What is the best feed to put weight on a weanling

[SHANA]

Hi,

I recently, as of 5a.m this morning, got a little weanling mini colt. He arrived here from Ontario this morning very thin and I would like to know what grain would be best to put weight on him. He has been dewormed. Would Equine Juvenile be good, or maybe a sweet feed like Omolene 300? Right now he has free choice hay and water. I hope he gains some much needed weight before winter.

Poor little guy. The person I got him from said he got into acorns and it pulled him down. She had him on a foal feed and beet pulp.

 

[Charlotte]

I think if he's been eating acorns and that was the cause for him being thin I might want to have some bloodwork done just to make sure all is well. Then I'd put him on a high quality Junior feed. Young horses don't have the ability to digest forage and some grain products well untill they are in their first or second year of life. they are designed to still be on at least a partial milk diet and the Junior feeds 'should' take this into consideration and be manuufactured to be more digestible. Maybe he just wasn't getting enough of the foal feed.

I really like the Progressive Growth Formula, but I'm sure other company's junior feeds will work well too.

Do you have pictures of your new little one?

I love seeing the horses everyone has.

Charlotte

 

[minimomNC]

Following the advice of my wonderful friend/vet, I added Calf Manna, 1/2 cup twice a day, to the Omelene 200 that I already fed. It has worked so good, mine were not thin but they did have pot bellies and now they look great with good weight on them.

 

[SHANA]

Here is a photo of the colt. This was taken around 8a.m this morning. Poor little guy.

 

[Charlotte]

He's a pretty boy, but obviously hasn't been on the feed he needs. That big belly tells you he isn't digesting well. I bet you get him in shape in no time.

Charlotte

p.s. I'd also suggest having a fecal egg count done and deworm if he needs it. But don't deworm if he doesn't need it!

 

[Anne ABC]

We use Purina Strategy. We have found it to be the best complete feed for our young ones, just gives them a great start at weaning and keeps them in good shape that whole first year without adding anything to it. Like Charlotte said the first thing is to be sure he is clear of worms and healthy otherwise, then a good feed will go along way to get him in shape.

 

[cretahillsgal]

I have fed several different feeds to the youngsters here and I keep coming back to Equine Jr. That is the best in my experience.

 

[SHANA]

I am feeding Equine Jr to my other 2 weanlings. Here is is called Equine Juvenile.

 

[JMS Miniatures]

Defintelly like a 16% Jr. feed. I would avoid sweet feed like Omolene cause that could upset his stomach, just a complete or pelleted feed. I would also worm him right away. Poor guy.

 

[Marty]

Hi Shana, I like Equine Jr too or Strategy and feed her three times a day. I'd also do a 5 day in a row dewormer with Safeguard, that never hurts and I would probably start her on ulcer meds too. I'd also give him a few doses of probiotics this week for a good jump start. Give him some good hay to keep him warm and I think he's going to rally for you really quickly.

I have a little mare who got into the acorns and her belly is HUGE. Scary huge! :arg!

 

[KayAnn]

Hi there,

We have fed Strategy for years now and have great luck with it. My weanlings also get daily de-wormer and beet pulp. And a nice grass mix hay. Sometimes they need more grain then you would think. I have a taller one that actually gets 1/2 times more then the others. He's a little bit of a hard keeper, he's very active. But you know that it takes time to get them to the right feeding program not knowing what he had (if any grain) before. You may have to blanket him if the weight doesn't come on fast enough to help keep him comfortable. good luck!

 

[ohmt]

Our foals last year were fed Omelene 300 and free choice alfalfa/grass hay mix. None had pot bellies and they were all either at a perfect weight this past spring when I clipped or just a tish bit overweight. This summer I fed the same, but they also had pasture to graze on and they got more than a tish bit overweight-whoops! That's ok though, because winter is very harsh here so I like having them a bit chubby going into it.

So far this feeding program seems to work best for us. Equine Junior is also great as long as it is fed correctly. It's a complete feed meaning the horse doesn't need any supplements or hay. This also means that if the horse doesn't get the amount recommended, the feed isn't going to be effective.

I don't like daily dewormer for any horses, but especially not weanlings-yearlings. Regular fecal counts are the best way to go...only worm when it is needed.

Can't wait to see the 'after' pictures later!

Thought you might like a couple pictures to see what my yearlings looked like after being fed omelene 300 and free choice alfalfa/grass hay all fall and winter.

First shave of the year in April-could use just a couple pounds, but looks great. Here we have below 0 temps most days from December-March so the horses burn A LOT of calories staying warm.

And here he is again a couple months later on the same feed:

 

[MountainMeadows]

Im with the folks that rely on Calf Manna and Omolene 200 -- works great, you might also add soaked beet pulp w/alfafa pellets - my guys did really well on that last year, but I also gave them free choice hay that they could snack on all day if they wanted. (As you might have seen from my other post, I am worried tht I might not be able to get hay at all, so might end up needing to switchto just the soaked feed w/grain for all my horses)