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Expert
Posts: 2685
   
| There has been 1 feed that I have come across that I can actually feed a small amount of that keeps my horses looking good. I switched from it due to the uproar about ionophore. It was the Empower feeds by Nutrena. Loved them but not all Nutrena mills are ionophore free so it would be hit and miss on what bags came from safe mills.
I switched to blue bonnet because they are 100% ionophore free mills and I feed what I feel is a large volume to keep my horses fat. I'm spending about $200+ on grain alone on 3 horses feeding blue bonnet.... |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 617
Location: London Ontario | uhhh....really important. |
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  More bootie than waist!
Posts: 18425
 
Location: Riding Crackhead. | If your horse gets poisoned are you prepared for the vet bills and possible death? I think your question is rather strange. My horses are worth way too much to me to take the risk. |
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Location: South Dakota | I feed good whole oats, bought from a local farmer, and Forco, and my horses look good, they have a very nice topline and bloom...along with grass hay, and a flake of alfalfa hay. I feel it is the most economical way for me to feed...Forco is about 114.00 for 25 lb pail, and you only feed a small amount per day...about a 1/3 cup or so...I haven't actually measured it, just use the small scoop that comes with it..I gave up feeding processed feeds about 3 yrs ago, due to cost and not knowing what was actually in the feed.
My young mare had ulcers 3 years ago and after treating with Ulcerguard, she is doing great on 1 lb of oats and Forco daily. |
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 Midget Lover
Location: Kentucky | Feed bills are always cheaper than vet bills.
I actually switched from Triple Crown ($25 a bag) to Tribute ($15) a bag, so I'm actually saving money and found a better product. My mare has not been sick since we switched to Tribute. TC Senior has an issue with sulphur, which gave my mare colic and colic like symptoms. ZERO colic since switching. |
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Blessed 
Location: Here | CYA Ranch - 2015-07-20 7:16 AM If your horse gets poisoned are you prepared for the vet bills and possible death? I think your question is rather strange. My horses are worth way too much to me to take the risk.
I agree it is 100% important. Would you take a risk of feeding your child a leathal food. No you wouldn't. So why would you give it to your horse? |
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Expert
Posts: 2685
| Wowza. Dont eat me. I don't think my question is all that out of sight. Feeding low starch, low volume feed by a reputable company that also produces cattle feed or med starch, high volume feed by a reputable company that doesn't.
How many people feed safe choice, omolene, mare & foal ect.... With healthy horses? I'm not talking about putting rat poison in their feed. I realize the dangers of ionophore. That's why I now feed blue bonnet but I also have worse looking horses on larger amounts of grain. While the nutrena may kill them slowly with poison, high grain volume is not helping the gastric system and ulcers make them miserable....
Idk it's all a big cluster to me. That's why I aksed opinions. It's not so much the $$ that bothers me as the 5-7# of grain a day with still seeing the shadow of their ribs...on grass pasture with free choice hay... |
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 Bulls Eye
Posts: 6443
Location: Oklahoma | I was a loyal Nutrena user and had everything for years on Safe Choice and then the Omega Intensify. However, once I figured out they had lied to me about their mill being 100% safe, I pulled my horses off their feed. I understand your feed bill has gone up, most of ours has. I do feed alfalfa pellets in addition to the BB so it isn't as much. It is your feed program, your decision. Many of us are not willing to risk the chance that it is not safe. I wouldn't feed my daughter something that may or may not be safe, just because I hadn't had any problems on it in the past. |
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Expert
Posts: 2685
| Thank you. I'll probably stick with what I have and just find a fat additive. I just started the "thin" one on FORCO, hopefully that solves that issue. It just weighs on me... |
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Bulls Eye
Posts: 6443
Location: Oklahoma | RoaniePonie11 - 2015-07-20 8:46 AM
Thank you. I'll probably stick with what I have and just find a fat additive. I just started the "thin" one on FORCO, hopefully that solves that issue. It just weighs on me...
Look at Adeptus Nutrition Gleam & Gain. There are 2 formulas. The original 41 and the 60. Excellent source of crude fat and minerals. I put mine on that when I need them to pick up weight. |
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 Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | add soaked alfalfa cubes.. it will put weight on them. |
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 Whack and Roll
Posts: 6342
Location: NE Texas | VERY important to me! In the last few months I have learned about the effects of inflammation in the hind gut and how it affects the horse's (and our) entire body. 2015 has been a very educational year for me, and I am very thankful for that, as for the first time in a long time, I feel like my horses are healthy from the inside out.
https://nouvelleresearch.com/index.php/articles/385-leaky-gut-syndrome-health-soundness |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| Bibliafarm - 2015-07-20 8:49 AM add soaked alfalfa cubes.. it will put weight on them. Ditto, I just bought 20 bags of the Danco Omnis cubes- LOVE them and so do the horses. Increase your forage, not your grain. I am a Renew Gold lover, horses look great. I have not fed a grain in years. I have one on stall rest for the next few months and he gets the Omnis cubes with RG, even if stalled they do not have to have grain.
Edited by rodeomom3 2015-07-20 8:56 AM
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 Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | So Nutrena isn't a safe feed? I must have missed that. I thought it was. Not my favorite feed, but one that is readily available and I thought safe to feed. |
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Blessed
Location: Here | RoaniePonie11 - 2015-07-20 8:32 AM Wowza. Dont eat me. I don't think my question is all that out of sight. Feeding low starch, low volume feed by a reputable company that also produces cattle feed or med starch, high volume feed by a reputable company that doesn't. How many people feed safe choice, omolene, mare & foal ect.... With healthy horses? I'm not talking about putting rat poison in their feed. I realize the dangers of ionophore. That's why I now feed blue bonnet but I also have worse looking horses on larger amounts of grain. While the nutrena may kill them slowly with poison, high grain volume is not helping the gastric system and ulcers make them miserable.... Idk it's all a big cluster to me. That's why I aksed opinions. It's not so much the $$ that bothers me as the 5-7# of grain a day with still seeing the shadow of their ribs...on grass pasture with free choice hay...
I am not eating you... You might as well be talking rat poison. Poison is poison... Ionophore poisoning isn't a slow poison |
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 Jr. Detective
Location: Beggs, OK | rodeomom3 - 2015-07-20 8:52 AM Bibliafarm - 2015-07-20 8:49 AM add soaked alfalfa cubes.. it will put weight on them. Ditto, I just bought 20 bags of the Danco Omnis cubes- LOVE them and so do the horses. Increase your forage, not your grain. I am a Renew Gold lover, horses look great. I have not fed a grain in years. I have one on stall rest for the next few months and he gets the Omnis cubes with RG, even if stalled they do not have to have grain.
I have finally gotten our using horses backed off of grain completely. They get 10# of Omnis Cubes in the morning when they are brought in for the day and another 5# in the evening before they are turned out on pasture at night. I am still feeding our old horses and yearlings Bluebonnet Intensify Sr and Intensify Growth and all of my horses are still getting 1oz of Transform DSI at the moment. I have been looking into the products that Herbie has mentioned and trying to figure out which one will work best for my needs.
My horses have never looked better. We get compliments all the time from people who don't have any idea how bad they looked before...and that means a lot! This is my daughter's little rocket mare. She has had a pony belly for as long as we have owned her no matter how fit she was....Since she has been on Omnis Cubes she has trimmed up and looks like a little race horse.
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Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | RoaniePonie11 - 2015-07-20 9:32 AM Wowza. Dont eat me. I don't think my question is all that out of sight. Feeding low starch, low volume feed by a reputable company that also produces cattle feed or med starch, high volume feed by a reputable company that doesn't. How many people feed safe choice, omolene, mare & foal ect.... With healthy horses? I'm not talking about putting rat poison in their feed. I realize the dangers of ionophore. That's why I now feed blue bonnet but I also have worse looking horses on larger amounts of grain. While the nutrena may kill them slowly with poison, high grain volume is not helping the gastric system and ulcers make them miserable.... Idk it's all a big cluster to me. That's why I aksed opinions. It's not so much the $$ that bothers me as the 5-7# of grain a day with still seeing the shadow of their ribs...on grass pasture with free choice hay...
Poison is Poison .. revise your HAY |
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Whack and Roll
Posts: 6342
Location: NE Texas | rachellyn80 - 2015-07-20 10:10 AM rodeomom3 - 2015-07-20 8:52 AM Bibliafarm - 2015-07-20 8:49 AM add soaked alfalfa cubes.. it will put weight on them. Ditto, I just bought 20 bags of the Danco Omnis cubes- LOVE them and so do the horses. Increase your forage, not your grain. I am a Renew Gold lover, horses look great. I have not fed a grain in years. I have one on stall rest for the next few months and he gets the Omnis cubes with RG, even if stalled they do not have to have grain.
My horses have never looked better. We get compliments all the time from people who don't have any idea how bad they looked before...and that means a lot! This is my daughter's little rocket mare. She has had a pony belly for as long as we have owned her no matter how fit she was....Since she has been on Omnis Cubes she has trimmed up and looks like a little race horse.
Now if I could just get my hands on some of those Omnis cubes, i'd be set! I'm so tired of throwing out alfalfa stems, but better than nothing I suppose. Keeping fingers crossed for an Omni dealer in the Greenville/Sulphur Springs area.....PUHLLLLEASSSE!  |
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 Pork Fat is my Favorite
Posts: 3791
Location: The Oklahoma plains. | I have a dear friend who who switched to BB when she moved. She fed it for 6 months and was not at all impressed with the results. She now feeds a purina product. I like the BHR to read what the winners feed, I always find that interesting, especially since so many do feed Purina. Think Charlie Cole and Jason Martin, Slick By Design and Skye off the top of my head.
But I know plenty of others who get along fine with BB. They have a great reputation. But if you want to get technical, they use molasses from one of the nations largest liquid feed makers and liquid feed is ionophores most often, actually the largest distributor of medicated feeds over any mill. So if ionophore free is the ONLY safe feed, then I am not sure how you can say molasses is safe in any feed. Since it is up to humans to clean out their trucks before they deliver molasses (and you should see some of the truckers!). I am not sure of their cleanout process but I would have to see it with my own eyes. Like the always wise SG said, Ionophore poisoning isn't a slow poison-
what has been seen so far is 98% of confirmed cases, the horses died very quickly.
That being said, I might suggest a straight grain with no molasses. Or maybe an oil based mix or topical for fat if needed?
We too love the Omnis alfalfa cubes!! But I will be honest, we have fed maybe 5 different brands of feeds in 17 years and our horses always look as good if not better than most, IMO. So I think it is the hay we feed that is most important. 
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Jr. Detective
Location: Beggs, OK | 98%.... I think it needs to be clarified that most cases of Ionophore toxicity would not be recognized, acknowledged, or even investigated. That's been the entire point of the conversations over the past 7 months. When you muddy the water with random numbers it serves no purpose other than to cause doubt in the minds of those who don't take the time to eductate themselves anyway. Ultimately no, we will not find a feed that is 100% perfect...but, I have to ask. When the person that you mentioned tried BB feeds, what were they feeding before that caused them to switch? What was the horse's digestive health during this time? I only mention this because I truly did not see the big changes in my horses condition until we added the digestive supplement to help them process the nutrients that we were giving them. Prior to that, we could have fed them anything we wanted and never would have truly seen them rebound.
Ionophores are not our only problem...anything that is mixed at a feed mill can end up in your feed. |
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