Feeding Amplify Nugget Supplement

[Little Wolf Ranch]

Long story short I sold an Arab/TWH cross named Shadow back in 2008 and am now purchasing him from the same guy I sold him too the only problem is that when I sold him he was looking great - now he is a RACK OF BONES. You can see everything on him and it's just sad. I am bringing him home sometime this week before January 16th and I have to get some things ready for him as this wasn't an expected thing.

***MY FEEDING PLAN FOR SHADOW IS TO PUT HIM ON STRATEGY ALONG WITH THIS AMPLIFY NUGGET SUPPLEMENT AND CORN OIL OR IF I CAN (and it's safe) JUST FEED THE AMPLIFY NUGGET AND CORN OIL***

Anyhoo I have a few hard keeper miniatures that are on Strategy GX and could benefit, I believe, from the Amplify Nugget Supplement by Purina along with Shadow. Below is some information about this product:

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CRUDE PROTEIN MIN 14.00 %

CRUDE FAT MAX 30.00 %

CRUDE FIBER MIN 5.00 %

High Fat 30% fat from vegetable oils, flax seed and rice bran for an optimal fatty acid profile.

Vitamins and Minerals Provides 100% of the required nutrients for horses when fed as directed* so no additional supplements are necessary.

Extruded particle Easy digestion and calorie absorption easy digestion and calorie absorption Extruded particle.

High Quality Protein Proprietary amino acids (building blocks of proteins) that support strong muscle growth, shiny coat and healthy hooves.

Controlled Sugars and Starch Low soluble carbohydrates may help reduce the risk of adverse health effects caused by the management error of overfeeding.

Calorie Dense Formula Provides more calories per mouthful, allowing you to feed less.

Feed with Hay or Pasture Nature's Essentials® Amplify® Supplement is designed to be fed with hay and/or pasture.

Feed Guard® Nutrition System The FeedGuard® Nutrition System is one of the industry's most innovative and exacting quality assurance programs. FeedGuard® Nutrition System can help deliver the trust, quality and performance that horse professionals demand every day.

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MAIN QUESTIONS:

1. Can this be fed alone safely without other grain/feed?
2. It says to start out (for big horses) at 1 lb for the first day and up it by 0.5 lb per day until desired amount is reached but not to feed more than 4 lbs per day so how would I adjust this for miniatures?
3. Would it be safe to feed this along with Strategy GX without "throwing off" the balance of each product?
4. If you have used this product before, can you tell me how you like it?

I know this is a more expensive product but seriously I may believe it to be very well worth it especially with my hard keepers and pregnant/lactating mares.

Thanks in advance!

 

[LAZY J MINIS]

I've used amplify on some of my minis and a friend used it on her prego mare, all were with great results. I still keep some on hand so if I have a problem its there. Its a good product to feed with the grain.

 

[wingnut]

We have fed this to our hard keeper mini mare in addition to Purina's Omolene 300 (which has Amplify in it). My understanding is the Amplify is only a supplement and not meant to be a stand-alone. Unless you're wary of feeding a "sweet feed", the Omolene 300 has more calories, fat and protein then Strategy (which my other three get), I believe.

We had good luck with this combination for about 6 months. Then she started getting fussy about the extra Amplify. I found that SmarkPak's SmartGain4 works as well for her, and maybe even better because she loves it.

Where I am, I can only get the Amplify in 50lb bags and it cost around $40. We fed her 1/4lb of it with 3/4lb-1lb of the Omolene 2x a day (recommended by the Purina rep). It's a lot of calories for a mini but it's what this particular girl needed.

Based on my research, I'd only use the Amplify as a supplement or find another weight gain supplement like like SmartGain4.

Lastly, we also switched to an alfalfa hay/orchard grass hay (vs. timothy/orchard grass hay) and she's doing far better on that as well. They all are. They leave NO waste now and my hard keeper eats her grain better since we switched.

ETA: This is from the Purina rep I've dealt with:

It is a high fat supplementthat will help to get him into shape. Amplify is 2000 calories per pound.Omolene 300 is 1535 calories per pound so the Amplify will help them maintainand gain weight with a hard keeper.

Another option:

. Ultium is a high fat lowsugar diet that will help your horse gain weight. It has 1900 calories perpound. Because this feed is energy dense less feed is required for maintenanceof body condition when compared to feeds with lower energy density, such as straightgrains.

Like the Amplify, the Ultium is pricey. I would be using it but the hard keeper hated it and simply stopped eating when I tried feeding it to her.

 

[~Lisa~]

I stand by good quality hay and Purina Ultium so far one of the best feeds I have ever used in all my years

 

[Little Wolf Ranch]

ADDITIONAL QUESTION:

For your hard keeper miniatures, how much would you feed of strategy twice per day? I am giving him 1.5 cups (1/2 lb) twice per day along with 1 tbsp. (120 calories) per feeding. One is a 28" stallion and the other is a 33.5" stallion. Everyone else is doing fine on this combination except them. Do you think they would do better with the amplify supplement?

 

[disneyhorse]

I recently bought a Shetland mare back who was VERY thin (maybe a "2" body condition score) and in six weeks she's looking a billion times better (not really any muscle tone but weight wise the ribs/hips/spine are getting covered again) and now a score of almost a "4"...

My pony is 11 hands tall.

She is getting a LOT of grass hay (timothy) and although she didn't have much appetite at first, she is now cleaning it all up but it started out as being free-fed so she always had grass in front of her.

Twice daily I give her soaked beet pulp and alfalfa pellets (one pound each before soaking).

One time daily she gets a pound of Purina Strategy top dressed with a vitamin and a mineral supplement (Accel Lifetime and Equi-Pride specifically). She was getting two ounces of corn oil on this, but is now bumped down to one ounce now that she's nearing her ideal weight.

She is also getting a free choice salt block (Redmond natural chunk) which I normally don't offer to my horses who are supplemented and grained.

Try to be heavier on the forages than the concentrates, alfalfa is great to add to hay because it does have plenty of protein and calcium, and vitamins. And just be patient. It IS pretty rewarding to have horses gain weight back!

Good luck,

Andrea

 

[wingnut]

Our hard keeper is 33.75". She was last weighed in July and was 197lbs. This was when she was still underweight , by my standards. Not grossly underweight, but not what I wanted to see (no spine ridge, no sharp hip bones).

When using the Amplify supplement, she rec'd 1/4lb of the Amplify with 3/4lb of Omolene 300. This was given to her 2x a day. I added nothing else.

When she started refusing the Amplify (she literally ate around it!), I started using the SmartGain4, I bumped the Omolene 300 up to a full pound along with one pack (1/4 of a scoop) of the SmartGain4. She only gets the Smartgain4 for one feeding a day, but she gets a full pound of the Omolene 300 twice a day.

By comparision, my "air breathers"/easy keepers get 1/4 lb (2 yr old) or 1/2 lb (yearlings) of Strategy G/X formula twice a day. They get an additional hoof supplement and probiotics. The SmartGain4 already has a probiotic so I don't need to add any to hers.

I use a horse feed measuring cup that has measurements for both sweet feed and pelleted feeds in 1/4 pound increments up to one pound. By sticking with pound measurements (vs. cup), I can much more easily compare "apples to apples" on the matter, especially when reviewing feeding labels.

ETA: as already stated, good quality hay is also very important. The recommended amount of "1-2% of their body weight" in hay is working well for us. I tended to be a little more liberal during winter months as I was reminded that the hay is their "fuel" that keeps them warm. Being in Maryland we don't have really severe winters, but this year we're having a lot of colder-than-normal days (upper 20's/lower 30's), so I want to ensure my girls stay warm and therefore I'm not skimping on the hay.

 

[Jetiki]

Amplify is not designed to be used as the only source for nutrition it doesn't have the nutritional ingredients. Its designed as a fat only supplement, you can add it to other feeds. I have used it for an older pony that was a foster for a rescue. It does work to add weight but you don't want to just dump feed at him. You want it to be a gradual so he's healthy. I have rehabbed several including Thoroughbreds.

Karen

 

[Little Wolf Ranch]

So how much would you feed a miniature at the beginning and how much would you work up to for a maximum?

 

[Jetiki]

Since the other feed you are feeding is strategy, I would add about 1/2 a cup of Amplify to your Strategy and go from there, I would add more strategy before upping the Amplify though. Add one wait 2 weeks, then assess and make changes if necessary. You could also add 1 cup of Alfalfa pellets or black oil sunflower seeds to the mix but wait about 2 weeks before making changes to see what difference if any. The pony I was rehabbing was about 40 yrs old and 42"

Karen