feeding a baby

[cjacobucci]

HI, I just recently joined and have a few questions to ask. I've only had minis for about a year and a half now but have been into warmbloods and such for most of my life. As I've discovered there are quite a few things that are done differently between them and my minis. Recently we purchased a mini colt, 3 months old. He's a real sweety, though he is really laid back and mellow (nothing like my large horse babies are). The previous owner was also new to minis, so she couldn't help me much. What is a good way to feed a weanling? right now, he's stabled with my two mini gelding, they each get 1 lb of senior feed and some grass hay twice a day. They seem to do well on it, though my older one is very round around the middle (but thats another story for another post). Any suggestions on feeding would be greatly appreciated.

 

[wildoak]

You'll get lots of differing opinions on this one. My weanlings get Equine Jr, coastal hay and a little alfalfa, and beet pulp. I start adding the Jr into mom's Omolene before they are weaned so it's not a new thing for them to digest when the time comes. They are also turned out on mediocre pasture 24/7. Enjoy your baby

Jan

 

[Lauralee]

I would try to feed the youngster a feed that is designed for a young, growing horse. The Equine Senior is excellent for older horses, but is not designed for the youth.

I feed Equine Junior from Purina. It has the right balance of minerals and can be fed as a complete feed for a young growing horse. I'd rather feed Junior to the older crowd than to feed Senior to a growing colt. The reason is because the growing horse is building tissues daily, and needs the right vitamin/mineral content more critically than the older ones would. So if you are forced to put out just one type of feed, I'd pick Junior.

 

[Miniv]

Would love to know how much hay they are getting.

I love senior grain for our ADULT minis. I just adjust the amounts according to their needs.

HOWEVER, your 3 month old needs something different, IMO. For graining time, I would pull him and offer him an Equine Junior feed for the rest of this year. When he turns a year old you can ease him back over to what the others are eating. The amount will vary anywhere from 2 to 4 cups twice a day.....even three times a day if you can do that. We have a 3 month old orphan that we feed 3 times a day.

If you are limitting the hay for the adults, you also might give your foal some extra time to eat hay. Once our foals are weaned they get basically a free choice amount of hay.

It does take some extra time, but we do pull our weanlings in and out for feeding so they don't have to compete with any older horses.

MA