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Sparklin Cowgirl
Posts: 4379
  
| Which do you like better for your horses, a sweet feed or a pellet? I'm researching feeds and curious what everyone's different opinions are on the texture and form of the feed. Also high or low protein levels (example 12 vs 14%)? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 464
| IMHO, most pellets are a byproduct. It's like a hotdog, you wouldn't buy it if you saw what was in it. |
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  Northern Chocolate Queen
Posts: 16576
  
Location: ND | I don't feed either. I feed a mix of oats, corn, alfalfa pellets & beet pulp. |
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12838
| What you are calling sweet feed is actually textured feed. I have fed pelleted feed for the past 35 years. There was a span of about 3 years she I fed extruded feed. The company suddenly decided to quit making feeds so I went back to pellets. |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | Sweet feed it terrible for horses and there is no circumstance in which it should be a main component of a horse's diet. Pelleted feeds range from being very good to very bad. Cereal grains like oats, corn, barley, etc. are high in starches and/or sugars, which horses do not digest well. These high starch/sugar diets can cause or contribute to excess energy/hotness, colic, obesity, laminitis, and troubles with PSSM horses. Sweet feeds and many pelleted feeds are made out of these grains. Lower quality pelleted feeds can even have the formulation changed from batch to batch, depending on what the feed company can get for the cheapest.
The best diet for your horse comes from good forage -- grass and/or hay. Soaked beet pulp can be added as an additional fiber source for horses that need some weight put on them. If they still need additional calories, fat, or protein, adding alfalfa (long stem, soaked cubes, or pellets) and/or feeds made out of stabilized rice bran and stabilized flax are great. My personal favorite feed is Renew Gold, which is made from the rice bran and flax as well as coconut. Coconut oil is very good for horses and this feed provides a healthy, high fat diet that only needs to be fed at a rate of about 1lb per day (give or take a bit) and won't make horses hot. There are also straight up rice bran pellets. I have one horse that won't eat the Renew Gold so he gets 1lb Max-e-Glow rice bran pellets a day. They both get alfalfa pellets as well as grass hay and necessary supplements. If it weren't for one of them having some unrelated issues right now, they'd both be looking shiny, fat, and sassy! |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9991
Location: Kansas | Bigfoot - 2015-03-16 10:57 PM IMHO, most pellets are a byproduct. It's like a hotdog, you wouldn't buy it if you saw what was in it.
I'd still eat a hotdog.......
I feed ultium, and a pound of sweet feed mixed in the ultium because he gets a powdered supplement...if I don't mix the sweet feed in, he wouldn't touch it. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 639
Location: God's country...aka TEXAS | Sweet feed is TERRIBLE for horses and their digestive system. Corn is also bad. You need a low starch, high fat feed. Look into Renew Gold. I've fed it for years to horses of all ages and its the best! |
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 Midget Lover
Location: Kentucky | I've recently switched to Tribute Kalm N' EZ pellets. I really like them. I don't like feeding molasses and corn, which is what a lot of sweet feed is. To me, sweet feed is junk food. Sweet feed can also agitate ulcer prone horses. |
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 I'm Cooler Offline
Posts: 6387
Location: Pacific Northwest | I just feed beet pulp and alfalfa pellets with a multi-vitamin. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 250
Location: Central TX | I switched from Ultium (sweet feed) to Patriot (pelleted). I like both... can't see a difference in my horses since switching but my bank account has taken a change for the better with the switch. |
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Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9991
Location: Kansas | Ultium is a sweet feed? |
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Veteran
Posts: 278
Location: Whitney, NE | I call anything with molasses in the ingredients a sweet feed. Some are pelleted, some not. |
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 Pork Fat is my Favorite
Posts: 3791
Location: The Oklahoma plains. | cavyrunsbarrels - 2015-03-17 3:45 AM Sweet feed it terrible for horses and there is no circumstance in which it should be a main component of a horse's diet. Pelleted feeds range from being very good to very bad. Cereal grains like oats, corn, barley, etc. are high in starches and/or sugars, which horses do not digest well. These high starch/sugar diets can cause or contribute to excess energy/hotness, colic, obesity, laminitis, and troubles with PSSM horses. Sweet feeds and many pelleted feeds are made out of these grains. Lower quality pelleted feeds can even have the formulation changed from batch to batch, depending on what the feed company can get for the cheapest.
The best diet for your horse comes from good forage -- grass and/or hay. Soaked beet pulp can be added as an additional fiber source for horses that need some weight put on them. If they still need additional calories, fat, or protein, adding alfalfa (long stem, soaked cubes, or pellets) and/or feeds made out of stabilized rice bran and stabilized flax are great. My personal favorite feed is Renew Gold, which is made from the rice bran and flax as well as coconut. Coconut oil is very good for horses and this feed provides a healthy, high fat diet that only needs to be fed at a rate of about 1lb per day (give or take a bit) and won't make horses hot. There are also straight up rice bran pellets. I have one horse that won't eat the Renew Gold so he gets 1lb Max-e-Glow rice bran pellets a day. They both get alfalfa pellets as well as grass hay and necessary supplements. If it weren't for one of them having some unrelated issues right now, they'd both be looking shiny, fat, and sassy!
It depends on which discipline you are talking about-- "sweet" feed is the main feed that racehorses eat in our region. I know this for a fact.
As far as pellets being a by product, or floor sweepings that also is untrue. It is like baking a cake with whole ingredients, wheat, corn, oats and molasses as an example for a binder. Molasses nor corn are the devil. But in horses that arent used to burn that energy- it very well could not be good. Like Michael Phelps, he eats WAY MORE CARBS than you and I should but he is an athlete. |
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 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
Location: Phoenix | I feed Renew Gold. My horse does not need all that starch and sugar!!!!! |
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 Experienced Mouse Trapper
Posts: 3106
Location: North Dakota | The older I get the more I shy away from "grain" and believe in good quality hay. For example, my horses now get about a pound of woodys sweet 12-it is sticky and yummy, a cup of flax and all the best 3rd cutting alfalfa grass hay they can handle! Much lower cost AND they seem to be doing better than ever, as for the pellets, I've never had much luck with any of mine liking to eat them. My feed volume is very low, hay weight is high, the feed is really just for a treat to get them to come in and give them their flax.
I also find it time consuming to wait around for a horse to eat 4-6 pounds of feed morning and night-seems like a lot of wasted time. |
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 Jr. Detective
Location: Beggs, OK | KDHoof88 - 2015-03-17 9:10 AM I switched from Ultium (sweet feed) to Patriot (pelleted). I like both... can't see a difference in my horses since switching but my bank account has taken a change for the better with the switch.
Please read up on ADM and the milling issues that they are ignoring. http://www.ratemyhorsepro.com/news/lab-adm-equine-feed-contaminated-in-alabama.aspx |
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 Expert
Posts: 5290
| hoofs_in_motion - 2015-03-17 7:12 AM
Ultium is a sweet feed?
Agreed, ultium I wouldnt really classify as a sweet feed. Compared to say Omelene 200, that is horsey crack! |
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Take a Picture
Posts: 12838
| Sweet feed is textured feed! NOT all textured feeds are sweet feed. Ultium is textured but not particularly a sweet feed. There are pelleted feeds and also extruded feeds. |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | TurnLane - 2015-03-17 9:49 AM cavyrunsbarrels - 2015-03-17 3:45 AM Sweet feed it terrible for horses and there is no circumstance in which it should be a main component of a horse's diet. Pelleted feeds range from being very good to very bad. Cereal grains like oats, corn, barley, etc. are high in starches and/or sugars, which horses do not digest well. These high starch/sugar diets can cause or contribute to excess energy/hotness, colic, obesity, laminitis, and troubles with PSSM horses. Sweet feeds and many pelleted feeds are made out of these grains. Lower quality pelleted feeds can even have the formulation changed from batch to batch, depending on what the feed company can get for the cheapest.
The best diet for your horse comes from good forage -- grass and/or hay. Soaked beet pulp can be added as an additional fiber source for horses that need some weight put on them. If they still need additional calories, fat, or protein, adding alfalfa (long stem, soaked cubes, or pellets) and/or feeds made out of stabilized rice bran and stabilized flax are great. My personal favorite feed is Renew Gold, which is made from the rice bran and flax as well as coconut. Coconut oil is very good for horses and this feed provides a healthy, high fat diet that only needs to be fed at a rate of about 1lb per day (give or take a bit) and won't make horses hot. There are also straight up rice bran pellets. I have one horse that won't eat the Renew Gold so he gets 1lb Max-e-Glow rice bran pellets a day. They both get alfalfa pellets as well as grass hay and necessary supplements. If it weren't for one of them having some unrelated issues right now, they'd both be looking shiny, fat, and sassy! It depends on which discipline you are talking about-- "sweet" feed is the main feed that racehorses eat in our region. I know this for a fact.
As far as pellets being a by product, or floor sweepings that also is untrue. It is like baking a cake with whole ingredients, wheat, corn, oats and molasses as an example for a binder. Molasses nor corn are the devil. But in horses that arent used to burn that energy- it very well could not be good. Like Michael Phelps, he eats WAY MORE CARBS than you and I should but he is an athlete.
Some people, like the racetracks seem to like the sweet feed. When my dad had a race horse he ate it, but have you seen a race horse? I certainly don't want mine acting anything like one. They are HYPED and not exactly known for digestive health or soundness. A grand prix jumper or NFR level barrel horse or race horse may be able to use those extra carbs like a professional athlete, but lets not fool ourselves. The vast majority of horses are not athletes of that caliber and giving them high carb/sugar feeds would be like giving mountain dew and a bag of smarties to a kid. A low starch/sugar, high fat is always a safer choice Stingray eats Renew Gold and look at her!
Edited by cavyrunsbarrels 2015-03-17 12:07 PM
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | hoofs_in_motion - 2015-03-17 9:12 AM Ultium is a sweet feed?
I wouldn't call it a sweet feed but my barn feeds it and one of my horses was on it up till 2 or 3 weeks ago...it definitely made him crazier. |
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