Nutrena Safe Choice feeds

[punky]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone else has tried this feed, and have any thing to say about it.

Its new in the store i buy my feed from, thinking about trying it...Would it be ok to feed to

my brood mares and weanlings? It says its a 14% protein & 7% crude fat, and says its balanced for all ages, what do you think?

Thanks in advance for any help...

Tina

 

[Russ]

Hi Tina, it's hard to tell anyone what feed works best as each horse's needs differ/ their ages/ hay/pasture/enviroment/health etc. so I hestitate to give advice. What works for me may not for someone else. So a person has to read tags, research and then deside for themselves what fits the needs of their horses nutrition program.

What I can tell you is Safe Choice has worked well for my 4 year old mare. I like that it is lower in starch. She is a easy keeper and always looks good so this balanced feed has worked for my mares needs.

My weaner or now yearling mare, I prefer a slightly higher protein feed specific to youth horses. So I am using the Life Design Youth by Nutrena.

You can read a little more about Safe Choice at the link below.

Nutrena Safe Choice

 

[targetsmom]

You might want to try calling Nutrena at their toll free number in your area and talk to a nutritionist. I talked at length with the one in Connecticut and she told me that lots of the big (big horse) farms use Safe Choice for their broodmares. I guess it would depend on why you were switching feed. I wanted a low starch feed for one of ours and actually have been feeding the Nutrena Senior feed (a complete feed) to her as we were already feeding it to an older big gelding. Our mini filly is doing great on it, and it turns out that (according to the Nutrena person I spoke to) the Senior feed is actually lower in starch and sugar (NSC level) than the Safe Choice. BUT, I am not planning to give the Senior feed to the broodmare - she will get the Safe Choice. I do think that many minis will do better on a lower starch feed (just my opinion) but there are also plenty that will do just fine on sweet feed. Just like people, some can eat carbs and stay skinny, and for some it will go right to the hips (or the neck in our filly's case!).

By the way, we also tried feeding Safe Choice to another filly, and she won't eat it. But she will eat the Nutrena Senior. So, lots of factors to consider.

 

[Tapestry Minis]

Only speaking from our experiance.....we started feeding it in November and have seen tremendous results. Moving from the Pac NW and having a never ending very high quality hay supply then moving down to Texas were good hay is like finding a needle in a hay stack and then when you do find it, it doesn't hang around long and am forced to look again and change feed yet again.

All of my horses look great on SafeChoice and I like that it is lower in starch as I don't like feeding sweet feeds. At the feeds store I use to work for it was our top seller and the new store I will be working for starting Monday carries "SafeNSound" same exact product and milled by Cargill who is bascially Nutrena.

Good luck with whichever you decide.

 

[txminipinto]

I LOVE SAFE CHOICE!

: All of our horses are on it from foals to show horses, including broodmares. If you compare labels to Stragedy, it has more vitamins and minerals added as well. There is another feed called Safe and Sound by Acco that according to label is an almost exact match, but I haven't tried it yet to compare.

Remember, the results you get out of a feed is usually directly related to the amount of money you pay per bag. I've seen cheaper feeds out there, but have not been as satisfied as I have been with Safe Choice. I have also yet to have (knocking on wood) a feed related colic due to it either.

 

[kmh]

We switched over to Nutrena Safe Choice late last summer and are very pleased with the results. The show horses and one mature stallion are on Safe Choice, the 2006 weanlings (soon to be yearlings) are on Youth, and the broodmares and another mature stallion are on Light Balance...all Nutrena products.

The show horses and the one stallion are fed the Safe Choice. This stallion walks the fences constantly and is a little harder to keep weight on him. The Safe Choice has kept him at his optimum weight where we like it. It does help the show horses stay in condition much better from the stress of hauling, showing, etc.

We have another stallion that is a very easy keeper, and the broodmares were getting too fat for foaling condition. I talked to a Nutrena nutrionist, they recommended the Light Balance, which they said is fine for pregnant mares. All the nutrients are there, it just has less calories. This has produced great results in the stallion and our broodmares. The mares now look like they are supposed to while in foal and do not look like over bloated fatties, that they used to be on the sweet feed.

I do like what the Youth feed has done for the weanling/yearlings.

Nutrena costs more, but it is worth it to us.

 

[normajeanbaker]

We switched over the Safechoice on all but 2 of them last summer. We LOVE it. We had a 2005 colt who was very active and hard to keep weight on. He filled out quickly on the Safechoice and looks GREAT! Their energy levels are great, their coats are nice, it keeps them at a good weight,etc. Can't say enough good things about it!!!! We've done many Blue Seal feeds, other Nutrena feeds,etc but I think Safe Choice has worked the best for us.

Jen

 

[punky]

Thanks for all the replies on the Nutrena feed, the reason the change is because our feed store raised

his prices on alot of their feeds, and this is only a couple dollars more and i feel would benefit my

horses more than the other feed which was a sweet feed. I just want to see what others had to say

about it.

So thanks again everyone!!!

Tina

 

[srpwildrose]

:aktion033: Glad to hear the good things about Safe Choice.......as I am switching to it also.

I was mailed a coupon from a feed store 40 minutes away that is starting to carry it.........buy 1 bag get one free!!!!!!!!! So I bought 5 and got 5 free!!!!!!!!!!! What a savings!!! I am still mixing it with the previous sweet feed for a few more days.

 

[minimule]

I've been feeding the Safe Choice to everyone but my QH for over 2 years now. I love it! All of the animals do too. It was specifically designed to meet the needs of all types of horses. Nutrena did it on purpose.

Mine have a super shine to them and have lots of energy. The babies like it and the broodmares do great on it while in foal and nursing.

My QH has a problem with it. It makes his feet too soft. No one can figure out why. I feed him the Nutrena Senior without any issues. Looking at labels there is only 1 mineral that is different between the 2 feeds. Guess he just didn't need that particular one.

Manna Pro has come out with a feed that is very similar to the Safe Choice. It is calle Safe Performance. Of course the Manna dealer didn't say it was good for all types of horses nor do the Reps. They want you to buy the Mare and Foal or the Senior product they produce.

 

[RNR]

My big horses are on it! All of them do good on it but one she is the hardest keeper I have ever had we got her on senoir feed tring to bulid her up My minis I am in the prossess of switching them over I have a few on senior and the others I am wanting to switch over to the Safe Choice for two reasons I want to get everyone on the same feed and it is cheaper than what I am feeding the minis! I also have some minis on oats and corn with safe choice mixed in.

RNR

 

[punky]

I am glad to see all the positive results, because i wanted to know more about what others thought

of this feed. So thanks again all who replied. I think i will try it and see how my horses do on it,

I have a broodmare that its really hard to keep her weight up when she has a baby on her. And since

its for all horses my yearlyings can be put on it also. That will let me just feed one feed, It makes

that alot easier when i need to have someone feed when i gotta go somewhere. Last year i was using

two feeds, my friend got it mixed up when she fed. So thanks again everyone...

Tina

 

[StormyAcreRanch]

I feed all my horses safe choice have been using it now for about 2 yrs or so. I found out about it when I was talking to the Nutrena Rep about my TB that was a hard keeper and we were literally maxing him out on other grains just to keep his weight. Tried it and he actually gained to much weight, had to cut him down on how much we feed him. We feed it to our weanling now coming 2yr old mule draft and he does great on it, that was another reason for the switch we have young and old on our place and didn't want to have 3 different feed containers around, how confusing!!! I really like the stuff and so do the horses, they do super on it. The mini's are on it as well and do great. You don't have to feed as much of it as you would other feeds, we've really cut back on our grain expense since switching over. Love this feed!!!!