Winter Feeding?

[lucky]

Here are some more stupid questions...

I live in Oklahoma. Right now my mini is feed Purina Mini Food. I have a pen that he stays in at night that prob has 1/4 acre of grass. We built a run-in for him which is 8x8x8 which is in the pen. In the morning I feed him 1/2 cup of purina and then let him out to graze freely on about 3 acres of grass. In the evening I feed him 1/2 cup purina and put him in pen. I have water in plastic tub by pen and am just using a small stainless steel bowl to feed him the purina. I have been stocking up on square bales of hay. Do I feed hay after first hard freeze? I have no idea

. How much hay do I stock up on. We haven't had a hard freeze yet. Probably won't till Nov. sometime. Last frost is usually April 1st. What do I put the hay in do they have hay feeders? Ha, I know everyone will get a good laugh out of these questions.... I just found out what a flake was 2 weeks ago.... Do I give him a flake in morning with purina and at night? Or do I give him a flake 3 times a day? Or do I just leave a ball out...prob not.... he might get fat? What do I need to do????? Does he need a blanket? I have pine shaving in run-in. Thank you soooo much for any help!

 

[Riverrose28]

Each horse is different, not one size fits all. Yes I would up his hay when the weather gets colder to help him keep warm. If you notice he is getting too thin, then up his grain one half cup at a time until his wieght is were you want it. winter fuzzies make them look fatter then they are, so feel him, can you feel his ribs, a horse in good weight you should feel them but not see them.

 

[cretahillsgal]

no need to blanket him as long as he can get out of the weather.

You will probably need to start feeding him hay here in a couple of weeks a the grass quits growing. I feed mine in tubs just setting on the ground. How much depends on what kind of hay and the quality of it. I would just start with one good flake and watch to see how long it takes him to get thru it. You will need to try to keep something for him to nibble/graze on when it gets colder.

 

[midnight star stables]

Yikes, you are only feeding him one cup a day?? That is not enough.

How old is your boy? Does he have any jobs? Is he an easy keeper?

Hay is a necessity to a horse's diet. They need the fiber from roughage to maintain a healthy diet. I would start him on hay now, just a handful or two a day. You always need to make slow changes to their diets. Over the next two weeks, I would get him up to 2 flakes daily, one in the morning and one at night (assuming you have the smaller size square bales of hay).

I would also have him on more grain, but that is just my opinion. My lightest eater, on his off season, gets two flakes of hay and 3 cups of grain and 1 pound of beet pulp daily. My biggest eaters get 2-3 flakes of hay and 3 1/2 pounds of grain (approximately 12-14 cups) and 2 pounds of beet pulp daily. I feed hay, beet pulp and grain year round.

As has been said, all horses are different.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I too do not think that is nearly enough feed, but we do not know how old he is or how big, although, personally, I cannot see the point of giving anything half a cup of feed- I am pretty sure I would give a guinea pig more- I am not laughing at you, nor am I criticising you, btw, that was just an observation.

Rule#one about stupid questions:

There are NO stupid questions. You are here, asking very sensible questions, but we are obviously going to question your present feeding programme.

My horses graze 24/7, there is no reason why they can't unless you are knee deep in milk cow grass, and my grass will, this year, last all winter. I will supplement the mares to add protein etc because by around December there will be little left in the grass, even though there will still be loads of it.

I think you would probably have a conniption if I told you how much I feed my horses but suffice it to say that it is a little bit more than Midnight Star Stables- we have different types of horses, of course, but my 24" weanling is getting 4kgs of feed over a 24 hour period, and is out on good grazing all the time, so.....a little room for you to give more, I think

 

[Helicopter]

Shoot if I fed my horses like Midnight Star Stables and Rabbitsfizz they would

EXPLODE.

 

[lucky]

Thank you very much for all your comments. He is a 10 year old gelding. When we first got him which was about 3 weeks ago he looked soooo fat he could pop! He was feed a coffee can of sweat feed twice a day and grazed all day long. We measure his girth and he came in at 372 pounds. So I thought he was tooo fat. So I switched him over to purina and you are right I haven't been giving him very much, but he grazes all day and I thought he needed to slim down. So now a 3 weeks have past and he is slimming down some and looking alot better. He is getting fuzzy and I can't see his ribs. I was planning on giving him more this winter of the purina and thought beet pulp soaked would be a good idea once a day. I just didn't know how much is enough and how much hay. I am getting prairie hay. That's what they have at our feed store. I saw that someone else from oklahoma was using prairie hay. So guess its okay. My mini is 29 inches high and prob. 350 now. Have to measure him again. Didn't want him to flounder.... Thank you soo much for all your help!! I really appreciate it!!!

 

[Eagle]

I would strongly advice you to get him weighed, I just loaded mine on the trailer last week and took them to the local feed shop, they have a drive on scale that farmers use. My minis weighed a lot less than I thought, they are between 28" - 30"

 

[chandab]

Thank you very much for all your comments. He is a 10 year old gelding. When we first got him which was about 3 weeks ago he looked soooo fat he could pop! He was feed a coffee can of sweat feed twice a day and grazed all day long. We measure his girth and he came in at 372 pounds. So I thought he was tooo fat. So I switched him over to purina and you are right I haven't been giving him very much, but he grazes all day and I thought he needed to slim down. So now a 3 weeks have past and he is slimming down some and looking alot better. He is getting fuzzy and I can't see his ribs. I was planning on giving him more this winter of the purina and thought beet pulp soaked would be a good idea once a day. I just didn't know how much is enough and how much hay. I am getting prairie hay. That's what they have at our feed store. I saw that someone else from oklahoma was using prairie hay. So guess its okay. My mini is 29 inches high and prob. 350 now. Have to measure him again. Didn't want him to flounder.... Thank you soo much for all your help!! I really appreciate it!!!

If your mini is only 29", then 350# is likely too heavy for him. Don't rely on the weight tapes to give a very accurate weight on minis, if you can take him somewhere to weigh him that would be best. There is a formula on the LB info pages, that is pretty good (better than the tapes): http://www.lilbeginnings.com/info/misc/ There is a chart and the formula, so try both.

I only have one mini close to the height of yours, he's a 31" slight-build stallion and consistently weighs about #175.

As a place to start, horses require about 2% of their bodyweight in feed per day, so if your guy is supposed to weight about 175#, then 3.5# of feed (hay and grain) is a good place to start (you would need to adjust up or down to suit his actual needs). Read the Mini feed directions and feed him the recommended amount for the size he is supposed to be, and add hay (either ad lib or at a minimum of 1.5% of BW daily) as a place to start (there is also a minimum feed level on the Purina mini feed, if he needs to lose weight, you might want to go with that minimum level).

Hopefully this helps with a place for you to start.

 

[Marty]

I really don't feel he can be that short and weight that much and still be alive or not foundered. If you have a vet or a dump nearby, you can get him weighed more accurately. I feed hay year round but especially I am very generous with it in the cold mornings and at night so they keep chewing to help keep them warm. I would totally do an average flake am and pm in the winter.

Here's just a couple of general horsekeeping tips for you:

Consider getting a rubbber mat on part of his floor in the stall up against the walls where he eats so you can get his food and water in there and put his hay on it so it doesn't get mixed up in the shavings. You don't want him eating outside in the weather. Get him a corner feeder installed, and set it down pretty low on a back wall so he can eat with his back to the wind. I think mine around about 2 feet up from the floor. Bring his water in there too. Its going to freeze so you might want to get a regular 5 gallon water bucket made for horses because you are going to need to provide warm water for him. I tote mine back and forth from the house all winter long. Its a pain but I don't have heated buckets. You might want to secure a tarp also to part of his run in so the wind and rain and snow don't blow in on him. I'm no good at figuring how much hay so I'll just guess that he will do a bale a week. But here's the thing: You need to stock way more than you think because you never know how long your winter will last and when they will bale hay next year. Hope you will not have another drought like you've had.

Good luck and best wishes.

 

[mydaddysjag]

I feed hay year round. Im currently feeding quite a bit of hay for my guys compared to what I feed in show season. Im not worried about hay bellies, I want them "fat" for winter. I feed 1 flake of alfalfa a day, and 1 flake of timothy a day to each horse. My 34" horse also gets 3 cups of purina mini horse and pony feed, twice a day (total of 6 cups a day), and 1oz of oil once daily (to add more fat to his diet, hes a bit of a hard keeper) In show season when he is being driven 5 days a week, he has been up to 6 cups purina ultium, along with hay.

My other horse is a easy keeper, but recently was ill and had stomach ulcers, so is off of a "grain" diet. Hes getting his loose hay, then 1 cup of shredded beet pulp, 1 cup of alfalfa pellets, and 1oz oil. His diet isnt complete and not balanced as far as vitamins and minerals go. This is a short term diet while he cannot have grains, and I wouldnt consider it for long term use without adding a vitamin/mineral supplement.

Can you post pictures of your horse? I too cant imaging him being 31" tall and 372lbs. My 36" horse was fat and weighed 320lbs.

 

[lucky]

Thank you soo much for all your help. I did use the chart that is on this site for the weight originally. My husband measured his girth and said it was 53". That was about 3 weeks ago. I said what are you sure!!

I didn't do the other calulation yet. So this weekend we will measure again and also do the other calculation from shoulder to hip etc. to make sure. I don't have a horse trailer, we used my son-in-laws when we got him. He thought we were going to kill him when we tried to load him. I'll attach a better pic for you to see. Thanks for all the help, I really need it!

 

[Becky]

Where in OK are you? I'm in Oklahoma City and I feed prairie hay. It's my grass hay of choice. It doesn't put the weight on horses like bermuda does. If a horse needs weight, I feed alfalfa.

If you have good pasture, you may not need to feed any more grain than you are. If I put out hay and the horses eat it, they probably need it. If they waste it, they probably don't need it.

As others have pointed out, if you can get a more accurate weight on your horse, that will help a lot to determine how much feed he needs. But the best way is simply to feel of him. Big bellys don't tell the story. Back bones, ribs and hips do.

With adequate pasture and hay, he may need no more than a ration balancer (protein/vitamin/mineral supplement) to ensure he is getting all he needs to stay healthy and happy.

 

[chandab]

Thank you soo much for all your help. I did use the chart that is on this site for the weight originally. My husband measured his girth and said it was 53". That was about 3 weeks ago. I said what are you sure!!

I didn't do the other calulation yet. So this weekend we will measure again and also do the other calculation from shoulder to hip etc. to make sure. I don't have a horse trailer, we used my son-in-laws when we got him. He thought we were going to kill him when we tried to load him. I'll attach a better pic for you to see. Thanks for all the help, I really need it!

View attachment 4378

View attachment 4379

Well, he does a look chubby in those pics, but still hard to believe at 29" he could be over 350#. My 36-38" horses weigh 325-350# in decent shape (the chubbo weighs around 375#), I do have a livestock scale, so that helps a lot (my BIL picked it up cheap at an auction). You might want to try that girth measurement again.

 

[lucky]

The pictures were taken around 9/30/11. I can't feel his ribs and he has alot of padding on his butt. He is loosing alittle of the back fat shown in the second pic. So that's good. I think prob from what I have read. Do 1 flake in morning and 1 and night and keep feeding him what he is getting on the purina or minimum purina. See how that goes and could change purina to ration balancer maybe in spring if he is still too fat. If that doesn't seem good enough for him maybe add beet pulp at noon, soaked with some water. Guess I need to stock up more hay too, just have 6 square bales

. I will get some more this weekend. When is it or is it that you can't buy it any more???? Thank you!

 

[lucky seven]

Lucky, you have a real cute guy. I measured my boy again and he weighs 359 lbs. Is 36" tall. He is fed 1/2 cup of purina mini feed twice daily and no grass now just hay. I have a scale and he gets a small flake twice a day. Averages 1 1/2 lbs. Sometime I will post a pic of him.

 

[shelterwood]

I have to add, I feed my 2 40" mares, who are probably on the chubby side now going into our VERY hard winter in Northern NY, generally 1.5 flakes of hay each twice a day. I fill a Busy Snacker with 3 flakes of hay morning and night. Check out the website http://www.busyhorse.com/, great product for minis as it slows them down and encourages appropriate, slow dispersion of carbs rather than binge type eating, as my girls tend to do. It also keeps them busy, as the name implies, and mimics normal grazing behavior. Love mine. Limits waste too, as most of it stays contained in the netting. These are also safer than hay nets, as the holes are smaller and no little feet can get caught. I also feed 1/2c Purina mini feed 2x day (yes, total of just a cup a day each), mainly for some balanced nutrition and vitamins. Don't forget salt licks too. My mares graze on and off in the summer months, but their pasture itself has limited actual nutritional grazing, so I do rotate them around the rest of my property, great grass mowers, and then adjust their hay intake accordingly by how many hours they were actually eating. Of course don't forget work as a balancer to the equation. Both my mares are in light training for driving, but once they are actually taking me on nice long drives then their caloric intake needs will change. Good luck!! and by the way, it is a constant learning process, and I can say I or anyone else has any hard and fast answers, as each horse is so different. We all just keep asking questions.

Katie

 

[wingnut]

You've gotten lots of good advice so far! And don't feel bad about "stupid" questions. MANY of us started in a similar place as you...I know I did!

I have a feeding chart from Purina. If you'd like a copy of it, let me know and I can email to you. It doesn't have the Miniature Feed on it but the Purina rep told me to follow the Strategy guidelines. My easy keepers range in size from 29" to 36". I do not have them on grass 24/7 so I supplement with hay year round. I follow the 1%-2% of body weight guideline. Warm months we follow the 1% end of the spectrum. In the coming winter months, we will feed more along a "free feed" philosophy because I adhere to the idea that hay intake means heat so I'll take some pudge in order not to have to worry about stalling and blanketing, even though I can do both if/when necessary.

While we have corner hay racks in two of our stalls and I do have Busy Snackers/Feeders but haven't gotten them hung up, we spread the hay out in their dry lot. I also follow the advice that they need to graze naturally (i.e., in a natural head/neck position) whenever possible. So we spread the hay out so they can do so. We have enough area so that we can be sure to spread it in an area they don't use as their "bathroom."

Even in the coldest nights of our winter, we only have one horse that routinely needs a blanket. The rest have the coat, body fat and internal heaters (thanks to the hay!) to keep themselves warm. It doesn't hurt to have a blanket on hand though. Just in case

 

[lucky]

Thank You! Thank You! Sooo much good info. What size easy feeder do you have. The regular feeder, or slow feeder? Do you hang them about two foot off ground? Need to try one. Thank you for the link on purina too. I really appreciate it!!!

Oh, by the way what is a easy keeper, hard keeper.....

 

[Eagle]

I found some amazing plastis/rubber in my local farm store so I bought 3 two meter strips and hubby is going to fix it over lappung to the front of my field shelters to block out the wind, it is see through so it shouldn't block out light.