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Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | Ok guys...I've been feeding whole oats with molasses mixed in for the past couple years. They all did great on it until about this time last year and they all started losing some pounds. I've struggled and struggled and tried supplements for them...I'm ready to change feed.
Whats a good feed to try? I'm just fed up with it and I know it has to be the oats. |
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Expert
Posts: 2685
| lexyy12 - 2015-03-09 7:03 PM
Ok guys...I've been feeding whole oats with molasses mixed in for the past couple years. They all did great on it until about this time last year and they all started losing some pounds. I've struggled and struggled and tried supplements for them...I'm ready to change feed.
Whats a good feed to try? I'm just fed up with it and I know it has to be the oats.
I have one on RG that is a hard keeper. She gets 1.5lbs per day. She will go off feed if I switch her to anything else. My gelding is on Nutrena's ProForce Fuel. I could not feed him enough RG to keep him fat with out breaking the bank. We are on bag#2 and he already looks better. They are just so dang different. |
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Expert
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Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | RoaniePonie11 - 2015-03-09 8:21 PM lexyy12 - 2015-03-09 7:03 PM Ok guys...I've been feeding whole oats with molasses mixed in for the past couple years. They all did great on it until about this time last year and they all started losing some pounds. I've struggled and struggled and tried supplements for them...I'm ready to change feed. Whats a good feed to try? I'm just fed up with it and I know it has to be the oats. I have one on RG that is a hard keeper. She gets 1.5lbs per day. She will go off feed if I switch her to anything else. My gelding is on Nutrena's ProForce Fuel. I could not feed him enough RG to keep him fat with out breaking the bank. We are on bag#2 and he already looks better. They are just so dang different.
I've got at least 2 that I will keep on the oats(let's face it, it's pretty dang cheap) and they are fat and sassy. I've got a 16 yr old retired gelding that doesn't look bad but he could use a little more weight, a ulcery gelding that he has always given me Trouble...he's very picky. And a pony mare that in the last 3 weeks has dropped a ton of weight. I'm suspecting something is going on with her other than this but I'm sure it doesn't help. I've been weighing my hay out and they have almost 24 hr access. |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | I feed Renew Gold and Alfalfa Pellets. I just started adding soaked alfalfa cubes and beet pulp to help one gain weight. |
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 Chasin my Dream
Posts: 13651
Location: Alberta | Keep in mind the best form to feed oats is when crimped, improves availability of nutrients and starches (oats is about 40%), ultimately is mostly an energy source. Not crimped the oats will go straight thru and mostly the molasses offers palatability, high energy not any real nutritive value. I would look into a more complete feed that offers a balance of nutrients. |
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Expert
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Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | dream_chaser - 2015-03-09 10:50 PM Keep in mind the best form to feed oats is when crimped, improves availability of nutrients and starches (oats is about 40%), ultimately is mostly an energy source. Not crimped the oats will go straight thru and mostly the molasses offers palatability, high energy not any real nutritive value. I would look into a more complete feed that offers a balance of nutrients.
That's what I'm asking...for suggestions for a feed I should try. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 639
Location: God's country...aka TEXAS | Molasses is very bad for their stomach and digestive track. I suggest Renew Gold. I have horses of all ages on it and they all look and feel great! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 618
| I just went grainless about 60 days ago. I was feeding a 12/8 pellet, coastal in am and alfalfa in pm. I have easy and hard keepers. My vet reccommended a ration balancer and all grass diet. I switched to the Purina enrich and alfalfa hay and they all look phenomenal. It has actually saved me $ like $200 a month. I don't have to feed supplements bc the enrich has everything they need. The enrich is approximately 25-28 bucks for a 50# bag but you only feed 1-2 lbs a day. I'll try to upload a pic of my rescue! |
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Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | JLBerry - 2015-03-10 8:31 AM Molasses is very bad for their stomach and digestive track. I suggest Renew Gold. I have horses of all ages on it and they all look and feel great!
We get 500 pounds of oats at a time with 10 pounds of molasses...so not a large amount but I still get what your saying.
There are just so many options and I've pretty much been out of the "grain game" for the last 5 years Id say.
Until about this time last year I never had a problem with any of them losing weight and not looking great on it but it seems like one by one is starting to lose weight. it's not a good feeling and I just want to find what's right for them... |
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 Bulls Eye
Posts: 6443
Location: Oklahoma | I have been feeding Nutrena Pro Force Fuel since November and I am pleased with the way my horses are looking. |
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Posts: 385
Location: TN | My hard keeper gets Safechoice Perform. I changed him over to this almost a year ago I'd say. I previously had him on the Safechoice Original, but since we switched he's done really well on it. He sometimes goes through phases where he wants to drop weight, sometimes its once a year sometimes its once every other year. Anyhow, if I ever notice him dropping I will usually add soaked beet pulp to his diet. It works wonders!! And pretty inexpensive. I'm not much of a 'supplement person'. Just a personal opinion of mine (everyone is different of course). So I prefer to feed a good complete feed and then if they're deficient in something I'll supplement. The only supplement I feed him is fastrack, and that's just to make sure he's absorbing all the nutrients from the complete feed. Good luck, do the research and find what works for you, I know its frustrating trying to find the right feed there's so many choices out there. |
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Expert
Posts: 2276
Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | After some research and finding out availability in my area. I'm thinking that Kalm Ultra from Tribute may be what we need. Anybody feed this? |
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 Swiffer PIcker Upper
Posts: 4015
Location: Four Corners Colorado | Before blaming the oats I'd look at your hay. People underestimate the value of testing their hay. |
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Chasin my Dream
Posts: 13651
Location: Alberta | lexyy12 - 2015-03-10 6:07 AM dream_chaser - 2015-03-09 10:50 PM Keep in mind the best form to feed oats is when crimped, improves availability of nutrients and starches (oats is about 40%), ultimately is mostly an energy source. Not crimped the oats will go straight thru and mostly the molasses offers palatability, high energy not any real nutritive value. I would look into a more complete feed that offers a balance of nutrients. That's what I'm asking...for suggestions for a feed I should try.
:) I don't know what feed is available in your area or else I would suggest something...since what we have up here you likely don't. |
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Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | dream_chaser - 2015-03-10 10:18 AM lexyy12 - 2015-03-10 6:07 AM dream_chaser - 2015-03-09 10:50 PM Keep in mind the best form to feed oats is when crimped, improves availability of nutrients and starches (oats is about 40%), ultimately is mostly an energy source. Not crimped the oats will go straight thru and mostly the molasses offers palatability, high energy not any real nutritive value. I would look into a more complete feed that offers a balance of nutrients. That's what I'm asking...for suggestions for a feed I should try.
Oh ok...do feed mills have the option for crimped oats? I've never seen them |
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| equussynergy - 2015-03-10 9:07 AM
Before blaming the oats I'd look at your hay. People underestimate the value of testing their hay.
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Posts: 1857
| lexyy12 - 2015-03-10 9:20 AM
dream_chaser - 2015-03-10 10:18 AM lexyy12 - 2015-03-10 6:07 AM dream_chaser - 2015-03-09 10:50 PM Keep in mind the best form to feed oats is when crimped, improves availability of nutrients and starches (oats is about 40%), ultimately is mostly an energy source. Not crimped the oats will go straight thru and mostly the molasses offers palatability, high energy not any real nutritive value. I would look into a more complete feed that offers a balance of nutrients. That's what I'm asking...for suggestions for a feed I should try.
crimped vs whole.... there is only about a 6% increase in digestibility of crimped oats compared to whole oats. Some argue you are loosing nutrients when the oats are put through the crimping process. I don't think I would be looking at the feed as the reason they are loosing weight. Because their diet should be mainly forage, you might need to look into your hay quality and even consider giving some alfalfa. I would also get rid of the molasses, if your using it to give supplements I would suggest just soaking alfalfa pellets and mixing the supplements and oats into that, it will mask the supplements. |
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Member
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Location: Kansas | iloveequine40 - 2015-03-10 7:46 AM
I just went grainless about 60 days ago. I was feeding a 12/8 pellet, coastal in am and alfalfa in pm. I have easy and hard keepers. My vet reccommended a ration balancer and all grass diet. I switched to the Purina enrich and alfalfa hay and they all look phenomenal. It has actually saved me $ like $200 a month. I don't have to feed supplements bc the enrich has everything they need. The enrich is approximately 25-28 bucks for a 50# bag but you only feed 1-2 lbs a day. I'll try to upload a pic of my rescue!
I second the Enrich, it's a great ration balancer. Or if you want to go the grain route I would recommend Purina Strategy Healthy Edge. I have my 14 year old and 18 year old geldings on it for about the last 3 years and they have never looked better. |
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Posts: 3815
Location: The best kept secret in TX | I feed Ametza Bermuda cubes to my gelding, Ametza Alfalfa cubes to my mare, bermuda hay flakes, and pour Glo-N-Go by 707 on top of each horse's pellets after they are soaked. I also feed 707 Digestive Essentials pellets to my gelding and use Fastrack for the Probiotics. I keep hay out 24/7 now for my Gelding. My mare is an easy keeper.
I went grainless about a year ago. To me, I would much rather feed them something that I can pronounce every ingredient on the nutritional label easily rather than have to google was that word is and what affect, if any it has on the horse. The feed thread that was floating around a few weeks ago was very helpful in finding premixed feeds or hay pellets that did not have Monesin (Or however you spell it) in them. I know a lot of people learned a lot from that feed thread. |
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Expert
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| FlyingJT - 2015-03-10 10:37 AM
lexyy12 - 2015-03-10 9:20 AM
dream_chaser - 2015-03-10 10:18 AM lexyy12 - 2015-03-10 6:07 AM dream_chaser - 2015-03-09 10:50 PM Keep in mind the best form to feed oats is when crimped, improves availability of nutrients and starches (oats is about 40%), ultimately is mostly an energy source. Not crimped the oats will go straight thru and mostly the molasses offers palatability, high energy not any real nutritive value. I would look into a more complete feed that offers a balance of nutrients. That's what I'm asking...for suggestions for a feed I should try.
crimped vs whole.... there is only about a 6% increase in digestibility of crimped oats compared to whole oats. Some argue you are loosing nutrients when the oats are put through the crimping process. I don't think I would be looking at the feed as the reason they are loosing weight. Because their diet should be mainly forage, you might need to look into your hay quality and even consider giving some alfalfa. I would also get rid of the molasses, if your using it to give supplements I would suggest just soaking alfalfa pellets and mixing the supplements and oats into that, it will mask the supplements.
I'd look at the molasses too since we know a slight amount of ionophores can be found in molasses and even oats if they were used to "rinse" the mixer between feed mixing.
Are you feeding alfalfa hay to balance things out? Some nutritionalist say its not required but the majority agree if feeding oats alfalfa hay is the most effective compliment. |
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 Experienced Mouse Trapper
Posts: 3106
Location: North Dakota | ok keep in mind things change. you can feed up to 12 pounds a day of whole oats. Uncrimped(whole) is probably the best if you're concerned about the fiber value of your hay. Uncrimped (whole) takes longer to pass through the stomach and intestines and there fore acts like fiber/forage. Hay is a major issue-quality as well as quality of oats-lighter bushel weight of oats means more volume needed per horse.
I always assume when people come on here looking for feed advice, they have done ALL of the following first:
Teeth, deworming, hay evaluation, weigh feed etc. so this is your reminder :)
IF you're feeding the correct amount of oats and your hay is as good of quality as you can find. I would add rice bran(1-2 pound/day) flax (1 cup/day) or alfalfa to the hard keepers. You even said yourself some are doing ok.
One of the things I learned the hard way is that every horse is different and sometimes they need to be fed different in order for them to thrive. Different might simply mean that you up the 16 year olds oats up a pound or two per day.
Edited by LMS 2015-03-10 10:57 AM
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Expert
Posts: 1857
| astreakinchic - 2015-03-10 10:16 AM
FlyingJT - 2015-03-10 10:37 AM
lexyy12 - 2015-03-10 9:20 AM
dream_chaser - 2015-03-10 10:18 AM lexyy12 - 2015-03-10 6:07 AM dream_chaser - 2015-03-09 10:50 PM Keep in mind the best form to feed oats is when crimped, improves availability of nutrients and starches (oats is about 40%), ultimately is mostly an energy source. Not crimped the oats will go straight thru and mostly the molasses offers palatability, high energy not any real nutritive value. I would look into a more complete feed that offers a balance of nutrients. That's what I'm asking...for suggestions for a feed I should try.
crimped vs whole.... there is only about a 6% increase in digestibility of crimped oats compared to whole oats. Some argue you are loosing nutrients when the oats are put through the crimping process. I don't think I would be looking at the feed as the reason they are loosing weight. Because their diet should be mainly forage, you might need to look into your hay quality and even consider giving some alfalfa. I would also get rid of the molasses, if your using it to give supplements I would suggest just soaking alfalfa pellets and mixing the supplements and oats into that, it will mask the supplements.
I'd look at the molasses too since we know a slight amount of ionophores can be found in molasses and even oats if they were used to "rinse" the mixer between feed mixing.
Are you feeding alfalfa hay to balance things out? Some nutritionalist say its not required but the majority agree if feeding oats alfalfa hay is the most effective compliment.
I'm not sure if the alfalfa question was for me but I'll answer it anyways because I don't think the OP is feed alfalfa at the time. Yes, I feed alfalfa for the calcium and nutrients that oats lack plus the additional protein. Oats usually are lower in calcium than in phosphorus and by feeding alfalfa, which is high in calcium, it helps balance it out. |
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Veteran
Posts: 111
| lexyy12 - 2015-03-09 7:29 PM
RoaniePonie11 - 2015-03-09 8:21 PM lexyy12 - 2015-03-09 7:03 PM Ok guys...I've been feeding whole oats with molasses mixed in for the past couple years. They all did great on it until about this time last year and they all started losing some pounds. I've struggled and struggled and tried supplements for them...I'm ready to change feed. Whats a good feed to try? I'm just fed up with it and I know it has to be the oats. I have one on RG that is a hard keeper. She gets 1.5lbs per day. She will go off feed if I switch her to anything else. My gelding is on Nutrena's ProForce Fuel. I could not feed him enough RG to keep him fat with out breaking the bank. We are on bag#2 and he already looks better. They are just so dang different.
Have you had her teeth done lately? just a thought |
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Expert
Posts: 2276
Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | Grass hay with a little alfalfa. |
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 World 4D Champ
Posts: 28264
Location: PA | lexyy12 - 2015-03-10 9:41 AM After some research and finding out availability in my area. I'm thinking that Kalm Ultra from Tribute may be what we need. Anybody feed this?
When my local feed store stopped selling TC, and went to Tribute, this is what I fed.
I have an easy keeper, a hard keeper, and a horse with PSSM...all on that grain and they did really well! I have zero complaints. I liked the high fat and protein it has. I was able to keep my hard keeper up to an ideal weight...I fed it for years. |
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