What do you feed your yearlings?

[back_in_the_saddle]

My filly is on the thin side and that needs to change. She gets 2lbs of Gro’nWin 2x’s/day and 1/2 can dry of beet pulp (soaked), 24.7 pasture, AND all the freechoice bermuda hay she can eat. And she’s still thin. Growing fine but thin, tall, and lankey.

Our pasture is a mix of fescue and bermuda and she has eaten all of the bermuda spots down adn the fescue grass is tall. She loves fresh bermuda so has kept picking away at that instead of eating the hay or other grass.

She gets wormed on a consistant basis so that’s not it either.

Any suggestions? I’d prefer not to give her too much grain adn have her eat pasture/hay but she’s just not.

Ideas?

[aspenlucas]

I have four yearling currently. Three of them get 3 lbs of Growth and 1/2 lb of Grow N Win once a day. They also get lysine and probiotics. Then I have a pure CB colt who gets 5 lbs of Growth, 1/2 lb of Grown N Win, 1/2 lb of Kalm Ultra a 12-12-12, split into two meals. Then at night he gets lysine, beet pulp and probiotics, he’s on the lankier side and “should” be an easier keeper then the 1/4 CB/TB crosses. I have started him on some ranitidine, wondering if maybe he could be having some stomach acid problems. My guys are only on grass for 2-3 hours a day and then get about 5-6 flakes of hay throughout the day. Everyone looks good, I don’t like them fat, no one is ribby but the pure is a little bit on the ribby side, you can feel them.

[Canopach01]

weight help

I have personally had good luck adding calf-manna or a weight supplement for those lanky growth spurt times. Yearlings are meant to be gangly looking.

[back_in_the_saddle]

I don’t want her fat at all. But she needs more calories than what used to maintain her prior to this last growth spurt.

What is Growth? The grow’nwin bag says to add oats. Anyone done that? That’s my next step.

[aspenlucas]

Both Buckeye and Tribute sell Growth in a pellet or sweet. It’s formulated for youngstock. I’ve seen a big difference in my yearlings and weanlings since I’ve fed this to them. THey are not fat but they have good muscle tone and look more toned.

[not_again]

We feed Tizwhiz products.
http://www.tizwhizfeeds.com/
And have had for nearly 40 years. Obviously we like the results.

[Home_Again_Farm]

For many, many years I have fed ration balancers like Gro N Win. When they need a few extra calories, I add whole oats. I have also fed a fat supplement for extra cals. Right now my yearlings are getting Progressive Grass Plus balancer in the recommended level, 1/2 # oats per feeding and a couple of handguls of Envision (Progressive fat supplement) for extra shine, free choice loose minerals, good grass pasture and good grass hay. They looks super.

[showponies]

I just went through this with my yearlings ( welshxthbd) the filly was fine, but the colt who has a big rib cage just wasn’t getting covered. I had them on a weight gain supplement, along with a free choice alf/grass mix and 4 lbs of safe choice grain. I asked a long time breeder what she feeds and said calf mana. I am not a huge fan of the 30% protines…I found a “nock off” off to calf mania, as my feed stores didn’t cm ( 24% protine) and added that to his diet( per the bags instructions) WHAT A DIFFERENCE IN 10 DAYS!!!

[FriesianX]

You might also take a look at your hay or pasture. Sometimes, as we get later in the year, the nutrients in a pasture fade. I feed my yearlings high quality Timothy hay, supplement with just a little alfalfa and a mid-protein, low sugar concentrate (only 3 to 5 lbs). They are on pasture, and in earlier Spring, they tend to be quite fat, but by late Spring, I increase the hay substantially.

If you feed Calf Manna, realize it is very high protein - in small quantities, OK, but I’ve seen a few people feed several pounds daily and end up with problems. By the way, you can mix Calf Mana with beet pulp to make it more palatable - seems Calf Manna is like chocolate, it makes EVERYTHING taste good:lol:

[Home_Again_Farm]

IMO adding something like calf manna to a program based on Gro N Win would probably throw an awful lot out of whack. I’ve added oats to a balancer since 1998 with great results. Not surprising, since that is what the feed company recommends. :winkgrin:

[Indy-lou]

Sounds like your filly is “chasing the green” just going for the sweet, new growth grass and leaving the fescue to stand. Maybe you can improve the pasture situation: have an expert look at it? Maybe have to mow the fescue or something to get new growth. I have found horses will turn their nose up at the dried version of what is growing in their field, in your case Bermuda. My horses never did like Bermuda hay very much in any case. Can you try adding another kind of hay besides Bermuda?

[frisco1]

yearlings

look at adding Buckeye ultimate finish 40 2xdaily 1/4 of the measuring scoop (pellet suppliment) and 1lb equine jr by purina 2x day. (slowly)
This should bump your calories and hay levels up while still making it easy to keep the 24/7 turnout. Of course it would be great if you had the ability to do a three time a day feeding schedule.
Good luck.

[florida_foxhunter]

I choose not to do my own mixing…I feed Triple Crown Growth plus 1 cup of the 30% minerals suppliment …exactly as directed on the back of the bag. We only have the bermuda hay here, plus decent pasture…and my yearling is tall, gangly, but looks good! If I were feeding a better quality hay I may worry, but I sort of feel like it’s just filler and they’re getting most nutrition and minerals from the feed.
I figure they’re the ones who did all the testing…I’ll follow the directions!

[Whitfield_Farm_Hanov]

I 2nd not using Calf Manna if you’re already using a ration balancer. Just to much of the good stuff. I have great results with fat supplements. I use Empower from Nutrena. It’s 20% fat & only have to feed small amounts. Low starch also. They look great on it. Keeps the total hard feed to a minimum.

[stoicfish]

I have read mixed ideas about protein and youngsters. Many articles say it isn’t protein that can cause problems associated with rapid growth, that it is a mineral imbalance. But many others warn against feeding too much protein. So pertaining to the OP’s question, should he/she try to increase her filly’s weight by increasing rations with protein, even if she is getting the right amount of protein for her size now? Or should the OP try to increase calories without changing total amount of protein….or does the protein even matter that much?

[Whitfield_Farm_Hanov]

The Gro-n-Win is by itself complete as a ration balancer. IMO calories are what she needs.

[cottagefarm]

What breed/type is your yearling?
2lbs of Gro &Win am and pm seems like a lot . My 2 lactating broodmares gets 4lbs a day as recommended by the Buckeye chart .They are both well covered almost a little porky !!

Go to Buckeye’s web site and go to equine products then G+W.There should be a PDF file that shows a growth and performance chart and that will give you how much G+W to feed.
You can add oats or I prefer the Ultimate Finish (25%) fat which is a nugget.
other option as HAF mentioned is to try the Growth formula.

I hate that yearling stage they are always so difficult to gauge as they go through their growth spurts :yes:

[dbaygirl]

[QUOTE=back in the saddle;4162229]
My filly is on the thin side and that needs to change. She gets 2lbs of Gro’nWin 2x’s/day and 1/2 can dry of beet pulp (soaked), 24.7 pasture, AND all the freechoice bermuda hay she can eat. And she’s still thin. Growing fine but thin, tall, and lankey.

Our pasture is a mix of fescue and bermuda and she has eaten all of the bermuda spots down adn the fescue grass is tall. She loves fresh bermuda so has kept picking away at that instead of eating the hay or other grass.

She gets wormed on a consistant basis so that’s not it either.

Any suggestions? I’d prefer not to give her too much grain adn have her eat pasture/hay but she’s just not.

Ideas?[/QUOTE]

I feed mine grass, hay and water…and approx. 4 lbs. locally made extruded crunch. My filly was thin at the breed show last year and some commented she was underweight. It doesn’t matter…she had tons of energy and proved it by cavorting around the arena in the Best of Get class like she had been chowing down high energy grain all day. They also thought she was TWO instead of one. Don’t worry about them…they are GROWING. Long as they are not showing signs of dullness or depression…let them be kids. I was tall and lanky too when I was growing up. I grew out of it. Still tall though…

This year’s yearling has good weight on but he is a boy. He gets the same thing as above.

Beet pulp helps if you think they are really needing something extra…and very good quality hay. I get mine from the dairy farmers in the area. It is high in protein, excellent quality…it has to be to produce milk.

[my_girls]

I fed 2lbs Born to win (same as Grow n win but by Purina and is now called Enrich 32) to my yearling with 2 lbs crimped oats and it worked great (this yearling is now a 3 year old)

This year, I have another yearling, and she was not doing well on this regimen at all, way too thin, about 40lbs underweight, even being on grass all night long and unlimited hay all day

So, i made the switch to Triple Crown Growth. She is going GREAT on this and made a complete turnaround. I have only had her on this maybe 5 weeks or so. She gets 5 lbs/day ( or about 3/4 large scoop 2x day). I plan to cut her back a bit soon
But it made all the difference in the world

Maybe you switch to a growth feed. Mine really needed a higher fat/cal diet

[Altamont_Sport_Horse]

It seems my yearlings have different needs as do the two year olds. My 12 month old Appaloosa filly is almost 15 hh already with huge legs and joints. She’s going to be a monster and is so darn goofy right now that I am trying to keep her on the thin side so she doesn’t have a lot of extra weight stressing those joints. She gets per day (broken into 2 feedings)
<3 lbs. of TC Growth
<3 lbs. of TC Low Starch
3-4 oz of flax seed
I have a 2 year old eating the same diet and she is doing well on it.

My other yearling is about the same height but is half Irish Draft. He started to get thin really quickly this Spring during a growth spurt so he gets per day
2 lbs. of TC Growth
<3 lbs. of TC Low Starch
2.5 lbs. of Alfalfa Pellets
Tri-Amino supplement
3-4 oz of flax seed

These horses are on pasture (Bermuda and Bahia) and are supplemented with Bahia grass hay.