Can anyone shed some light onto a good feed program nutrition for a pregnant mare? Any supplements? She is just about 6 months now…
Her current feed program is:
She gets this twice a day. She is a tb mare and in good health and shape! And pretty chubby right now, im impressed.
I don’t know what fat n fiber is but you need to address her vitamin and mineral needs. A ration balancer is generally the easiest way to do that.
Any suggestions? I am having a hard time finding a good site on the extra vitamins and mierals specifically they need.
Any ration balancer will work. I feed Nutrena’s called Empower but they are more or less the same. Progressive Nutrition’s is probably the best but not significantly enough to me to spend the extra money on it. You would probably only feed a pound or two per day. I also keep an equimin block available. It is amazing how the pregnant mares will absolutely attack the block some months then not touch it for months. They seem to go after it in early pregnancy then slack off a bit then completely shun it in late pregnancy.
Given what she’s eating now, a ration balancer alone might be enough calories for her. I DO agree this is the time when nutritional needs start to increase. But if “chubby” is “she’s really too fat”, then a RB would be the better deal for her. Just remember this is Winter, baby is growing, and it will be harder to get weight back on her if she starts losing too much.
If she needs more calories, TC Growth is a good growth/mare&foal feed
Do any of you feed a prenatal vitamin?
Thanks JB… She isn’t incredibly overweight, she is a big mare and looks healthy and in good shape, if not a tad bit on the “round” side, but not unhealthy fat. I am please with how she looks. I will look into a supplement and mineral blocks etc though too
I compared the nutrena empower with the equijewel I feed and its very similiar…
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I compared the nutrena empower with the equijewel I feed and its very similiar…[/QUOTE]
There are two Empower products: Boost and Balance. Boost is a fat supplement with rice bran and flax, so very similar to KER’s EquiJewel. Empower Balance is completely different: high protein and designed to provide a complete nutritional profile with a maximum 2 pounds per day.
Other ration balancers would be Triple Crown’s 30 percent supplement and Purina’s Enrich 32.
Mine is called Empower Balance. You dont need to feed Nutrena, I was just telling you what I used.
We breed TBs, foal, raise, sell most yearlings at auctions. Break/start and train some at our farm and send to the track. We do this for a living our farm is our business. We have our own broodmare band and board, breed, foal and raise for clients. Our feed comes from a family owned feed mill. Mixed to my specifications but is basically a standard “sweet feed” like those of Purina, 10% protein, 12% fat. The added fat comes from vegetable oil, protein and essential minerals are in a pellet form found in all commercial feeds. Just enough molasses to “bind” things to the oats and corn so as not settle “out”.
All of our horses are fed by weight not scoops/cups. The average mare 9 lbs per day.
Increase to 12 lbs in the last tri and because we get pretty cold winters. I also like to add 1 lb of Calf Manna. Ultramate Finish 25 depending on the mare. Most of our mares have been here for a while so I know them. They live out 24/7 except in extremely bad weather. Have mineral blocks in their pasture.
Brought in 2 weeks before the expected foaling date or based on “look”.
When the grass goes they get 15+ lbs of decent Orchard hay at “dinner”. I have not found feeding expensive Alfalfa or a mix of over plain Orchard or Timothy to make any difference in the mare’s milk production or the size and health of the resulting foal.
Our yearlings usually outsell their pedigrees and the mares generally get in foal on the first cover or 2. Our barren percentage is under industry “norms”. Only the very odd year have we had a mare slip/abort. We are in the top 20 out of over 500 breeders in this state with a small broodmare band of our own. So the above seems to work well for us and our clients.
Personally I think you will save yourself a lot of “mixing” and hassle by using something like Purina’s Omolene 200 and an appropriate amount of Ultium Growth if needed or desired.
As always to each their own. Feed programs are a pretty “hot” topic in the forums and I tend to stay out of them. Too subjective for me.
Omolene is garbage but Ultium Growth is a ration balancer which we have been recommending.
I agree that the O-200 is pretty bad - at 40% NSC, IMHO it should be nothing more than a treat.
But, Ultium Growth (16% NSC) isn’t a ration balancer - it’s a full fledged feed 
Purina’s RB is the Enrich 32.
Oh, guess that is what I was thinking of. I avoid Purina like the plague so not super familiar with their stuff.
Interesting topic right now as I was just reading “The complete book of foaling” and it really changed my thinking about what I needed to be feeding my pregnant mare. I had thought I would need to switch her to a Broodmare/Growth formula for the last trimester, and add some Alfalfa to her diet. But according to that book, I would then have protein levels that were too high and simply taxing her kidneys. Right now she’s on Nutrena’s Pro Senior with Mare Plus as a supplement and grass hay.
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