Adding calories to nursing mare on ration balancer - UPDATE post #11

[JenRose]

Mare is normally an easy keeper. Is on Nutrena Empower Balance (ration balancer). Her big and rambunctious colt is approaching 3 weeks old and I feel like she needs a bit more. Since he was born I upper her feed amount to the recommendation for a nursing mare…3# per day. She also gets 2 cups of rice bran and 4 squirts of Cocosoya oil per feeding. I tried adding some soaked beep but she is not a fan. Am also feeding 2-4 flakes of alfalfa per day but she isn’t wild about it either. They are out 24/7 on grass with access to a grass hay round bale. Grass is not that great right now.

What else can I add calorie wise…if anything is needed. She is holding her condition but I know lacation is a huge demand on the body and with him growing like a weed and nursing like crazy I want her to be able to keep pumping out the good stuff.

[Samotis]

My mare has a huge almost 2 month colt and I finally feel like I have her on enough food.

She gets 6 flakes of Bermuda a day, 2 scoops of alfalfa complete pellets, 3#s of strategy, 2 scoops of beet pulp shreds soaked (mixed with the pellets and strategy) and 2 cups of canola oil.

For a while she was finishing all her food so fast and looking starved, so this is finally making her happy!

She looks good and hasn’t lost any condition yet.

Oil does help for calories and it’s made my 4 year old look great.

[Indy-lou]

You want to keep whatever you are feeding in balance, so to add to the Nutrena Ration Balancer (which you don’t want to overfeed) you could add more calories in the form of another Nutrena product that is meant to do that, such as their Mare/Foal formula.

[bluemoonfarms]

I’m not sure how it would fit into your feed program but I have had a very good result using Purina Amplify. http://horse.purinamills.com/products/naturesessentials/ECMD2-0032705.aspx. Whenever one of my broodmares even start to look a little thin I add the Amplify. Once they start losing weight they can lose a lot of weight quickly. Then you have a battle with a foal trying to get as much nutrition from the Mom as he/she can and you trying to add pounds to her. Sometimes a foal can really pull a mare down. Anyways the best thing that I have found is the Amplify. Good luck :)

Do you feed lunch? They need 3 meals a day.

[Bent_Hickory]

Increase the amount of oil. We’ve gone at high as 1 1/2 cups of oil per feeding with a couple mares. Step it up over a couple of days so they will tolerate the change. We’ve also gone to three feedings at times.

[JB]

Alfalfa pellets before oil, IMHO, if she’ll eat that. It’s more concentrated than alf hay, so if she’ll eat it, she can eat it pretty quickly. She could use the extra calcium, and it’s not like you’ll be feeding 20lb of it. 4-5lb would probably due the trick if she really just “needs a bit more.”

Can you get Triple Crown Growth? That would be cheaper than the RB plus all the other things

[purplnurpl]

I’ve always heard you can feed 2 cups of oil per day.

I use HorseTech’s FB-100. It’s the same as cool calories (which is oil in a powdery form) but comes in a 25lb tub.

Too bad she won’t eat beet pulp. It’s been a life saver for me.
My mare is on 1 cups of FB-100
1 cups of some sort of flax–(it’s either my Glanzen or straight Flax–got them mixed up last year)
6lbs of TC Growth
and a butt load of beet pulp (soaked it fills one of those mini buckets about 3/4s full)

twice a day.
I sneak out at midnight and give her a TC Growth + Beetpulp snack sometimes too.

And she eats bermuda and alfalfa hay free choice.

[JB]

You can feed about 2c oil, or about 1c/500lb. But in this case especially I’d much prefer to find something more nutritious first. IMHO oil needs to be reserved when you’re already maxed out on nutrition and/or volume of feed, and just need to get more calories in

[JenRose]

Thanks guys!

I don’t do lunch because of work but do feed a late night snack before bed…she usually eats at 7am, 6pm and 11pm.

No Triple Crown unfortunately. Pretty much only Purina and Nutrena in my little dark hole of Louisiana. :o

Nutrena does have a fat supplement called Empower Boost…think it is similar to the Purina Amplify. Will look into that and the alfafa pellets. Would adding oats be helpful calorie wise?

I have now been trying to pawn the beet pulp off on the other brats here and no one seems to like it! I got the kind from Tractor Supply. Am soaking in equal parts water for 20-30 minutes prior to feeding. ???

[Samotis]

I get beet pulp shreds that has a little molasses in it. I mix it with the oil, alfalfa pellets and the strategy. I cover it all with water and then mix it and give it to her 15 minutes later. She loves it.

Mixed with the pellets she doesn’t mind it at all.

Shreds don’t need to be soaked as long and it seems to be liked by the horses a little more.

[JenRose]

August update - momma needs more food!

Baby is nearing 3 months and momma is getting a bit ribby. :o

The ration balancer plus 2 scoops alf pellets, 2 cups rice bran, 4 squirts cocosoya oil and 20# alfalfa chaffhay 2x a day plus unlimited grass pasture and grass hay was getting the job done but not so much anymore. Tried pumping her full of more alf pellets before bed but she grew tired of that weeks ago.

My harder keeper TB broodie was on Purina Omolene 300 while nursing her beast of a baby and she did great on it. I know all the sugar, etc is not ideal and this mare was already on a RB (easy keeper normally) so I hoped to be able to keep her on it…BUT I am fighting the urge to go get a load of the omolene. What about doing my normal feeding for breakfast and supper and some of the Omolene for a before bed snack? Nutrition is not my strong suit although I try and living in po dunk Louisiana with only Purina and Nutrena makes it more difficult. Any advice is much appreciated!

[Chestnut_Run]

[QUOTE=JenRose;6473687]
Baby is nearing 3 months and momma is getting a bit ribby. [QUOTE]

If Momma is getting a bit ribby, I’d say it’s def time to go to the feed. We have several broodmares, all TBs, and I switch their feeds around depending on what they need, wether they are in foal, barren, or nursing. I feed Triple Crown Complete to all of our broodmares, except the two easy keepers. Those two get Triple Crown Lite during the summer time of their pregnancies (one of them goes back to the Complete if she’s nursing, the other stays on Lite regardless), then in the winter, the one mare goes back on Complete. I’m also a big believer in keeping it simple for any that aren’t currently racing/competing. Ours get excellent pasture, free-choice alfalfa/orchard grass hay, Triple Crown feeds, and electrolytes. Some that are older get MSM.

I would suggest dropping the ration balancer, alfalfa pellets and rice bran for now, and putting your momma on Purina Omolene 400 (I think it’s 400 that is the high fat, lower grain, high fiber, high calorie, beet pulp based?). I’d probably keep her on the oil (although I just use canola–it’s cheaper than Cocosoyo) and the alfalfa hay (or alfalfa chaff I think you called yours). See how her weight does with that. Then when she’s weaned the baby, go back to the ration balancer if that’s what she needs to stay “un-fat”. They really do need the extra nutrition (not just calories!) during lactation.

Sheila

[jennywho]

I add purina ultium to my hard keepers diet. It’s very high in fat. she is already on a mix of ultium growth and strategy g like my other mares but still needs extra calories so she gets an additional 2lbs ultium a day

[eaconlee]

I was interested to read the article below which found that the milk of mares fed added fats was higher in linoleic acid. Diets higher in linoleic acid are protective for ulcers, so it’s early indication that perhaps mares fed added fat might have milk that helps protect their foals against ulcers. My lactating mare gets a cup of oil am and pm mixed in her concentrates as she was getting a bit thin.

http://nutrition.highwire.org/content/128/12/2708S.short

[rodawn]

Need clarification - are you saying she gets 20 pounds of alfalfa in the morning and then another 20 pounds in the evening? Or a total of 20 pounds in divided feeds? Either one of those is not enough, really.

I would start with increasing the hay. They key question to ask yourself is: Is she cleaning up the hay you are giving her. If she is, then she is ready and able for more. You can keep increasing the hay poundage until she is starting to not be able to clean it up. But, frankly, with a 3-month old who is undoubtedly also eating hay now, you need to technically feed for 2 horses in that pile.

When she gets to the point she can’t eat all the hay you are offering, then you should consider changing her away from the balancer and instead go to a full-blown broodmare/lactation kibble which tends to have much higher calories. To this you can add a fat formula - either flax, or oil, or a fat-kibble. I use Step 8 because that’s what we have available and it is a 20% fat kibble and they love it.

While alfalfa pellets are more condensed, they do not really satisfy the chewing urge and I have had horses turn away from pellets, but go for great gusto to the alfalfa/grass hay at much higher volumes than ever thought possible.

At the peak of lactation my mares were getting enormous amounts of hay. I use round bales, so while they were in their stalls, I was pulling the feed off the round bale and the hay pile in their stall was ginormous - easily 40 pounds and that was just their night feed. And they were eating every scrap of it. They are basically eating all night long which was just fine with me.

During the daytime, they had free choice round bale alfalfa/grass mix plus access to about 60 acres of pasture that was elbow deep alfalfa/grass mixtures. They would graze for a while, but then all would come in to chomp on the bale. On top of this, they were getting their “mashes”. The one mare I had this year who was a bit harder keeping, she got a mash twice a day. It is unbelievable how much food a broodmare can truly pack away.

Long and short, if she is cleaning up her meals, she can have more - much, much more.