But can I feed Equine Senior to a cow?

[HorsesinHaiti]

I know horses can’t do cattle feeds, but what about the reverse?

Long story short, I ordered enough Senior Feed to be a complete ration for a pony for a 3 month dry season. Feed was bought and delivered to a container around New Year’s. Because of shipping delays it didn’t reach us until the start of April, when we started getting rain. Pony was mostly rehabbed on local feeds by then, enjoys ‘chew time’, so has been on a half ration for two months.

He’s now reached the ideal weight for him and is transitioned to all grazing, and the feed is now 5 months old. It still seems good, and I’m feeding it to three small ponies, but I doubt they’ll graze and polish off the last 300 pounds of senior feed before the summer humidity and heat finish it off.

Sheep, goats, and pigs are out, but can the local cows eat senior feed? Fattening a meat animal would make the most sense around here. Wasting it in a land of underweight animals seems ridiculous.

[Christa_P]

We have been feeding horse feed to the pet ox my mom got almost 9 years ago. He only gets ~3/4 c. per feeding, but no problems.

BTW, he did manage to HUGE on the horse feed, hay, and grass:

http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt284/cap7297/Bayshore%20Gal/3-6F6AFFCB-795048-800.jpg

That’s a 15.1H TB he is standing next to.

Christa

[HorsesinHaiti]

[QUOTE=Christa P;6357943]
We have been feeding horse feed to the pet ox my mom got almost 9 years ago. He only gets ~3/4 c. per feeding, but no problems.

BTW, he did manage to HUGE on the horse feed, hay, and grass:

http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt284/cap7297/Bayshore%20Gal/3-6F6AFFCB-795048-800.jpg

That’s a 15.1H TB he is standing next to.

Christa[/QUOTE]

Wow, he is a big boy! But 3/4 cup is practically nothing, for him or for using up six bags of feed before it molds in the heat. Are you feeding that little because it’s just a treat, or because your vet said don’t give much?

We are in the season of 95 degree heat with 95% humidity, so I need to use this up. There are other people’s ponies around that could eat it, but culturally people only fatten meat animals (and think I’m nuts to put money into fattening a horse up to BCS 4.5). Most folks would be under family pressure to divert the feed to the cow anyway, so if cows can eat a sizeable amount I might as well admit the obvious and teach a friend with a cow how to feed it.

[Christa_P]

He gets in more as a treat, and he really doesn’t need it. AFAIK, there is nothing in horse feed that would be a problem for cows and the vet has never said it was a problem.

Aside from the Ruminen (sp?) in cow feed (that is the dangerous part ofr horses), I don’t think there is much difference between the two. You should be able to compare ingredients online.

Christa

[cowboymom]

why not feed it to goats? My goat gets some senior every day-it is better for meeting their copper requirements than most goat feeds! B/c of that, not the sheep, but goaties can have it. If there are people there with goats to feed they can have it. I would imagine pigs could too but pigs are one thing I don’t know very much about.

We also feed it to our cows, not as a huge portion of their diet but a coffee can a day when we’re out of their feed goes down easily for them. our cows are dairy cows-they can have it while they’re milking but not when they’re dry. Any cow they’re trying to feed up could probably have a fair amount.

[SuckerForHorses]

[QUOTE=Christa P;6357943]
http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt284/cap7297/Bayshore%20Gal/3-6F6AFFCB-795048-800.jpg

That’s a 15.1H TB he is standing next to.

Christa[/QUOTE]

LOVE HIM!