Weanlings feeding help

[sugarboy]

I purchased two weanlings about 1 month ago, one has a really bad Hay belly and they both had worms (which we have dewormed them 2 times with pyrantal paomate)..

They had little to no grain when I bought them and we have slowly worked them up to 2 cups per day of 16% protein sweet feed which has added beet pulp and contains 10% fat. we have also have added a couple cups of dengie (chopped alfalfa) 3 times per day.

How much do you feed for a 4 month old mini and what do you reccomemend to keep them looking their best. They have little to No grass in their paddocks but free choice timothy grass mix hay. We want them to have the best start and we plan to show them next spring so we need them to look fit and healthy, right now they have a backbone that is slightly raised and little muscleing. . Would love to hear some thought and opinions on what helps to build up their topline, supplements etc.

 

[mydaddysjag]

Do you mean you feed them two cups twice per day for four cups total, or one cup twice a day for a total of two cups per day? Just want to clarify

If its just two cups per day, that wont be enough, the minis eat way more than you would expect, especially the babies. I had a weanling eating 6 cups twice a day last winter of a junior feed, hes a bigger B though, so eats a bit more than most smaller colts. On average, most weanlings Ive had had ate 4 cups twice per day. I feed a 16% feed to weanlings and yearlings. I also feed alfalfa mix hay, usually 50/50 with a grass hay. I buy straight alfalfa so I can mix it in with my grass hay, as alfalfa mix hay where I live is usually only a small percentage of alfalfa. If I had to choose, I would go with more alfalfa than grass growing horses really need the nutrition, especially if you are going to fit them up to show.

You will want to deworm them once a month until they are a full year old, and rotate dewormers, ivermectin, strongid, and pyrantel. Make sure you calculate their actual weight, many people are wrong when they guess the weight of their minis and either under or overdose on the wormer.

There are a few really good supplements, Body builder is about as good as you can get for adding weight and bloom, but its pretty pricey (the lowest Ive seen it is $69 per bottle at valley vet, its around $80 elsewhere). Ive used it to put weight on even emaciated horses, but once they get caught up to weight, I quit giving it. Many people have had good results adding 1/2 cup of calfmanna to the grain twice per day, in my area calf manna runs $27 per 50lbs and you can buy it at tractor supply and most feed stores.

Beetpulp can help put weight on a topline, the trick is that you have to feed it in addition to their grain, not cutting their grain back to add the beetpulp. I measure 1 cup of shreds dry, then soak it and feed it.

As far as coat supplements, the body builder puts a nice shine on them, but there are other supplements that work too. I like a supplement called Nu-image. Its reasonably priced, and has worked well for me. Ive tried just about everything, even things 4x its price, and I always come back to it.

 

[targetsmom]

Weanlings (and to a lesser extent yearlings) need a lot more grain than you might think. They should have 14-16% TOTAL protein in their diet (12-14% for yearlings), which means if the hay is grass hay and only about 10-11% protein (common), then you need to do some math. You should end up with a grain to forage ratio of around 70:30 to get the required amount of protein. So, as an example, 70% (by weight) of the total diet would be grain and only 30% by weight would be hay or other forage. This is one reason why alfalfa is so useful, because it has a higher protein content.

I would suggest that you weigh everything and get as good an estimate of the weanling(s) weight as you can. At the least, it sounds like you really need to increase the grain and decrease the hay. This is one reason why I like complete feeds for youngsters - you can safely increase the grain (and protein) because you are balancing it with forage at the same time. I feed with hay, beet pulp and alfalfa cubes.

ETA: I am not a fan of sweet feeds, because the extra sugar can be hard on the stomach, and is not necessary. There are plenty of mare and foal feeds, and junior feeds, although I am still using a senior feed that I used for my old horse. You will find and junior feeds and senior feeds are quite similar, especially the complete feeds. A Nutrena nutritionist told me there is no reason not to feed the senior feed to young stock, as long as the protein content is high enough.

 

[Jill]

For years, we have fed our weanlings - yearlings and 2yo's complete senior pellets and very soft orchard grass hay. It's worked really well for us. I do not really like to use sweet feeds as I think they can contribute to colics and ulcers, but do rely heavily on complete pellets for all of our horses (be it senior complete pellets (extra protein), low starch complete pellets, or adult complete pellets).

 

[JMS Miniatures]

Sounds like these guys were lacking nutrition. Now that you got them they should be alright. The one with the hay belly probably isn't an actual hay belly, it's probably because he is full of worms and/or lack of nutrition. Have you had a vet look at these guys yet? Was a fecal done? I would get one just to find out what you need to hit them with. I would personally do a PowerDose of SafeGuard.

I would continue doing the free choice hay especially since there is not grass, just make sure it's good quality. I'm also one that is leery on the sweet feed and really like the JuniorGLO by ADM. As far as supplements go I wouldn't worry so much on that. Right now they probably don't look very good but get them on a good feeding program over the winter and they should be good to go. If I offer them anything is free choice MoorMan's minerals also by ADM. Another good tip is weigh their food and not go by volume.

 

[sugarboy]

Great info guys! Does anyone use Blue seal feeds. My mature horses are all on nu-image with Sentinel Safe start from Blue seal feeds, it is a 16% feed with 8/5% fat. I started my foals on this sweetfeed beetpulp based grain on another miniature horse owners advice. If the sweetfeed is not a good idea what do you think of the safe start which is an extruded food, they also have a grow and excel which is extruded as well. would love to hear if anyone uses either. thanks again for your input

 

[mydaddysjag]

Senteniel safe start used to be called blue seal vintage gold, and its an excellent feed. I fed it for many, many years and Im actually going back to it after trying all the other feeds most people reccomend for minis. 2 cups a day of feed is nothing though, you really need to feed it by weight. Because its an extuded feed, its "puffed" like rice krispies, a cup of safe start weighs much, much less than a cup of a regular pelleted feed. Ive fed it to barrel horses, foals, and hard keepers.

The feeding reccomendations for a weanling are:

Weanling 4-6 to 18 mos. 0.90lb - 1.40lb per 100lbs body weight. I can almost guarantee that 2 cups a day is way less than even a pound. If you dont have a scale at home, what I used to do is I would take ziplock baggies and put 1 cup in them, and take them to the grocery store and weigh them on the produce scale. Once I knew how much a cup weighed, I could calculate how many cups I needed to get the right amount of feed. How tall are your weanlings?

I think you will love that feed once you get them on the right amount of it, its just one that you really have to weight since its extruded nuggets

 

[sugarboy]

Thank you! My weanling filly is AMHR should mature at 37" and my colt is AMHA and should mature at 32" tall. I havent weighed it yet but I do have a scale. I added in a handful of the Safe start in both feedings yesterday and I will slowly switch them both over to the safe start.

thanks so much for all your help!

Missy