|
|
 Expert
Posts: 2276
  
Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | So I bought some tonight for my hard keeper. He is pretty picky so how much should I start him out on? |
|
| |
|
Sock Snob
Posts: 3021
| Cool calories is good. But i would give a couple of pounds per feeding and then go from there. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 2276
Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | daisycake123 - 2014-01-15 8:25 PM
Cool calories is good. But i would give a couple of pounds per feeding and then go from there.
Do I feed it with his grain? |
|
| |
|
 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| Everyone here gets 3lbs in the morning, and 3 lbs in the evening. I think you would be thrilled with including a pound of rice bran twice a day as well. Fills in topline like crazy, and you can get it in pelleted form if he won't pick up the powder right away. |
|
| |
|
 Best of the Badlands
Location: You never know where I will show up...... | I've got a young mare here recovering from surgery on her jaw and I am having good luck with 3# of alfalfa pellets, per feeding. I've been soaking them for my filly, as she had to have some of her bottom teeth removed. She has really packed weight on since I put her on them. I had to be careful what I fed her because when I got her she was very thin and poor. I didn't want to push her too hard and take a chance on foundering her. This has been exactly what she needed for safe weight gain. I've been top dressing the pellets with 2 oz. of Healthy Coat too and she's starting to bloom out even with her winter coat. |
|
| |
|
Location: Oregon | I had a mare choke on the pellets so after spending $300 on an emergency vet call I stick to soaking them |
|
| |
|
  Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | The pellets we have here are hard packed and dry and set up like concrete if you don't put at least 2" of water on top and let them soak. I think some companies make a smaller looser pellet though and that might be a better option, or cubes. I feed 2-3 pounds per day as well. And I also feedrice bran and flax seed. |
|
| |
|
 Cute Little Imp
Posts: 2747
Location: N Texas | Have you tried beet pulp? My senior horse has a hard time chewing hay, so he gets soaked alfalfa cubes and beet pulp every day. I always soak it to prevent choking. |
|
| |
|
 Midget Lover
Location: Kentucky | rockinas - 2014-01-15 10:49 PM I've got a young mare here recovering from surgery on her jaw and I am having good luck with 3# of alfalfa pellets, per feeding. I've been soaking them for my filly, as she had to have some of her bottom teeth removed. She has really packed weight on since I put her on them. I had to be careful what I fed her because when I got her she was very thin and poor. I didn't want to push her too hard and take a chance on foundering her. This has been exactly what she needed for safe weight gain. I've been top dressing the pellets with 2 oz. of Healthy Coat too and she's starting to bloom out even with her winter coat.
I have mine on 3 pounds of pellets also, but I'm slowly backing them off because they are getting a little rolley. I just started mine on 2 oz. of HealthyCoat a day, so I haven't noticed anything yet. My husband feeds two nights a week when I'm in school and for some reason won't mess with the HealthyCoat, so I probably won't see results very quickly from that. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 2276
Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | He refuses to touch the beet pulp! He tried it the first time and wouldn't touch it again. So I put him on the pellets last night, plus grain and coco soya oil and he picked at it but all of his grain was gone this morning so he must like it better. I soaked it also. |
|
| |
|
I Need a Xanax!
Posts: 2774
| Can yall really tell a difference on just feeding 2-3 lbs of alfalfa pellets? Wow, that's cool! What differences do you see? Also, I know alfalfa pellets are dehydrated and pressed so I wonder how many pounds of loose alfalfa hay you'd have to feed to get the same results?
|
|
| |
|
 Certified Snake Wrangler
Posts: 1672
Location: North MS | I'm thinking it is getting confused by some that the alfalfa pellets are not being used as hay replacers really. I use mine on some as the main source of feed. They have free choice hay, ADM mineral lick and we give a scoop of alfalfa pellets and another of ADM just for maintenance during winter. So techically I'm not giving it on top of grain as it actually IS the grain.
Alfalfa cubes are indeed hay replacers in my opinion if soaked (I soak all my feed nowadays thanks to a choking incident).
My hard keepers get ADM seniorglo, beet pulp, forco, red cell and cocosoya.
Others may use them in place of forage, but I'm not really familiar with that. |
|
| |
Folks on-line