I’ve been feeding my 2 retired OTTBs Kalm n EZ along with 24/7 runs bales for years. Looking to cut expenses and wondering how “bad” it will be to switch to Producers Pride sweet feed? It’s about half the price for a 50lb bag.
Going from a high quality low NSC feed designed for metabolic horses to a low quality high NSC designed for cattle is a really enormous change. These two feeds are on opposite ends of the spectrum.
Why did you choose Kalm n EZ to begin with? How much are you feeding every day?
If your horses don’t have any metabolic issues, and you’re feeding a very small amount…it’s probably fine. Although alfalfa pellets or even straight oats could be a better choice.
If your horses are metabolic, sensitive to sugars, or eat more than a handful or two of grain, then no, this is really not a good option.
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Are your horses hard or easy keepers? Do they objectively need a complete grain? Or could you switch to a ration balancer instead? Essential K for example, yes it is more expensive per bag but the feed rate is much lower. There are also mineral mixes that are intended for balancing the vitamins and minerals of a hay-based diet. 24/7 hay should theoretically feed the vast majority of the calories. The sheer amount of NSCs in sweet feed steers me away. I also don’t particularly trust mixed livestock feeds after some recent events of toxicity.
Great way to compare feeds is on the Mad Barn site: here’s KnEZ and a sweet feed.
The Producers Pride product labeled as “horse sweet feed” is also designed for goats and cattle. It’s basically the cheapest formulation of COB and hulls possible on the day, with some fortification and molasses. Last thing I would feed to older TBs.
If yours are easy keepers, they might be fine, but in that case they would probably do just as well or better on 1-2 pounds a day of a ration balancer. You would pay a bit more per bag for Essential K but feed less of it while delivering basically the same micronutrients.
Otherwise, if I had to economize I would go with one of Nutrena’s midrange products that’s still somewhat high fat and lower starch, like Triumph Fiber Plus, before switching to a cheap sweet feed.
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Whether or not you can get away with such a big drop in quality and such a huge increase in sugar really depends on how much you’re feeding, and what you’re expecting out of your grain.
If your horses get a handful or two of grain and need no supplemental calories on top of their hay…then this is probably not harmful. But there are better options, like alfalfa pellets.
If your horses are getting grain for supplemental calories, to keep weight on, and are getting more than a handful or two, then switching over to a cheap livestock sweet feed is quite likely to be harmful.
If you can share what exactly you need from your grain, we can help you find something that’s less expensive than your current feed.
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Thanks. It’s hard to say how much they need the grain they are getting. They look great but I don’t feed a lot of grain. They live outside 24/7 on a good quality grass round bale. I like the idea of supplementing with alfalfa pellets (as long as they can eat them - no problems yet with their teeth) but those too aren’t cheap. Switching to a ration balancer wouldn’t save anything since I’m not feeding a lot of grain - so probably the same amount.
“Not a lot” can mean pretty much anything. How much, in pounds or quarts, are you actually feeding.
The least expensive option here is to stop feeding grain. Then, if necessary, choose an appropriate feed to address whatever you see change.
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What does “I don’t feed a lot of grain” mean? Are you feeding a “scoop”? What size scoop?
If you’re only feeding a couple of pounds, a ration balancer is a much better option nutritionally. No, that’s not cheaper than under-feeding a regular feed, unfortunately
If they’re on enough grass, and in good weight, and don’t work (much), you could probably get away, calorie-wise, with not feeding anything. I wouldn’t do that for a working horse or one less than 2
Producer’s Pride is low quality - it’s cheap for a reason. Would 1-2lb a day hurt even an easy keeper? No, as long as they’re not metabolic. But it’s not doing much for then from a nutritional perspective, and at that point you could feed 1-2lb of a hay pellet.
But if they’re eating all/mostly hay, they need a Vit E supplement (which can be quite cheap) and something to mix with, whether a small amount of a hay pellet or cheap sweet feed
And, if they’re working or growing, the ration balancer is the much better option
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