I am wanting to go to an all in one mineral supplement and ditch the hard feed “grain”. Horse is such an easy keeper I am not thrilled with the lack of well rounded minerals in the puny amount of ration balancer they get. I board at a barn that extra feed prep isn’t really a thing currently. So what can I do to make it easiest for staff to feed my newly desired feed regimen? I have to provide feed and choose feeding amount and they will feed supplements so I don’t think it will be too hard as I already control the what of what is fed. I am concerned that there may be issues with horse eating just the minerals and the couple supplements I would want to continue so I want to add alfalfa pellets. Soaked pellets to be clear. We do get hot here so I am not sure I want to put pellets in water to sit for 24 hours for two feedings worth for me to refill daily when I visit. What I am thinking is two containers. One with the dry items and one filled with correct amount of water with space to add dry items. At each feeding the staff can combine the containers for the next meal so pellets can soak. No water access in feed room which is why I am suggesting having water already in a soaking vessel. Does this sound reasonable? Any reason to not have mineral blend soak with the pellets for the 8+ hours? I could put mineral blend and supplements into a 3rd container to be added right at meal time but that starts to sound like a lot of container touching for staff. I understand soaking feed is so normal at many barns but not where I am currently and after seeing how poorly some places “soak” pellets and cubes I don’t want to risk not having it able to sit long enough. Especially with only cold water access for soaking.
I would recommend Mad Barn Omneity. It is a great all in support with no fillers
That is one that is on my short list for sure. But the question is about the soaking and feeding of alfalfa pellets for the barn staff. To be sure it is palatable with the joint supplements I think I will want a carrier for anything I choose.
Omniety also has a pelleted version that could be mixed with dry feed.
I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable with pellets soaking for 8+ hours in a hot climate. That sounds prime for fermentation.
Could you consider something that doesn’t require quite so much soaking time? Maybe chopped forage or even beet pulp shreds?
I also don’t love the idea of a vit/min supplement sitting in water that long. You are going to lose some potency.
I would not let feed sit out soaking for that long, you’re asking for spoilage and will attract flies like crazy IME. Hay stretcher or the Unbeetable Forage Only pellets CAN be fed dry (they’re small and soft enough). They also soak up super fast which might work for you.
We also do not have water in the feed room or easily accessible. We just dump feed into bin, dump 1/2 - 1 feed scoop of water out of the water bucket in the stall into the bin, and by the time the horses come in the feed is plenty soaked. I’ve also done this with horses already in and it’s messier but it works.
Another option is an old oil jug or milk jug of water in the feed room to dump into the bucket right before taking feed out. Treat it like a supplement. With the forage only or hay stretcher a five minute soak can be enough.
I like Omneity as well. The pelleted version would be my choice for this situation.
rather than pellets why not use chopped alfalfa ?
We have two that are on grain free diets, we use a drinking cup of chopped alfalfa as a carrier for their SmartPak supplements
These two are stalled at night so it is easy to track their drinking of water, if by chance they stop drinking we keep packets of Gallagher’s Water™ that we mix in two gallons of water for them… they drink that stuff as if it were candy.
Large thermoses/small coolers should probably work well for this situation.
I’d prefer the supplements not soaked for 12+ hours though. Soak just the feed and have a small container of supplements to top dress the soaked stuff at feeding.
Fwiw, I feed once a day but supplements 3x. My horse originally got me onto no actual breakfast because she had better things to do. Since she ate well in the evening and had hay 24/7 I said fine and just left a small treat for her to get instead of breakfast. Worked great.
Fast forward to needing a supplement a couple times a day but horse is still not interested in actual breakfast. I soak 1/4 cup of delicious feed and the supp along with a 1/2 tsp of salt (freezing is a thing where I am) in 2 tiny thermoses, once a day. I have not had any problems in summer with such a tiny amount BUT the little containers need at least a daily rinse (if not full-on soap and bleach) in summer to not get funky from any scraps that may stick for more than 24 hours.
Large feed I soak and serve myself.
My guy is on a mix of 2 cups shredded beet pulp + Vermont Blend Pro + Flax/VitE + FWS supplements.
I prep a weeks worth of containers at a time and the staff adds water at feeding time. I have in the past provided a pitcher with the line for the right amount of water but its just one more thing taking up space in the feed room.
I also wouldn’t want anything soaking for 12+ hours. If what you are soaking contains flax, especially don’t let it soak very long as it will produce cyanide.
I second @fivestrideline in considering Unbeetable Forage Only or something that soaks up faster, (my shreds only need a few minutes) and have the barn staff add water shortly before feeding. My current barn doesn’t have water in the feed room either but it’s not that big of a pain.
My thought is why not just up the ration balancer to get your daily total needs? 1lb right? Or so?
Or, if you want a simple vitamin/mineral supplement I feed KIS Trace and get it wet with one cup of timothy pellets soaked for 3 minutes and they break down fast. Quick stir with a spoon and off I go.
(along with some other goodies - ground flax, loose salt, etc)
No, would not leave anything to soak long - not even a hour. Not pellets anyways.
Why do you have to?
I would forget asking the barn to soak feed. You’re just asking for problems, and if I were the BO, I wouldn’t appreciate the request given there doesn’t seem to be any reason your horse needs it.
What’s wrong with feeding the appropriate quantity of a good quality ration balancer?
One more thought too. Does barn management understand you have got to feed the minumum “dose” in order to get the required minerals and vitamins?
My horse gets a ration balancer that I provide. I’ve measured out how much he needs, and just ask the barn staff to feed that. It’s half of this large scoop that they have, AM and PM. Simple. If I increased to 3/4 of a scoop, that’d be simple enough too.
I would think that a ration balancer fed in the correct quantity would be the easiest solution here. No soaking, horse gets nutrients.
Even the most “easy of keepers” can handle a pound of RB in their diet. It should supply pretty much the nutrients they need.
If you are adding alfalfa pellets or chopped forage or other more complicated methods ( soaking) for barn staff to get right , along with more supplements, then not only are you paying extra out of pocket but you are at risk of horse NOT getting what you are supplying.
Do you find your horse showing signs of something lacking?
If increasing ration balancer to full recommended amount adds too many calories, I’m another voter for MadBarn Omneity- plus vitamin E (if needed) and amino acid supplement. I do this with one of mine and use a small amount of dry alfalfa pellets as a carrier. If I boarded I’d probably do a chopped forage carrier rather than ask barn staff to soak.
Having fed soaked feed in the past, I want to add that there is more to feeding soaked feed than just feeding the soaked feed. It adds a mess in the feed tub that is not there when dry feed is fed. With some horses it also ads a mess on the wall and bars of the stall too.
TC Safe Starch is like candy to my guys. As long as the other feedstuff is pelleted and pretty palatable, this seems like a good middle ground.
Again, I’ve fed dry hay stretcher and Unbeetable with no issues. They’re all getting it soaked now, but that’s for other reasons.
The calories of upping the RB really are the issue to meet better nutrition. The current 1lb doesn’t check off the selenium box and puts them at barely adequate for so many other vitamins and minerals I want to do better without more calories which horse desperately needs to avoid. I don’t want to use even a small amount of dry pellets due to personal preference and seeing horses choke on small amounts of feed something as solid as alfalfa pellets would not be something I would be comfortable with.
Can you get a better ration balancer?
