about £11, rather than £9 (at least, locally, this is the case!). The only thing I add is Hi-Fi Lite and haylage balancer (I feed less than the recommended, as they're only 12hh and very good doers).

ETA: One is a LGL prone 19yr old, and the other a sweet itch mare. One of the reasons I chose this feed was the lack of alfalfa and it's made a big difference.
 
Thank you I will also look up the Veteran Vitality.

She likes a quite dry feed - I need to soak my Fiberbeet quite dry as she leaves the feed otherwise would I use the VV instead of a speedi/fiberbeet ?

Also Paddy Irish - I 100% hear what you are saying about her piece of mind completely but my grazing has recently changed and I am worried about field trashing / standing in mud 24/7. as it stands I bring her in at night now to restrict grazing and she runs over to call each evening and doesn't seem stiff in the mornings - it is something I intend to kepp my eye on though
 
Ladylina83 said:
Thank you I will also look up the Veteran Vitality.

She likes a quite dry feed - I need to soak my Fiberbeet quite dry as she leaves the feed otherwise would I use the VV instead of a speedi/fiberbeet ?
Click to expand...

Its a complete balanced feed so no need to add anything to it at all (although lots of people still do). If I put the amount of water in it says on the bag, it goes crumbly rather than wet, I put double the minimum water on and it still soaks it all up and has some consistency rather than just being slop!
 
I add Hi-Fi Lite to mine as Henry also doesn't like sloppy feeds. It's a good get-out clause to make it drier, as I'm norty and don't measure (I just take over the minimum from the water trough)!!!
 
I think it was before winter 2008/9 when I decided to rethink my boy's winter feeding regime, I had reached a stage where making up feeds felt like I was making a magic potion I was adding so many bits.
I emailed all the big manufacturers and asked their advice. Spillers were the most helpful and actually addressed my questions and situation, rather than just telling me what I was doing was no good which others did.
He is a thoroughbred (shh, no-one has ever told him) and now 15, never keeps weight on in winter, prone to impaction colic and likes to have everything the same, enjoys routine.
Spillers asked me more questions and then suggested Winergy Equilibrium Condition which was new out then. They sent me a sample ('cos I like to see and smell stuff) and I decided to give it a try. He's been on it ever since, I just increase amounts in winter. It is an all-in-one feed, so I'm not adding anything to it at the moment, although I will probably add a joint supplement at some point. I might also change to their Senior formula, but not just at the moment,
Just my twopen'oth.;)
 
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