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 Maine-iac
Posts: 3334
      Location: Got Lobsta? | I have a horse that had ulcers and since than we feed 1 flake of Standlee (baled in bag) hay. Sometimes its dusty and he coughs. I heard that the alfalfa helps the stomach when the horse has to "chew". Will they get the same benefits from the pellets? Also how much pellets (pound) do you add to feeding? Thank you! |
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Expert
Posts: 1694
      Location: Willows, CA | I like some alfalfa in the diet for a number of reasons. While you do get similar benefits from pellets in the form of additional calcium and slow down in transit time in the hind gut for better digestion of grass hays, I prefer cubes if you can't get long hay. This is a pretty broad statement, but in general, there are more binders in pellets. What is used to bind the pellets can vary from good to not so good. Two or thee pounds morning and night can make a big difference. I have said this a lot, but teeth issues are the most often neglected contributor to ulcers in my opinion. A horse that has no grain in the diet and 24/7 access to roughage should not have ulcers if they can comfortably chew the roughage as much as they would like. |
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 I hate cooking and cleaning
Posts: 3310
     Location: Jersey Girl | I feed cubes when I can't get good quality alfalfa. I have had to the same issue with Standlee products so I have stopped buying them. |
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 Maine-iac
Posts: 3334
      Location: Got Lobsta? | Thank you so much! I switch him to RG and had him on the alfalfa hay and he hasn't had any stomach problems. Wish we could get that hay up in this area. I am scared to change but I will try the cubes instead of the pellets. Thank you! |
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 Veteran
Posts: 146
  Location: Tuttle Oklahoma | I had the same problem with the standlee hay, it seemed very dusty and I would actually pull the flake apart and poor water over it. I decided to try the pellets and my horse refused to eat any of it and only just nibbled at the cubes. I picked same bales of alfalfa up from are hay guy (normally feed bermuda) and my horse cleaned every last bit of it up. The hay seemed to be of higher quality with way less dust and cheaper to boot! Maybe try to find some good quality alfalfa bales locally if you don't want to feed the cubes or pellets. |
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 Maine-iac
Posts: 3334
      Location: Got Lobsta? | Oh I wish I could! No one sells it up in New England and its not grown up here basically Timothy hay is it. I can get a 100 pound bale from my vet that gets in trucked in but it is $100 per bale! |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1079
    Location: MN | I will never use another Standlee product. I bought a bag of their alfalfa pellets and found A LOT of plastic pellets mixed in. Im guessing its all of the filler they put in them. Disappointed in their products to say the least!
When I added local alfalfa pellets to my horses diet last winter, saw great results. I will be adding it back to his diet this summer! 3lbs was the magic number for me.
Edited by Kay-DRacing. 2016-03-16 9:11 AM
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 Maine-iac
Posts: 3334
      Location: Got Lobsta? | Well I stand corrected its $45.00 a bale. Thank you for the responses and recommendations! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 863
     
| well I just started feeding standlee alfalfa pellets, now I'm concerned! I didn't go with their cubes so I didn't have to water and soak them down..so their pellets are known to have fillers or plastics in them??? |
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 Maine-iac
Posts: 3334
      Location: Got Lobsta? | I emptied my bag and scanned through it to be sure, but it was nice and green. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 863
     
| Mainer-racer - 2016-03-16 1:30 PM
I emptied my bag and scanned through it to be sure, but it was nice and green.
and i just bought 3 bags the other day they were on sale for $11.50 They always smell like genuine alfalfa though and I was hoping this would help my ulcer mare too! |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 456
      Location: SW MO | I feed Standlee pellets soaked and havent had any issues. they always smell fresh and I havent seen any plastic. I have been feeding them for months |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 851
      Location: West Texas | Overall I think Standlee offers a good pellet. It was probably some plastic that was baled and went through the machines as plastic is hard to filter. You would be surprised what can get baled up in hay and if it is in the hay, then it can get in pellets or cubes. Now imagine what can get ground up and pelleted in a processed by product feed. Most every manufacture does their best to make a clean product. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1079
    Location: MN | Mainer-racer - 2016-03-16 2:30 PM
I emptied my bag and scanned through it to be sure, but it was nice and green.
Not saying that every bag will have them in it...maybe it was just that batch. Really concerned me though that my horse had already ingested some before I noticed I thought it was just "greener" alfalfa...then I actually broke them and sure enough, they were plastic. |
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 No Tune in a Bucket
Posts: 2935
       Location: Texas | Wild1 - 2016-03-16 12:59 PM well I just started feeding standlee alfalfa pellets, now I'm concerned! I didn't go with their cubes so I didn't have to water and soak them down..so their pellets are known to have fillers or plastics in them???
My sister has a 30 something mare that eats the cubes without them being soaked with no problems. |
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 Saint Stacey
            
| Tdove - 2016-03-16 2:11 PM
Overall I think Standlee offers a good pellet. It was probably some plastic that was baled and went through the machines as plastic is hard to filter. You would be surprised what can get baled up in hay and if it is in the hay, then it can get in pellets or cubes. Now imagine what can get ground up and pelleted in a processed by product feed. Most every manufacture does their best to make a clean product.
I agree. Once a product goes through a hammer mill, there is literally nothing left. Plastic isn't like metal that can be peeled off by running it through a magnet. Plastic can slip through. I do have a hard time believing any feed company would purposely add plastic. That would be too huge of a liability and just plain stupid of them. |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
         Location: North Dakota | I'll also say I prefer cubes. I recently switched from pellets to Standlee cubes and have been very happy. I do go through the bags and break up the cubes though just to negate any chance of choke, since they are fed dry. So far only good things! |
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 Maine-iac
Posts: 3334
      Location: Got Lobsta? | cavyrunsbarrels - 2016-03-18 10:34 AM I'll also say I prefer cubes. I recently switched from pellets to Standlee cubes and have been very happy. I do go through the bags and break up the cubes though just to negate any chance of choke, since they are fed dry. So far only good things!
Great info! |
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  Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
       Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | I feed the Standlee bagged bales - my one horse won't touch cubes or pellets. The rest get cubes - I like the longer pieces in them and they're not as Dusty. I soak for at least a couple of minutes. I feed the same poundage as I would the hay. A 3qt scoop usually holds around 3 pounds of pellets or cubes.
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