Feeding weanlings - what works best for you?

[Becky]

What do you feed your weanlings? Grain - pelleted or textured(sweet)? Growth formulas? Ration/Diet balancers? Protein content? Additives? Hay? Pasture?

What works best for you to keep them well filled out after weaning and keep big bellies off? How long do you keep them on a weanling diet before switching/changing to something else? Amounts you feed?

If you feed a commercial product(s), what is the name of it and do they have a website with a link?

Thanks!

 

[ohmt]

Free feeding an alfalfa/grass hay mixture and giving a 16% sweet feed with beet pulp is what has finally worked for me. Little to no bellies and they mature really well without getting too bulky, which I really like. As yearlings and 2 yr olds I feed the same thing, but I ration it (except in the winter) so I feed 3% body weight of all hay/grain together. My grandparents do the feeding in the winter so it's really a free for all. They were putting 2 small coffee can sized servings of the beet pulp per horse along with 2 coffee can sized helpings of the sweet feed (I use Omelene 300) per horse in their community feeder, 2x a day. Not ideal, but it works.

Here is one of my yearling fillies this past spring when I brought the girls up for partial clips to see where they were at (end of March I believe). Pippa has the fastest metabolism I've had to deal with and so I switched her to alfalfa cubes with her 16% sweet feed (increased the amount) and beet pulp and then gave a phosphorous supplement per my vet's advice. She didn't quite have the body that her sisters did after winter, but just a month on her new feeding regime and she really tightened up.

And here was one of her sisters that I probably could have shown right out of the field without any conditioning. She looked great under the fuzz.

 

[supaspot]

mine all get a 30 % protein balancer (Red Mills Growcare) with just the tinest sprinkle of sweet feed to make it more palatable , they have ad lib haylage and are grazing all day , they will stay on that until next year

http://www.redmills.co.uk/uk/horse/products/product/?id=514&parent=368

 

[targetsmom]

Here is our information, written up for our 4-Hers: http://www.ontargetm...are_feeding.pdf

Haven't seen long term results but happy so far. I think the key is the 25% protein Calf Manna to boost the overall protein in the diet. along with 14% Nutrena Senior (Yes, it works just fine!) and 14% Nutrena Safe Choice. Just had our grass hay tested at Equine Affiare and it is only 8.3% protein, so need all the protein they can get. The Nutrena folks raised their eyes at the Senior feed and then agreed it is almost identical with the junior feed, so there is no reason not to use it especially if it is working.

ETA: the weanlings are also on daily wormer, as is the whole herd.

 

[lil hoofbeats]

I feed free choice Safe Choice by Nurtina it 7% fat, and i feed free choice Alfalfa. If they need a little more fat, i add corn oil. I make sure they have food in front of them at all times, and of course worming at least once a month till they are a yearling

 

[HGFarm]

I refuse to buy Calf Manna anymore. They have changed their formula and it is NOT the same as it used to be. They use soy now instead of what they did before and soy can cause problems in a horses system.

Here are a couple of articles regarding in a horses diet:

http://www.enlightenedhorsemanship.net/2010/03/is-there-soy-in-your-horses-feed/

http://terrapinhorsecenter.com/natural_feed_information

And some possibly alarming info...

http://www.equinesecrets.com/horse_feeds/

 

[little shiloh farm]

Omolene 200, Calf Manna and then beet pulp and alfalfa cubes soaked together and out grazing 1/2 of the day.

all the horses get 4 heaping scoops of the beet pulp/alfalfa cubes am and pm, the grain varys from 1 up to 3 cups am/pm and then the calf manna is 1/3 of a cup am/pm.

After 2 years of tweaking, this is working, no overweight horses, no under weight and no belly, works well on the pocketbook also.

I do have chopped forage on hand and will give a couple of handfulls of that should the horses be stuck in all day due to the weather.

 

[mydaddysjag]

Triple Crown senior and calf manna, high % alfalfa mix hay.

 

[Becky]

Thanks everyone for your input so far.

I find it interesting that some of you feed Senior feeds to young, growing horses.

And Laurie, those articles are really interesting. Makes me go hmmmmmm........ especially since most commercial feed products have both soy and beet pulp in them!

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

Equine Junior and Enrich 32, feed free choice (as much as they want) Alfalfa hay also free choice. Turn out during the day, in at night. No bellies on this program at all, even took the belly off a colt I bought within a few weeks!

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I make my own mix and yes, I do use Soya- full fat, micronized, and genetically modified- I did not do that research my feed merchant did it for me! So, Soya, Beans, Peas, Barley, Flax (stabilised and micronized and flaked- I got lazy, sticking it in a blender is just as good!!) to this I add Beet pulp, soaked and Alfalfa pellets, also soaked and I add freeze dried grass chaff to every feed- my weanlings are out all the time with a good run in shed and two acres of good grass so it takes them all day and all night to eat the feed- they do get a fair whack of it, in fact I feed them as much as an adult horse of the size they will grow to. In a little while I shall start putting hay in for them, I just have not got around to it as the grass is still growing! Since I am only feeding the two weanlings and the old stallion I make a porridge of the mix and use a stick blender to whizz it up- this is always beneficial as it makes the feed more digestible and is basically what pellets are, only compressed.

 

[chandab]

I raised my first mini foal on a ration balancer, but its now out of my budget. This year's foals are on TC Growth, but as its a special order and difficult to get in, I'll be switching them over to the senior feed my stallion is on, when the current supply runs out. So far, they look great, but they haven't actually been weaned yet either, and that's coming up soon.

 

[Miniv]

A senior feed mixed with the small alfalfa pellets and lots of quality grass hay.

 

[mydaddysjag]

Becky,

If you speak with vets and nutritionalists, you would be really suprised to find out that most senior feeds are suitable for all life stages. They are marketed towards senior horses because they generally have moderate-high protein (which assists senior horses who may have trouble keeping muscle mass), moderate to high fat (again, which assists senior horses who may have trouble holding weight) they are high in fiber (senior horses who may have trouble chewing regular hay), the pellets are sometimes softer being easier to chew, and they often have additional pre and pro biotics. Any horse who may benefit from moderate-high protein and fat, high fiber, and probiotics can usually benefit from senior feed.

I did previously feed junior feeds - equine junior, ultium growth, juniorglo, patriot junior, blue seal safe start.... Couldnt find anything they kept them in good weight, growing steady, and with overall "bloom". I was amazed when I switched to TC senior and calf manna. Oh, the TC senior is super low in starch, around 10% versus the 30%+ thats in most junior feeds. High starch can cause orthopedic developemental issues, so I do really like that its low starch.

 

[Foster Woods Miniatures]

I feed omolene 300 (2 cups) and a heaping handful of timothy hay twice a day.

 

[Charlotte]

For those who feed the Senior feeds to their weanlings. Any senior feeds I have researched are very different in makeup from Junior feeds or recommended feeding programs for growing horses. Do you not worry that the low levels of some micronutrients and the balance of those might be a problem for a growing animal?

If you feed a Senior feed do you add anything to the diet since the senior feeds are mostly designed to be an 'all in one' or complete feed with high levels of fiber?

 

[targetsmom]

I just checked with a Nutrena rep this weekend about our feeds and while she first raised her eyebrows at our choice of Nutrena Senior (along with Nutrena Safe Choice and Calf Manna) she agreed that the Nutrena Senior was almost identical with their Junior feed and fine to feed. She did like the Safe Choice a bit better but I like the idea of a complete feed, so I mix them 50/50 and then add Calf Manna to get the protein level up. I feel that the Calf Manna has anything else they would need, but if it looks like they need anything else, I will just give them the Dr. Benson's Total Nutritional Supplement that all our others get. Of course, that assumes I can get the 2 fillies back to eating grain again after their adventure at Equine Affaire.

 

[mydaddysjag]

Triple Crown Senior is actually very, very similar to triple crown growth. If the growth formula were available to me, I would use it, but nowhere stocks it and requires you to buy a pallet to order it for you. Speaking with my vets and a nutritionalist they told me the senior is very similar to the growth, and is suitable to all life stages. The growth formula is slightly higher in starch. As I said before, I also add calf manna and I feed a 50/50 timothy/alfalfa second cut hay. Grostrong loose minerals are always available free choice in the dry lot.

 

[Becky]

I can see that Triple Crown Growth and Senior are very, very similar. However, not all feed companies are comparable between their Senior and Growth/Junior feeds. I'd want to be sure the right balance of vitamins and minerals are in those for young growing horses.

I do want to add that one must be very careful adding a vitamin/mineral supplement to a commercial feed when feeding young, growing horses. It's easy to really throw off the vitamin/mineral balance which greatly affects bones and joints.

 

[Leeana]

I feed Kent Junior pellets, 16% protein, $6 fat and I think 20% fiber, along with beet pulp, soaked alfalfa cubes and a fatty oil ontop. Just a basic feeding to get us through till March when I put them on their show diet.

I usually feed alfalfa or higher % alfalfa hay but this year we had to take what we could get, so its a somewhat decent quality grass hay. It works, but it sure isn't what I usually feed. 1/3 the quality and 4x the price.