Need opinion on grain....

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kimmc_2004

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Apr 14, 2004
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Langley BC
Currently my minis each get :

1 cup of complete

1/4 cup of alfalfa pellets (unsoaked)

1/4cup beet pulp (unsoaked)

2 ounces of bran

1 cup of black oil sunflower seeds

a scoop of selenium plus vit. E (we are selenium deficient here is the fraser valley)

1 tespoon of biotin

and all this gets soaked and given tot hem at night. I have one mare that is getting so fat I was embarrased to take her to a clinic and then my other mare is dropping weight. My little stud is a little overweight with a big tummy. They dont get a lot of hay, just 1/2 flake morning and night. Throughout the day they get alfalfa cubes. I have had a lot of success with the cubes in the past but I am now thinking I may have to make some grain changes. I was thinking maybe to go with a different complete feed? Its just the complete pellets made by proform. I want to get their tummys up and in shape for show season. My one mare who is about 80lbs overweight is also 2 months pregnant.
 
For one thing I would take away their cubes. Alfalfa has alot of fat in that.

Here is my solution if I had your problem.

All this winter I've been giving my horses 1 cup of Omelene 200 and 1 cup of alfalfa cubes, with pasture grass 24/7. These are just my horses that are easy keepers. I have 2 that are real chubby and are going to be on my show string this year.

I plan on switching them to Equine Adult cause I believe they don't take to the sweet feed real well. The complete feed watches their weight.

I still like the Omelene very much, and I recommend the Omelene 200 to your horses that are a little underweight.
 
My horses are on a simular diet well of course they all vary a bit due to size and weight issues but close to yours only I feed omelene 200 not complete (since complete tends to have beet pulp in it and I already feed that)

However I only feed hay once a day- most of my fatties have lost weight and are now looking pretty darn good.

My question to you would be why if feeding the complete are you giving them pellets as well?

I would think if you incresed the complete a bit you could cut the hay(one feeding) and the pellets?
 
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I'm sure someone will come on with more nutrition experience, but it sounds like they aren't getting enough or the wrong combination.

1 cup of most pellets is only a little more than 5 oz of feed, so that's not that much. How much they need is going to depend on their size, age, level of activity and such; so if you provide that information someone here may be able to help you more.

Last year, I decided to simplify my feed program; I switched to Progressive Nutrition ProAdvantage grass formula (diet balancer) and feed it with grass hay [i recently added grass hay pellets as our grass hay is coarse and of poor quality]. I also feed a little BOSS and have senior feed on hand for my 23 year old half-Arab gelding. Below, is a basic run-down of what I feed; it works for me and my horses. With the help of your vet and/or an equine nutritionist you'll have to figure out what works for you and your horses.

I'm loving the grass pellets, I have a mini mare that foundered and she is on the grass pellets and Progressive pellets, almost exclusively (I have to watch the sugars and starchs in her diet and this combination is about the lowest I can find). She gets 1/2 pound Progressive pellets (about 1.25 cups), 4.5-5 pound grass pellets (about 2/3 of a 2-qt scoop morning and a full scoop afternoon) and a handful of hay per day; divided into two feeds (she works on the pellets for most of the day - she gets the little bit of hay for her long-stem forage needs and she loves her hay).

My stallion (2 yo about 250#) gets 1 pound Progressive pellets (about 3 cups), 2 pounds grass pellets (about 6 cups) and 3-4 pounds grass hay per day (divided into two feeds).

My two yearling fillies gets 1.5# PN pellets (about 4.5 cups) and 1.5 pounds grass pellets (about 4 cups) each; plus free choice grass hay.

The cup listing for the PN pellets is pretty close, as I know 1 cup of PN pellets is 5.3oz. I use a scoop that I measured and weighed 4 oz, 8 oz and 12 oz of product in, so I know what I'm feeding (it's a store-bought plastic frosting container). The frosting container full holds 9.2 oz of grass pellets (so the cup listing above is a best guess).
 
You have to stop and think that you are feeding 3 entirely different animals and they each have entirely different needs. You cannot feed each of these guys the exact same diet. You have an empty mare, a stallion and a bred mare. Two have belly issues and one is underweight. Each one has different needs and although it may not be terribly convenient for you a different menu is needed for each. Once the pregnant mare reaches her last trimester you will again need to adjust her feed and once the foal is born you will have another animal with another diet necessary. From the sound of the diet you are now feeding them you have added whatever sounded good as you heard about it. I would like to suggest that you read up on nutrition and find out what will work for each individual.
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thanks for everyones opinions so far. I do reaqlize that I have all 3 different horses here and I do vary their feed requiements a bit but not enough. I live in canada so stuff like omelene and progressive pellets I have actually never heard of? I will definately look into it further though. I am getting confused on complete pellets. Should I just find a good one like the omelene? I am assuming. is the beet pulp and alfalfa peelets good for their diet? my one mare that is underweight (also 34.5inches while my stud is only30inches and my preg mare is 28inches) gets 2 cups of BOSS as she has skin problem too. I would liek more info on a couple of the feeds mentioned and would be curious to see if anywhere carries any of them in canada. Anymore info is greatly appreciated!
 
thanks for everyones opinions so far. I do reaqlize that I have all 3 different horses here and I do vary their feed requiements a bit but not enough. I live in canada so stuff like omelene and progressive pellets I have actually never heard of? I will definately look into it further though. I am getting confused on complete pellets. Should I just find a good one like the omelene? I am assuming. is the beet pulp and alfalfa peelets good for their diet? my one mare that is underweight (also 34.5inches while my stud is only30inches and my preg mare is 28inches) gets 2 cups of BOSS as she has skin problem too. I would liek more info on a couple of the feeds mentioned and would be curious to see if anywhere carries any of them in canada. Anymore info is greatly appreciated!

I don't know if Progressive is available in Canada, but here's a link to their website:

http://www.prognutrition.com/

If they don't have a dealer locator, you can try the contact us page and e-mail them.

Omelene is a Purina product, here's the link to Purina: http://www.equinenutritioncenter.com/

I don't know what it's called off-hand, but Purina makes a couple of diet balancers also.

Personally I wouldn't feed over 1/2-cup of BOSS to a mini (after about 1/2 to 1 cup for minis, then you need to start balancing the minerals in BOSS, besides it's loaded with fat which will pack on the pounds if you feed too much). Beet pulp is good for adding calories.

I don't know anything about them, but members on another board I'm on are always talking about Step feeds, and they are mostly from Canada. [different Step for each need, I think.]
 
not enough fat in the diet. Get rid of the bran and boss should be only 1/2 cup. Did you say how big the mini was? How much hay or pasture do they get
 
Step feeds is actually what I use. Does anyone have any idea which one would best be suited for my minis? Here are all the ones to choose from: http://www.unifeed.com/unifeed/millstore/stepright2.html

I haven't fed these feeds, nor do I know much about them, other than what I just read on the website, thanks for the link. But, going on what you said, I would try this:

Step 6 - Senior (14% extruded) - for you underweight 34.5" mare [the senior is also good for underweight horses, according to the website]

Step 4 - Complete pellet (12% pellet) - for both of your other horses, since they are overweight.

I don't know what the labels recommend you feed each type of feed, so can't help you with a recommended quantity to feed. [do you have a label handy, so you can let us know what it recommends - feel free to PM me, if that would work better].

I'd drop all the extras and just feed the right Step feed and some quality hay (perhaps a little BOSS and biotin, too as neither in the right quanitities will throw off the balance of the diet).

All of the changes would have to be done slowly over a week or two; just gradually add the new feed and decrease the old feed.

All this assumes they don't have something else going on; parasites, teeth problems, ulcers and a number of other problems that could affect their use of the feeds provided.
 
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step 6 is what they all currently get. Its a good normal complete pellet. I dont have a label, but I need to go to the feed store today so hopefully I can decide on a feed. I was thinking maybe the step 6 doesnt have enough fat? I know i did a high fat grain a couple years ago and got my stud into show condition pretty fast. I cant get that feed anymore though. Would I be better off going across the border to get some feed? Its not very far, im only 20 minutes from the sumas border.

They have all been dewormed and as far as I know they are healthy as can be. I left their blankets on all winter and was surprised what I found when I took them off (no excuse, I was lazy and should have checked them more often)

These progressive pellets really interest me, it might be a better way for me to feed my minis as well. I will check out that website again, thanks!
 

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