Nutrena Safe choice

[MBhorses]

who has use nutrena safe choice why or not?

our vet is wanting us to feed safe choice and no more sweet feed or oats.our vet said the safe choice is great.

 

[Tucker]

I feed it to all my horses.Been feeding it for 3 years now and my horses look great and have good weight.there hooves look much better to and coats shine all the time.It takes feeding it for awile to see the differents.but yes I love the feed. :aktion033:

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

I fed it for a while and was very pleased I am now feeding the Nutrena Sr to everyone (wanted to get down to one or 2 feeds instead of 3 or 4 different ones) and XTN to my hard keepers

 

[minimule]

I've been feeding Safe Choice for about 3 yrs now too. It's a great all around feed. Everyone here gets the same thing just different amounts depending on the horse. If you use it....do NOT add anything extra like oats or barley. That takes away from the balance of the Safe Choice. That came straight from the REP.

The only downside I've ever had is a couple of batches have been different. The smell and color were both different. They figured out that one ingredient had been left out.

 

[txminipinto]

Use it, love it, and recommend it. It's very comparable to Stragedy except Safe Choice has more vitamins and minerals (so you can leave out the supplements!).

 

[Buckskin gal]

I think it is an excellent feed for minis....mine look great! Mary

 

[MBhorses]

thanks everyone,

what else do you feed with safe choice? do you give alfafa hay or oats with the feed?

right now we give alfafa hay, oats, sweet feed for their feed. I was looking into safe choice per our vet.we give them hay and grass(what grass we have) as well.

 

[Tapestry Minis]

We've been feeding it since about November and we LOVE IT!!! All of our horses get it and it really gives us piece if mind. :aktion033:

We feed coastal bermuda hay/alfalfa hay mix and beet pulp

 

[WeeOkie]

I have been using it for a little over a year now. I feed it to all my horses, except a couple of very oldsters (even then if they go off their feed for some reason, they will always eat Safe Choice). It has certainly simplified my feeding. I do give a few alfalfa pellets during last trimester/lactation to my broodmares. My foals learn to eat from day one right along with their mamas. It says it is for all ages, so last year I did not put my babies on Equine Jr as I normally do, and they look great and have matured just right. I intend to keep feeding it to all of them this year as well. Oh, yes, it has worked very well for my founder-prone horses, instead of the diet balancer they were getting. They all also get grass hay.

Rita

 

[wildoak]

My vet feeds it to everything there - she foaled out my big mare so when I brought her home I bought some and have kept her on it. She looks great, foal looks great.

Jan

 

[kmh]

We love the Nutrena Feeds...we feed Safe Choice to the show horses and broodmares. We feed the Youth to our weanling through yearling foals. We are very pleased how nice the foals and broodmares look. No more big fat "feed/hay" bellies, they are all in excellent condition now.

We have one stallion that is 29" tall and a very easy keeper, he is fed Lite Balance (less calories) and he looks wonderful ! This is the best shape he has been in for a very long time. When we fed sweet feed he always looked like an "avocado on toothpicks". He has slimed down very nicely over the winter. We started using Nutrena products in September/October last year.

We feed a grass/alfalfa mixed hay. Very happy with the results.

Steph

 

[targetsmom]

I feed Nutrena products and talked with one of their reps about them. I feed Nutrena Senior to my big horse with the colic surgery history and started the mini show horses on that last fall. I love the way they look and act. I just started feeding the Safe Choice to our mares, as the rep told me lots of people use that for broodmares and even foals, so that seemed a better choice for them. If you happen to be really watching the carbs you are feeding, the Senior Feed is actually even lower in NSC than the Safe Choice! That is probably because the Senior Feed is a complete feed.

I also feed second cutting timothy hay to everyone, and the show horses get soaked beet pulp. I do feed a vitamin supplement too, and a daily wormer.

 

[SilverDollar]

Add me to the satisfied Safe Choice users. I have fed it to my minis for two years now and really like it. I also feed it to one of my full-size horses. I feed the Nutrena Sr. (without Molasses--"dry") to my senior horses, except for my Cushings/IR/Foundered pony.

I also feed shredded timothy hay to my minis. I must be the only mini owner who shreds their hay! After both my minis colicked--one was an impaction colic--my vet suggested it and I've done it ever since. Does anyone else shred their hay for their minis? I guess I'm too paranoid not to do it so my Craftsman shredder gets a weekly workout.

 

[mizbeth]

I have been feeding it for some months now and was using strategy. I switched as it is said to be the same feed as strategy only made by Nutrena and a bit cheaper. It is no longer cheaper than Strategy. I have noticed however lately that there is a lot of "powder" in each bag and not at the bottom either, all throughout.

I am disappointed in that and have mentioned it to the feed store where I purchase. Do not know what the cause of the powder as the bags are in tact when I buy them. Hopefully this will improve? If not I will feed strategy again. Have any of your noticed it in your feed? Not sure where the feed I buy is made.

Beth

 

[MBhorses]

we just started feeding safe choice on tues this week. I am new to this feed. we were feeding sweet feed,oats and afalfa. we are mixing the safe choice with the old feed for two weeks.

 

[Margo_C-T]

Beth, you might ask your feed store about how the feed was handled since production; I have noticed this phenomenon occasionally in pelleted feeds(even hay pellets), and I strongly suspect it is due to rough handling(i.e., the more times/the more 'abruptly' the bags are 'dropped', even if on a pallet--the more likely some of the contents are apt to be 'pulverized'...)-even feed handling can be done 'well' or 'sloppily'; nowadays, few seem to care which, but there ARE consequences of work well done vs sloppy work, no matter what the situation. It could also have to do with inadequate/improper maintenance or cleaning of the production equipment. Complain--you certainly have the right, as you are the one paying the high prices for these products, and they should get to you in good condition!

Yesterday, I was on the websites of both Nutrena AND Acco Feeds-someone mentioned Acco's 'Safe and Sound'(I think that's the title)feed on this(?)or some other horsey forum recently, and it sounded like something worth considering, so after this thread began, I checked out the nutritional info for both Acco's and the 'Safe Choice' from Nutrena-I would always be interested in a comparable product that is more reasonable in cost(I currently use three Triple Crown feeds, and they are good, but pricey, IMO, at $16 per 50# bag). It appears that these two feeds are virtually identical in composition, and both are available nearby, so I will be calling the feed store to check out the prices! I tried 'Strategy', was unimpressed-that's when I went to the Triple Crown-but boy, have the prices gone up and up! I also feed 1/3 c. to 2/3 c. BOSS daily to the minis, depending on their size,and soaked beet pulp once daily, in addition to orchard grass hay and alfalfa. I do like feeding a Senior formula to my seniors(a 25 yr. old and a 21 yr. old), but would like to simplify the rest of my program a bit more, and would love ONE formula for everyone else( I have nothing under 6 years of age.)

Sounds like the concensus here is favorable for 'Safe Choice'; anyone have any experience with the Acco 'Safe and Sound'?

Margo

 

[Tapestry Minis]

I've not used the Safe and Sound but all the guarunteed analysis is the same. They are both milled by Cargill. The difference in price is really not much in this area.

When I start prepairing meals the horses don't make any noise until I start digging out the Safe Choice from the bin. So that's proof enough to me to not change :new_rofl:

 

[mizbeth]

Thank you Margo!

I had thought of handling as a problem with powdery feed. Sure hope it is not rodents in it. Not my rodents anyway as it comes this way

I have certainly seen the fellas at the feed store "flop" feed in the back of my truck and throw hay in every which way as well. Aggrevating to say the least since I unload the feed myself and like it neat to begin with.

It is my understanding from the Nutrena folks that Safe and Sound (Acco) is a soy based product and Safe Choice is a alfa based product. Sales pitch???????????? No price difference here either, all is high and getter higher. My horses are doing well on this feed tho. I add oats to it as well and also beet pulp but do not use beet pulp each day this time of year. I like beet pulp and am feeding it in hot and cold weather and serving it very wet to keep horses hydrated during these times.

Interesting about both Safe Choice and Safe and Sound coming from the same mill? I opened a bag of Nutrena sweet feed (cannot recall the name) and a bag of omalene 200 at the feed store. The feed is exactly the same! I am finding large = whole kernels of corn in omalene so was questioning it and was going to change to another sweet feed with no whole kernel corn in it. Also Nutrena sweet feed is about 3.00 per bag cheaper I noticed. Hmmmmm

 

[chandab]

It is my understanding from the Nutrena folks that Safe and Sound (Acco) is a soy based product and Safe Choice is a alfa based product. Sales pitch???????????? No price difference here either, all is high and getter higher. M

I have a feed tag from ACCO safe and sound, top 6 ingredients are: grain products, canola meal, yeast culture, processed grain by-products, roughage products, forage products. There aren't many specifics listed. [it was my understanding that they are the same product under two different labels.]

I can get both products; ACCO locally and Nutrena 60 miles away; for me there is about a $3.00 difference in price (ACCO is cheaper).