Would this supplement be sufficient enough to cover vit/mins. Horses are on alfalfa pellets 6 lbs a day divided into 2 feedings.
Plus they all get a cup of whole flax once a day.
They all have access to Equilix tubs also out in pasture.
Here’s link to vit/min www.horse.com/item/select-the-best-select-i/E003892/
You can’t know if it’s sufficient without knowing the analysis of your pasture.
It’s a decent enough v/m supplement. It may not have enough of some things that perhaps your area is generally deficient in.
I wouldn’t feed it because:
The horses have free access to Equilix and that should be enough.
It is HIGH in iron. http://www.horse.com/ContentFiles/Associated_Content/Select-I-label.JPG
Hay low in magnesium so i add some mag into the mix,i’am guessing pasture is also low. Trying to make their diets more balanced. I’ll get AG guy out to get samples of pasture for testing.
Having some issues with body soreness on the 4 year old,so must be diet related?? Trying to stay with forage only diet. They don’t need extra energy from feed they’v got plenty of it. Both 4 year old and 7 year old are hotter then hot to ride.
They also have the Equilix tubs that also has Vit/Mins.
[QUOTE=walkinthewalk;8813820]
I wouldn’t feed it because:
The horses have free access to Equilix and that should be enough.
It is HIGH in iron. http://www.horse.com/ContentFiles/Associated_Content/Select-I-label.JPG[/QUOTE]
The Equilix tubs are just about gone,so won’t have them any more here in another day. So need something for them,for alfalfa based diets. Equilix doesn’t have a lot of the stuff Select 1 has.
The bulk of their diet - last I knew - was pasture. Unless your hay is from your pasture, it’s not accurate to assume the pasture is also low in Mg. That said, many horses are Mg-deficient, so adding some is not often a bad idea. How much are you adding?
Having some issues with body soreness on the 4 year old,so must be diet related??
Not necessarily. But they are all going through issues, including hind gut ulcers (still not sure how that was officially diagnosed?) which can easily cause body issues.
Trying to stay with forage only diet. They don’t need extra energy from feed they’v got plenty of it. Both 4 year old and 7 year old are hotter then hot to ride.
Energy is not about making them hot. It is about giving them enough calories to put some needed weight on. That can be done without making them mentally “hot”
They also have the Equilix tubs that also has Vit/Mins.
This doesn’t matter right now, right, since you say they are almost gone and you won’t be replacing them.
The hindgut ulcers were diagnosed through checking manure for blood,also they were getting colicky at times. Plus they were off feed for a time also.
Yes pasture is main part of diet,also alfalfa pellets now & flax 1 cup a day. I know they need more calories,trying to do that with alfalfa pellets. I prefer to stay with forage only diets. So some how some way need enough calories with forage only diet.
The magnesium is remission i give them one of enclosed scoops once a day with flax. Sometimes they eat sometimes not.
They ate the lick tubs in a weeks time,they stand in run in eating on them on and off all day. Not eating hay to busy eating on Equilix tubs.
I won’t buy any feed from mill other then alfalfa pellets,they run cattle feed with monensin in it. They get alfalfa pellets shipped in so not coming from their mill,comes from a mill that doesn’t do medicated cattle feed.
I’am trying to get their diet better because skin issues scratches on both geldings with white legs.
AG guy came today and took samples to have pasture grass tested,for nutrients. Until i have the results. I plan on just feeding alfalfa pellets with flax.
I assume the ranitidine is working, horses are at least eating the alfa pellets 6 lbs total,as before they wouldn’t eat anything pellets. From what i can find calorie wise on alfalfa pellet there 900 calories per pound. So at 6 lbs that’s 5,400 calories total,i’am guessing that’s not enough for weight gain.??
How many calories does a 1000 lb horse need to gain weight?? Once i have pasture grass testing back i can hopefully ,get what they need nutrient wise figured out.
Any time you add calories, you’re going to add weight. How much weight, and how quickly, remains to be seen
How many calories does a 1000 lb horse need to gain weight??
That’s too broad a question. And at some point it doesn’t even matter. 5000 additional calories is a good place to start. The added protein is good too. Get a weight tape on each of them, and pictures, and re-do them in 2 weeks and see how things look. If there are improvements, keep with what you have. If improvements stop, then you need to increase calories again.
A 1000lb horse might need 20,000 calories to maintain a healthy weight if he’s an active pasture horse. He could need 30,000 if he’s got a higher metabolism and is in decent work.
The paint has lost a bit more the OTTBS are holding their own,at 1,100 lbs 4 year old is 16.1 hands…3 year old is right at 16 hands 1,130. Paint is 15 hand and now under 1000 lb according to weight tape…
Can i add another cup of flax ??so they get 2 cups a day instead of 1 cup…thinking that will up the fat content of diet. They will eat flax for most part.
Paint in moderate work and so is 4 year old.
I would not feed 2c of flax. And at only about 40% fat, it’s not adding significant fat. It’s adding good Omega 3 EFA, but they’re already getting a lot of that in their grass.
I would add more alfalfa pellets for more calories, before adding (more) fat.
[QUOTE=JB;8815718]
I would not feed 2c of flax. And at only about 40% fat, it’s not adding significant fat. It’s adding good Omega 3 EFA, but they’re already getting a lot of that in their grass.
I would add more alfalfa pellets for more calories, before adding (more) fat.[/QUOTE]
Thanks i’ll keep flax to just 1 cup a day,added another 1/2 pound of alfa pellets this morning. The 3 year old ate all his, other 2 didn’t finish.
So maxing out at 3 pound per feeding,for 7 year old & 4 year old… so makes adding calories hard when, they won’t eat more then 3 pounds per feeding.
Maybe i should try adding cocosoya to their pellets again.?? wasn’t a big hit first time,but maybe now they’ll eat it. Don’t want them to lose more weight…
When they max out on volume, you have to get into more calorie-dense feedstuffs for sure. This is where good quality commercial feeds are a big benefit.
My only choices for commercial feeds is purina, or nutrena. From what i see on both sites most feeds even their high fat ones require higher feed amounts. Unless i can get by feeding under the required amount,and still have the desired effects of weight gain.
I’ll search on purinas site for a feed that is at or under 6 lbs a day,high fat.
I’ll see if local mill will order TC senior,but doesn’t that require fairly high pounds per feeding?? Or is it under 6 lbs total a day?
Would be nice if these horses would just eat more feed… 3 year old seems to be doing better in that respect.
Here’s feed choices that are high calorie feeds,Proforce XTN,Proforce fiber, ultium,Empower boost. Proforce senior & amplify from purina.
Rest of purina’s feeds not great,most are sweet feeds. Then the dilemma all require 7lbs or better feed rates.
So only one with lower feed rate is Empower boost max 3 lbs,so maybe add 3lbs of another high calorie feed with boost.?? That brings them to their max amount of feed per day…but more calories in it…
And local mill wont order TC senior so that’s out. They have a high calorie feed BUT it’s 30% NSC Have analysis…can give it if you’d like to see it.??
Empower Boost (and Purina Amplify) is a fat supplement - not intended to take the place of nutritionally fortified feeds
ProForce Fiber is not a bad feed
Fortified feeds have a minimally recommended feeding rate for the nutritional value. Then you add more, to a reasonable degree, if the horse needs more calories.
If he needs fewer calories, then you can start adding partial servings of a ration balancer, such as Empower Balance in the Nutrena line
I would not be feeding a 30% NSC feed to these horses.
[QUOTE=tazycat;8813831]
Having some issues with body soreness on the 4 year old,so must be diet related??[/QUOTE]
Are you treating for Lyme? Lyme can absolutely cause body soreness. The youngsters both tested positive, correct?
If you’re in my area, and maybe you are, based solely on what grain you have available and Lyme risk, this stuff from Uckele may be a good option for a vit/mineral supplement:
http://equine.uckele.com/equi-vm.html
It is palatable, fairly low volume, fairly inexpensive, and contains no iron…we have gobs of iron around here, don’t need to feed any more.
If you’re not in my area, posting where you are (just a general location) might be helpful. Certain areas of the country have different issues with feeding horses 
[QUOTE=JB;8818453]
Empower Boost (and Purina Amplify) is a fat supplement - not intended to take the place of nutritionally fortified feeds
ProForce Fiber is not a bad feed
Fortified feeds have a minimally recommended feeding rate for the nutritional value. Then you add more, to a reasonable degree, if the horse needs more calories.
If he needs fewer calories, then you can start adding partial servings of a ration balancer, such as Empower Balance in the Nutrena line
I would not be feeding a 30% NSC feed to these horses.[/QUOTE]
They need calories,the Boost i though could be only part of diet to add calories,for weight gain. Then i could feed another feed that’s fortified,being proforce fiber minimal amount is 7.50 lbs won’t work…they’ll never eat 9+ lbs a day.
So maybe a Empower balance 2lbs and 3lb of the empower boost,don’t need reduced calorie diets here.
[QUOTE=Simkie;8818486]
Are you treating for Lyme? Lyme can absolutely cause body soreness. The youngsters both tested positive, correct?
If you’re in my area, and maybe you are, based solely on what grain you have available and Lyme risk, this stuff from Uckele may be a good option for a vit/mineral supplement:
http://equine.uckele.com/equi-vm.html
It is palatable, fairly low volume, fairly inexpensive, and contains no iron…we have gobs of iron around here, don’t need to feed any more.
If you’re not in my area, posting where you are (just a general location) might be helpful. Certain areas of the country have different issues with feeding horses :)[/QUOTE]
Williams mn…No not treating for lyme dease, yes the youngsters tested positive for lyme. I’ll take a look at link here. That is reasonably priced maybe could feed that with the Empower boost??
Already know big volumes of feed just won’t work,so the more calories i can get in them with less feed is best.
If I were you, I’d have the vet out to run blood panels for these horses.
How is the selenium level in your area soil? There is a lot of concerns around here and a few horses died/were in really bad shape because they weren’t receiving enough.
Selenium can be toxic in high doses but is essential in small doses.
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