I think they are eating too much...

[mini horse mania]

I have 10 minis. They are all together in a pasture with no grass....4 are bred Do to foal within the next 2-6 months. All under the age of 9 so they are easy keepers.except my stallion is 17.... 3 are yearlings or younger.

There isn't any grass due to winter so I have been feeding square hay and 10/10 sweet feed. They are up to eating two 70 pound square bales and 12 pounds of feed per day....they gulp it down....then stand at the feed troughs and holler at me....I think that is plently for these guys...they look like blimps with legs..except for one mare who has a small foal. She gets conatantly run away....i have started feeding her separate. I definitely don't want to up the grain..would putting out a round bale be a better idea? It just seems to me that they sure are eating a lot more than usual.....

 

[Mini Paradise]

Here's what would be a problem for me. Keeping all those minis together in one pasture. You have bred mares, yearling and younger and an older stallion. Here is what I would do: seperate youngest horses into their own pasture (yearlings and younger), seperate bred mares into their own pasture, and seperate 17 y/o stallion to a pasture by himself. Yearlings and weanlings require a 14-16% protein feed as well as do bred mares that far along. You are feeding 10% protein. Way to low for young horses especially weanlings. My oldest mini is 12 (which is not old at all) so can't comment on the stallion, but If it were me I would probably feed atleast 12% protein feed. Hopefully others will give you some suggestions but I would say the reason they are acting hungry is because they are all put together to eat the same feed. They all have different requirements, but aren't getting it. By seperating them you would be able to properly feed them the required amounts and what they require. Also make sure to do a hands on check on all the horses especially the youngsters. Minis grow so much winter coat that many people mistaken them for being overweight when in fact so many can be found thin under all that hair.

What kind of hay are you feeding? I have currently have 10 minis in a pasture (8 mares and 2 geldings) and decided to get a round bale for them. It was good quality grass hay, but they wasted about half of it by spreading it around and peeing on it. So if you decide to get a round bale I would not put the whole bale out. I would tear off what is needed for each time feeding.

 

[chandab]

How big are your minis? Size matters on feed amounts.

I have 12 minis; 3 A-size, 9 B-size.

My smallest, a slight-built 31" stallion is only about 175# and gets about 3.5-6# feed per day (lower end in summer, higher end in winter; mostly hay).

My B-size minis get 7-10# feed per day (mostly hay), and with it being winter most are on free-choice hay. I do have round bales, but fork them hay daily. don't actually keep track of how much I feed, too hard with a round bales (and I don't skimp in winter); but our 1200# round bales last 7 of the B-size horses about 2.5 weeks (we probably waste about 3 days worth of hay pulling the weathered outer layer off and tossing it to the cows).

[i really need to get back to weighing their hay, I do weigh their hard feed.]

And, I do feed separately. I have 6 different paddocks; the two stallions each have their own pen, 2 mares share a paddock next to one stallion pen, 4 mares share a pen next to the other stallion, 2 mares with special dietary needs have their own pen, and the two geldings have their own pen.

 

[mini horse mania]

There are 2 that are 1.5 years old....one that is 3 months old....4 bred mares..3 open..the stallion ....all are 34 and under except 2. They are b size....I use this feed as it has always done a great job for me. Its plenty of fat and I figure they can get the added protein from the hay which is coastal....Timothy...alfalfa mix.

 

[Minimor]

How do you have 3 open mares when they are all out with the stallion? LOL

Here 10 horses would get two 70 lb bales of hay twice a day, but mine are all in the 33" to 38" size range. My horses are divided according to age--the young ones are separate and get a richer hay than the mature ones do. I also make sure that everyone is able to eat when they want; no one has to stand back and wait for the more dominant ones to finish before they can move in and eat.

Mares & foals are also separate--again, they get a richer feed than the others--higher alfalfa content and more grain.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I agree completely that you need these horses separated out. You are not feeding too much, but one of the reasons they are still shouting at you is that a couple of them will be eating the bulk of what you put out, so the others are still hungry. You cannot have the mares foaling in that situation, anyway. You need to divide up into at least four paddocks (you could use hotwire as they all know one another) and get the ages separate.

Then you can start seeing who is eating what.

My 12 would easily eat two bales a day, it is only because I still have loads of grass that they do not!

 

[mydaddysjag]

Doesnt sound like much for me for winter. I have a 12 year old 34" gelding, a five year old 36" stallion, and a now yearling colt whos around 34". I go through 120lbs of regular hay, 14lbs of alfalfa cubes, and 28 cups of beetpulp shreds a week. My adult horses eat 1.25lbs of 14% protein 8% fat grain each per day, and my colt eats 3lbs of 16% protein 6% fat grain per day.

Adult horses 17.5 lbs of grain per week total

Colt 21 lbs of grain per week total

If they were my horses, the junior horses and bred mares would be on a 14% or 16% protein feed designed for junior horses. Generally, hay has less protein than grain, so your hay isnt going to bring up the total protein of the diet. If you fed straight alfalfa, maybe, but I doubt it with a mix. I dont ever feed anyone less than 12% grain

 

[mini horse mania]

I just put the horses all together a few days ago....open mares for now anyway.lol. I bought them in groups of 3 or so...and they were together then...so I figured since they were use to each other...I'd leave them. I guess I will separate them the best I can...I have one mare that picks on everyone....and she is due soon...her filly is 2 and they are inseparable. Could I put them in stalls to feed...instead of splitting up there little "herds".?

 

[rabbitsfizz]

If you split the mare and her youngster (which you would have to do anyway at foaling) it will make the mare less aggressive. You need to split them up into bred mares, yearlings, youngsters and stallions. Feeding separately is a band aid on a gunshot wound- not going to do a huge lot of good!

And it is too early, IMO, to be breeding the open mares anyway, unless you have a really good barn and heating. Trust me, I have foaled mares at Christmas, first off it is *&%%^$ cold, and, secondly, I had a horse that was a yearling at four days old!!!

 

[mini horse mania]

I guess I will be building separate pens now...I was feeding molene 300 or 400....the one for growth to everyone until it went to $17 a bag last week....I guess ill switch back...my husband gets a deal on the 10-10 at $9 a bag because he is a dealer..so he bought that instead.... the bred mares can have one pen....and the 3 open ones...ill pull back out....the yearlings can have a pen.....and poor DJ I guess I can put him in the smaller pen I have...we moved here 3 weeks ago and it is raw land.....I haven't had much time to build pens to get everyone moved around....well time to get to it!! Thanks everyone.!