Grace and Millie
New Member
Hello there...
I have two very fat minis (Grace and Millie) living on a little track. I was free feeding them in 1" slow feeders and of course they stayed fat.
I looked up how much they should be eating by weight and I put them on a diet. Now they get 4 lbs/day each (1.5% of body weight). The problem is that they are experts with the slow feeders and they are done in less than an hour. I'm feeding 4 feedings a day but that still leaves them with empty stomachs for hours. I even bought a 1/2" haynet that looked impossible but they are so good at it that there are tufts of hay sticking out both sides of their mouths while they quickly empty it.
I really hate them standing around with empty bellies. I believe in free feeding but I'm worried that they would stay dangerously fat.... Grace has a big crest. I read one thing that said restricting food too much can make it difficult for them to lose weight and does something to their metabolism. And that if soaked they could potentially eat free choice. One thing I noticed is that they haven't lost a pound since I started restricting their food and their body condition is the same as when they were free feeding.
I'm willing to soak hay if I can figure out a way to do it well. My biggest challenge would be the weather. We get cold winters where it can dip down to -25-30C. In the summer it's the opposite problem because it gets up into the high 30's with 40 degree humidex. So I'm worried about handling wet and freezing nets in winter and fermented hay in summer.
It says to soak for an hour then feed, but I'd like to do it so that I'm not having to run back and forth to the barn twice for every feeding, or having to stand around waiting for it to soak.
How do people manage this? I'd love to hear how others have dealt with these challenges. I read that some people soak all day or night for the next feeding, but something else I read said to feed immediately because of bacteria. Is there a way I can do this? I'm thinking of going back to free feeding, especially in the winter when they need food in their bellies to stay warm.
I have two very fat minis (Grace and Millie) living on a little track. I was free feeding them in 1" slow feeders and of course they stayed fat.
I looked up how much they should be eating by weight and I put them on a diet. Now they get 4 lbs/day each (1.5% of body weight). The problem is that they are experts with the slow feeders and they are done in less than an hour. I'm feeding 4 feedings a day but that still leaves them with empty stomachs for hours. I even bought a 1/2" haynet that looked impossible but they are so good at it that there are tufts of hay sticking out both sides of their mouths while they quickly empty it.
I really hate them standing around with empty bellies. I believe in free feeding but I'm worried that they would stay dangerously fat.... Grace has a big crest. I read one thing that said restricting food too much can make it difficult for them to lose weight and does something to their metabolism. And that if soaked they could potentially eat free choice. One thing I noticed is that they haven't lost a pound since I started restricting their food and their body condition is the same as when they were free feeding.
I'm willing to soak hay if I can figure out a way to do it well. My biggest challenge would be the weather. We get cold winters where it can dip down to -25-30C. In the summer it's the opposite problem because it gets up into the high 30's with 40 degree humidex. So I'm worried about handling wet and freezing nets in winter and fermented hay in summer.
It says to soak for an hour then feed, but I'd like to do it so that I'm not having to run back and forth to the barn twice for every feeding, or having to stand around waiting for it to soak.
How do people manage this? I'd love to hear how others have dealt with these challenges. I read that some people soak all day or night for the next feeding, but something else I read said to feed immediately because of bacteria. Is there a way I can do this? I'm thinking of going back to free feeding, especially in the winter when they need food in their bellies to stay warm.