Fillers for forage balancer?

[OzarksRider]

Those of you who feed your horses a forage balancer–what do you use as a filler?

I’ve been feeding a very small scoop of oats with the forage balancer, but today when I went to buy more oats the store didn’t have any in stock. The manager said oats are getting hard to find. He has had them on back order since December and doesn’t know when he might get some. He had a 50/50 mixture of cracked corn and oats, along with a little molasses, but I’m not too keen on feeding corn and molasses to my mature easy keepers even though the tiny amount I feed probably won’t hurt them. So, I’m looking for alternatives, preferably something with nutritional value that doesn’t have to be soaked (although I will soak if I can’t find anything else suitable). Anything with alfalfa won’t work. I tried that a few years ago and my normally staid riding horse thought every ride was a Triple Crown race.

[candyappy]

Can I ask why you need a filler at all? If a forage balancer is comparable to a ration balancer , most horses eat it well all by itself. My easy keepers do.

If you need something and are just throwing a handful or 2 just choose a feed that is tasty and safe for them to have since oats are hard for you to find?

[OzarksRider]

They don’t actually “need” a filler. I just like to give them a little something extra (“lagniappe,” as they say in Louisiana) so they think they’ve had a nice little meal just before bedtime. In the morning they get just forage balancer with a little flax mixed in. But yes, a handful of nutritious feed would work. I’m just looking for ideas.

And I was also wondering–are oats hard to find elsewhere? Or is it just here in the hinterlands?

[Scribbler]

I put my VMS in a mash of beet pulp and alfalfa cubes which grow to quite a large meal soaked.

If you want dry, I’d just look for some lower starch manufactured feed that’s palatable but I’d check the label to make sure you aren’t doubling up on selenium. Or alfalfa pellets don’t always need soaking.

[Mango20]

I feed TC30 and a little something. It was Legends Show & Pleasure but they recently discontinued the Legends line, so I took a walk around the feed store for something fairly inexpensive but not junk. I settled on Nutrena Triumph Fiber Plus, which is beet pulp based, doesn’t need to be soaked, and is relatively inexpensive: https://www.nutrenaworld.com/product/triumph-fiber-plus-horse-feed

[candyappy]

@OzarksRider

They don’t actually “need” a filler. I just like to give them a little something extra (“lagniappe,” as they say in Louisiana) so they think they’ve had a nice little meal just before bedtime. In the morning they get just forage balancer with a little flax mixed in. But yes, a handful of nutritious feed would work. I’m just looking for ideas.

And I was also wondering–are oats hard to find elsewhere? Or is it just here in the hinterlands?

I know what you mean. I throw a " little " of something good in with my guys RB too, who don’t need it. Makes all of us happy!

No problem with oats here. I buy them regularly for mixing feed for my goats and cows. At least they were readily available last time I bought them in Dec.

[CowgirlCoffee]

I use a base of soaked timothy pellets for the forage balancer, ground flax, and salt. The powders stick nicely to the soaked pellets and my gelding licks the bowl clean. If your horses are picky, you could also use a senior feed.

[JB]

@candyappy

If a forage balancer is comparable to a ration balancer , most horses eat it well all by itself.

Most forage balancers are powders, and given that they are all vitamins and minerals, don’t tend to taste good at all. A few of them come in pelleted form.

Besides, the powder is something I wouldn’t want horses breathing in, so I always soak mine as well.

@OzarksRider 1-2c of soaked beet pulp, or alfalfa pellets, makes a nice mixer/filler. That can be dry measure or soaked. 3c beep shreds is about 1/3lb, so about 300 calories, compared to about 1c alfalfa pellets, and makes a lot more volume when soaked even half way

[candyappy]

@JB

Most forage balancers are powders, and given that they are all vitamins and minerals, don’t tend to taste good at all. A few of them come in pelleted form.

Sounds easier then to just switch over to a pellet FB or a RB @OzarksRider?

[JB]

Not all horses can have the soy that comes with ration balancers. Not everyone can easily get the few soy-free balancers, and if they can (like via Chewy) it becomes cost-prohibitive.

Not all forage balancers work well with a given forage, so they aren’t just all interchangeable to one that is pelleted.

It may also be that Ozark is already using a pelleted one, I can’t find anything that says what she’s using. Even then, they still aren’t the tastiest thing, and most just need something else to mask the mineral-y taste.

@OzarksRider whatever you mix with doesn’t have to have nutritional value, because you’re using so little of it. The amount you’re using also makes selenium pretty much a non-issue as well.

If there’s another horse around eating a textured feed, you could toss in a couple cups of that, but I wouldn’t get a 50lb bag of feed to use at that rate.

[Pico_Banana]

I use one cup of Speedi-Beet (soaked) to mix my V/M supplement into, along with her other supplements. After it’s done soaking, I mix in her psyllium powder (necessary for her FWS) and even though she wishes I skipped that step, she still seems to enjoy it.

[FjordBCRF]

Count me as another that uses beet pulp shreds as a base; 2 cups. I can also attest to forage balancers not being the most palatable. When I started my gelding on them I used Cal Trace and he wouldn’t touch it by itself in the pelleted form. After some trial and error and diluted molasses spray, he accepted it mixed with beet pulp and flax. We switched to Vermont Blend Pro this year and I’d heard that was even less palatable, but it must be similar enough that I didn’t have any trouble introducing it.

[Janet]

I feed both of mine Pro-Elite Grass Advantage. I don’t mix it with anything except their SmartPak in the evening (Hoof Focus)

[cayuse]

I’ve used soaked timothy pellets or about a pound of Lucerne Farms “Totally Timothy” chopped hay. The chopped hay has a bit of molasses in it but not much. Pony thinks it’s a big treat an gobbles up all his supps in it.

[Jarpur]

I’ve used Standlee alfalfa pellets for this, purchased at TSC, but Standlee also produces timothy pellets.

[walkinthewalk]

If they are easy keepers stay away from the cracked corn/molasses mix:)

You don’t need to give them anything extra BUT, since I can’t practice what I preach in this regard, buy rice bran pellets formulated for horses, if you feel you need to give them something extra. I give my easy keeper just a 1/4 measuring cup each feeding.

I buy Manna Pro’s equine rice bran at TSC. Which BTW, I buy the rolled oats for my hard keeper there; so far they have not had issues getting rolled oats but the one store did tell me Producers Pride sweet feed was on back order due to shortage of ingredients.

We may all be finding ourselves modifying our horses diets if shortages of ingredients keep happening:(

[ladipus]

You can use anything such as beet pulp , hay cubes or pellets -although they need to be soaked …that’s usually the best “base” for a ration balancer or if the horse is an easy keeper you don’t have to add anything else at all to the balancer …oats are higher in starch and sugar so maybe not a great choice anyway for easy keepers…

[OzarksRider]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Hopefully the lack of available oats is just a temporary problem, but I was pretty surprised to hear they’re getting hard to find.

My horses are on Purina Enrich Plus forage balancer, which is a pellet. This is the only forage balancer available at any of the feed stores within 50 miles, and only one store in my town stocks it. Lucky for me the horses like it and will eat it even without a filler.

As for filllers, every forage (pellets or cubes) that I’ve been able to find locally has alfalfa in it, and I can’t feed that to my riding horse if I want to be able to ride him because alfalfa winds him up. Beet pulp is a possibility though, as well as the Nutrena Triumph Fiber Plus if I can find it. Or maybe just some nutritious feed. Or maybe just give them a wee bit of the oats/cracked corn mixture until the store gets some oats.

[sascha]

I don’t think you said anything about soy being a no go, so serving your forage balancer with a couple cups of soybean meal might be an option. Horses generally find it delicious and it does not need to be soaked.

[JB]

@OzarksRider

My horses are on Purina Enrich Plus forage balancer, which is a pellet.

Ok, so now we know ,this is a ration balancer Forage balancers are things like Vermont Blend, California Trace, etc. A few trace minerals (copper, zinc, sometimes manganese), maybe some amino acids, no protein no calories, etcs, and most are powders

That said, not every horse likes the taste of the ration balancer they need to eat, so some mixers are necessary for taste

In your case, since you seem to be using a “filler” just for bulk, then chopped forage can be a great way to add bulk, chew time, not a lot of calories, no soaking required. What stores do you have access to? Many places have chopped Timothy. Does alfalfa “wind him up” in just small amounts? Enrich has alfalfa as the 4th ingredient. So the amount of an alfalfa mix chopped forage, at the few cups you’d feed it, is likely also insignificant for him.

@OzarksRider

Or maybe just some nutritious feed.

nutrition doesn’t play a role here, you’re not using enough for it to provide anything of significance