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 Buttered Noodles Snacker
Posts: 4377
  
Location: NC | I see where a lot of people recently on the feed posts say they switched to feeding alfalfa or alfalfa/ricebran mixes. Do u have to feed a vitamin/mineral too? It makes sense that that would be healthy for a horse just wondering if it is balanced or if you have to add to it? |
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 Expert
Posts: 5290
| I feed 707 daily essentials cause it's cheap easy and covers all the bases. But I switched to renew gold and owner told me no need to feed 707 anymore |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| I feed a purina 12:12 vitamin/mineral supplement to all but one who gets THE. I also feed renew gold but my hay is a medium quality so I just feel better feeding the minerals |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | I keep loose minerals out anyway, but I do add stuff. One gets a basic vitamin/probiotic added, plus extra vit E. The other gets a digestive support and hoof supp. I use Smartpaks. The bulk of their diet is grass hay and pasture. Even when I'm feeding a commercial fortified feed, I never feed the recommended amount because of that. They were on Patriot Senior before this and the 2 I put on alfalfa/rice bran are looking way better than the ones that went on safe choice senior, so I'm swapping the others and soaking for the oldies.
Edited by Three 4 Luck 2015-03-28 7:09 PM
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | I feed a squirt of liquid 747. I don't understand how it can be SO cheap and still work, but I haven't had any issues yet so I'll keep feeding it for now. I switched one of my geldings from Ultium to 1lb rice bran pellets, 4lbs alfalfa pellets, and a scoop of rice bran and alfalfa cubes soaked with his vitamins and any other necessary supplements and he's actually filled out more (despite not exercising) and I think he's gonna she'd out super shiny. |
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 Reaching for the stars....
Posts: 12704
| I switched out grain for the very high quality Montana alfalfa, just about pound for pound (approx 5 lbs per day). The remainder of my guys diet is a high quality local timothy hay (approx 15 lbs per day). I do use the purina loose mineral top dressed on (literally) a handful of feed once a day. I will also supplement fat in the form of rice bran and soy oil for my hard keepers and show horses, for both weight and shine. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 600
Location: Oklahoma & Texas | I feed Alfalfa with Renew Gold . .i also feed free choice coastal hay |
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Blessed 
Location: Here | make sure your pellets come from a clean plant |
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Blessed
Location: Here | BARRELHORSE USA - 2015-03-28 6:17 PM ADM bought out the old Moorman Feed Company and of course ADM had some college grad horse nutritionists that started messing with your horses school lunches... I believe her name was Michelle and ADM feeds went from containing groats and recognizable grains to processed human food waste like rice bran/hulls, beet pulp, floor sweepings, grain products and ethanol corn waste materials. This is when I stopped feeding their 14% Patriot feeds 5 years ago!! GroStrong Minerals is the best you can buy ... it is still on the old MoorMan vitamin to mineral ratio and the special way the minerals are chelated and produced in the same old mill for the past 40 years. I will continue to use GroStrong even tho ADM has doubled it's price .. i.e. 50 lb sack of loose GS used to cost <$35 now you only get a 25 lb bag ... If you want a balanced feed ration for growing, working, pasture dwellers and older horses you can't beat alfalfa, corn and whole oats ... as an overall balanced feed. The above is also easier on your feed bill. I use an all natural 3/8" beef feeder pellet of 60% alfalfa/40% ground corn at $8.20/50# bag and whole oats at $11.35/50# bag and one block of alfalfa hay along with 3-4 coastal Bermuda per day. Along with a handful of GroStrong minerals 3 x per week. .. NO OTHER SUPPLEMENTS!! Mixing a 5 gallon bucket with a standard 3 qt plastic scoop which will weigh 3 lbs... layer the feed by scooping 2 scoops of pellets, then one scoop of whole oats ... alternately till bucket is full (8 scoops = 24#'s) Now as you scoop the feed from bucket to horse feeder it gets mixed by itself. (including the block of alfalfa hay and 2-4 scoops per day it works out to be a 14% all natural feed that is very balanced and forces horse to chew and salivate while eating ... there is a lot of great things to say about digestion when a horse is forced to slow down and use his own spit to begin the digestion process. ... (the reason horses have great big jaw teeth are to chew with) .. lol I hope you noticed there is nothing in this feeding ration you can't pronounce and are not familiar with as a forever basic nutrition program for relaxed, growing babies or hard working horses... If you want your horse to have an oily even shinier coat that will glow in the dark ... add a half cup of whole flax seed to his daily feeding. Again.. the slime on the exterior of whole flax seeds aid in digestion and whole seeds will not turn rancid as the ground flax does and loses it's purpose. The only supplement I will use is an iron supplement on race track or speed event horses to build up their red blood cells so they have access to more oxygen when under hard exertion at the finish line. .. FYI a horse has almost a gallon of blood in his spleen that is used as a extra boost if it is well supplied with oxygen carrying red blood cells. This internal supply of oxygen ready red blood cells is what keeps a horse running when their breathing can't supply the oxygen they need to keep rolling... It is funny how things are today .. the heavy marketing ups the price on maybeso supplements and the cheapest and the most successful one with no marketing is the best iron supplement with a name difficult to forget ... RED CELL ... lol .. GOOD LUCK ... use the KISS program and old horse will never be happier or healthier ...
Grostrong isn't from an ionophore free place.... |
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 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
Location: Phoenix | Im curious as well. I'm feeding Bermuda grass hay and alfalfa (50/50) along with half pound of Renew Gold. I Can't decide if I want to do something with THE (w/ joint support), or just the 707 essentials.... |
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Expert
Posts: 2121
Location: The Great Northwest | The best way to know what supplements you need to feed is to have the hay analyzed. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 507
Location: Lost in the corn of Iowa. | We always keep minerals available to the horses in either tubs or a block. And my one mare is getting THE muscle mass with special blends. The other mare is a an easy keeper and just gets a joint supplement added into the daily feedings. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2457
| skye - 2015-03-28 10:08 PM The best way to know what supplements you need to feed is to have the hay analyzed. EXACTLY !!!^^^^
Analyze your hay - send it to somewhere like the SDSU feed analysis labs for a feed content analysis. Then you'll know exactly what your horse needs. It is very easy to feed too much or too little.
ETA - yes, I test my hay. Yes, I feed platinum performance as a mineral based supplement every day to my horses. They also have a free choice redmond rock sitting in the pen not being used but is available if they felt the need.
Edited by lindseylou2290 2015-03-29 9:54 AM
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 Veteran
Posts: 287
| I feed haystack special blend which is an alfalfa pellet blend, plus purina 12:12. I'm happy with it |
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  Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | I have a question in regards to testing hay. For those of you that get it tested, what is the cost? Do you test several places in the field, and do you test each cutting? |
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 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| BARRELHORSE USA - 2015-03-28 6:17 PM
ADM bought out the old Moorman Feed Company and of course ADM had some college grad horse nutritionists that started messing with your horses school lunches... I believe her name was Michelle and ADM feeds went from containing groats and recognizable grains to processed human food waste like rice bran/hulls, beet pulp, floor sweepings, grain products and ethanol corn waste materials. This is when I stopped feeding their 14% Patriot feeds 5 years ago!!
GroStrong Minerals is the best you can buy ... it is still on the old MoorMan vitamin to mineral ratio and the special way the minerals are chelated and produced in the same old mill for the past 40 years. I will continue to use GroStrong even tho ADM has doubled it's price .. i.e. 50 lb sack of loose GS used to cost <$35 now you only get a 25 lb bag ...
If you want a balanced feed ration for growing, working, pasture dwellers and older horses you can't beat alfalfa, corn and whole oats ... as an overall balanced feed.
The above is also easier on your feed bill.
I use an all natural 3/8" beef feeder pellet of 60% alfalfa/40% ground corn at $8.20/50# bag
and whole oats at $11.35/50# bag and one block of alfalfa hay along with 3-4 coastal Bermuda per day. Along with a handful of GroStrong minerals 3 x per week. .. NO OTHER SUPPLEMENTS!!
Mixing a 5 gallon bucket with a standard 3 qt plastic scoop which will weigh 3 lbs... layer the feed by scooping 2 scoops of pellets, then one scoop of whole oats ... alternately till bucket is full (8 scoops = 24#'s) Now as you scoop the feed from bucket to horse feeder it gets mixed by itself.
(including the block of alfalfa hay and 2-4 scoops per day it works out to be a 14% all natural feed that is very balanced and forces horse to chew and salivate while eating ... there is a lot of great things to say about digestion when a horse is forced to slow down and use his own spit to begin the digestion process. ... (the reason horses have great big jaw teeth are to chew with) .. lol
I hope you noticed there is nothing in this feeding ration you can't pronounce and are not familiar with as a forever basic nutrition program for relaxed, growing babies or hard working horses...
If you want your horse to have an oily even shinier coat that will glow in the dark ... add a half cup of whole flax seed to his daily feeding. Again.. the slime on the exterior of whole flax seeds aid in digestion and whole seeds will not turn rancid as the ground flax does and loses it's purpose.
The only supplement I will use is an iron supplement on race track or speed event horses to build up their red blood cells so they have access to more oxygen when under hard exertion at the finish line. .. FYI a horse has almost a gallon of blood in his spleen that is used as a extra boost if it is well supplied with oxygen carrying red blood cells. This internal supply of oxygen ready red blood cells is what keeps a horse running when their breathing can't supply the oxygen they need to keep rolling... It is funny how things are today .. the heavy marketing ups the price on maybeso supplements and the cheapest and the most successful one with no marketing is the best iron supplement with a name difficult to forget ... RED CELL ... lol ..
GOOD LUCK ... use the KISS program and old horse will never be happier or healthier ...
Corn has been proven to cause inflammation in horses. Every little bit counts, I spend a lot of money in the battle against inflammation. I don't think it's a good idea to be feeding a proven contributing factor. Rice bran is a better alternative. It wasn't a viable option years ago, but now stabilizing processes are better, and it's safer.
I feed alfalfa pellets (Standlee), and Renew Gold. If they need extra fat and some carbs, they get 1-2 lbs of Ultium. Mine are also getting either OxyMax or SmartPak Mineral/Vitamin mix. Blood panels have always been good, so I don't worry about it. They do get a little salt added to feed, about a tablespoon. |
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Buttered Noodles Snacker
Posts: 4377
Location: NC | Anyone find switching to Alfalfa makes your horse hot? I was always told feeding Alfalfa would make a horse hot.... |
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Veteran
Posts: 287
| No but we also feed barley hay year round and people say that makes them hot also. But we don't keep them stalled and excersize them appropriately too. |
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Expert
Posts: 1611
| HorsesNHarleys - 2015-03-30 8:36 AM
Anyone find switching to Alfalfa makes your horse hot? I was always told feeding Alfalfa would make a horse hot....
myth......it will actually calm a nervous horse down. Give them time to level out tho after you get them adjusted to the amount they need. |
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Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | HorsesNHarleys - 2015-03-30 7:36 AM Anyone find switching to Alfalfa makes your horse hot? I was always told feeding Alfalfa would make a horse hot....
No, but my horses' main source of feed is grass and grass hay. The alfalfa is supplemental, and the rice bran adds fat calories--they don't need much of either one. |
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