Which feeds are very sticky?

[Ganesha]

I mix my horse’s supplements (which are powdered) in baggies to be added to his AM and PM feeds. I was thinking of adding a handful of sweet feed or other sticky feed to the baggies to give the powders something to adhere to (he eats ration balancer pellets, so the powder can sift to the bottom).

There was a bag of open feed in our feed room, and I felt it - it did not have very much stick factor.

Anyone know of a super sticky feed, and should I be concerned about mold issues with the baggies?

I don’t want to use oil as the binder (messy).

[Palm_Beach]

I’d try water first and an oil second.

[lintesia]

I use “All-in-One,” which is basically a chaff made with alfalfa and molasses, specifically for the stickiness factor. I like that whoever has to give my horse his grain/supplement baggie on days when I’m there just has to dump the contents in his feeder and doesn’t have to mess with adding any liquids. I use just a handful each day and don’t even make it through an entire bag in a year. So it’s pretty cost effective as well!

[DJohn]

Purina Elite/Senior/Trimax… all very sticky.

I just soak my horses food to add his supp, though.
I would use something sticky if I didn’t have hot water because I don’t like feeding their grain soaked in cold water.

[shall]

Triple Crown Senior is ideal. It’s nutritious, low starch and beat pulp.

[vxf111]

TC Senior is fairly sticky. As is Purina Ultium.

[SuckerForHorses]

I have the same problem (pellets that allow powdered supplements to remain uneaten at the bottom of the dish).

I just splash a handful of water into the dish and shake around. This binds the supps to the pellets just fine.

Is there a reason you can’t do this when you feed? Even if its at a barn, whoever does the feeding could splash some water from his water bucket into his dish with the pellets, it doesn’t need to be fresh water out of the tap every time.

[jdobbs64]

Triple Crown Complete. Scoop up the feed, top dress with powdered supps, give it a twist and shake, and pour it in their dinner bucket, done. The serving-bucket stays dry and the supps stick to the feed. It’s too humid here for leaving serving buckets all wet and gunky, and I hate with the power of 1000 suns to add oil to my ‘serving buckets’. When I am done I stack said buckets and they get filthy/icky/nasty if you stick oiled buckets together. Gross.

[Obsidian_Fire]

If all you want is a cup of something - literally only a cup - and for no other value than adding ‘stick’ - you could just buy wet cob. (that’s corn, oats, barley with molasses added).
It would be cheap and accomplish your goal.

If you would be feeding more than a literal cup per day, I would never, ever suggest buying it.

[One_Two_Three]

Purina’s budget sweet line “Impact” is incredibly sticky.

[Simkie]

Tablespoon or two of pancake syrup would probably accomplish what you’re looking for with minimal mess and without the hassle of buying separate feed.

[Scribbler]

I add my supplement to a wet mash. Because it contains beet pulp and alfalfa cubes, it needs to soak for at least an hour to soften up and it take a lot of water, probably ends up five times its dry volume.

But if none of the components in your feed need to soak that long, I don’t see why you couldn’t just add a minimal amount of water to the pellets, which will soften up immediately. Now, the barn help would need to add this when they fed; you wouldn’t want to put water in the baggies!

[vxf111]

[QUOTE=Simkie;8987318]
Tablespoon or two of pancake syrup would probably accomplish what you’re looking for with minimal mess and without the hassle of buying separate feed.[/QUOTE]

God help the person who is responsible for squeezing syrup-n-supplement out of a zipolock bag. Most of it would end up stuck to the inside of the bag and on the barn worker’s hands.

[Simkie]

[QUOTE=vxf111;8987533]
God help the person who is responsible for squeezing syrup-n-supplement out of a zipolock bag. Most of it would end up stuck to the inside of the bag and on the barn worker’s hands.[/QUOTE]

Oh, no. Figured you’d add half cup of CURRENT feed to baggy, add syrup, add supplements. You get stick factor without buying separate grain specifically for stick factor

[vxf111]

[QUOTE=Simkie;8987626]
Oh, no. Figured you’d add half cup of CURRENT feed to baggy, add syrup, add supplements. You get stick factor without buying separate grain specifically for stick factor[/QUOTE]

I still don’t want to be the person who has to handle syrup coated anything at feed time. especially not in the winter, wearing gloves.

[JB]

Anything sticky in a baggie with powdered supplements, is going to mean some of those powders stay in the baggie, no matter what.

The “sticky” needs to be added to the bucket, not a baggie or tupperware container (and baggies are a big waste anyway). A splash of water is easy and always available.

[newhorsemommy]

Triple Crown Sr. is reasonably sticky without adding water. I put the feed in a gallon ziplock bag, add the supplements, close the bag, and then “roll” it around so that the powders stick to the grain. Finer powders stick better. But it still all pours out just fine without a mess.

[Haylter]

Maybe switch to small ‘tupperwarish’ containers and use applesauce that can be ‘dumped’ out?

[suzyq]

I put powdered sugar in my baggies if there’s something in there my horse doesn’t like, like Bute. But mine doesnt have any issues with sugar.

[BroncoMo]

[QUOTE=Ganesha;8987008]
I mix my horse’s supplements (which are powdered) in baggies to be added to his AM and PM feeds. I was thinking of adding a handful of sweet feed or other sticky feed to the baggies to give the powders something to adhere to (he eats ration balancer pellets, so the powder can sift to the bottom).

There was a bag of open feed in our feed room, and I felt it - it did not have very much stick factor.

Anyone know of a super sticky feed, and should I be concerned about mold issues with the baggies?

I don’t want to use oil as the binder (messy).[/QUOTE]

I have gone through every binding material known to man, and yes, very messy. While I find water to be the best solution for my situation, I understand that will not work well in a board situation. I read your post and know that your question specifically asks about what feed it sticky.

So, here it goes. I find Purina’s Omelene line to be very stick most times. When I fed it, I would occasionally end up with a bag of dryer feed if I had to pick up at a store that didn’t have much traffic, therefore feed sat on the shelf for a while. If you have a high traffic feed store, you should be fine with the Omelene line. I believe the 100 is a textured molasses-coated feed. I know 200 and 300 are for sure. A small handful of that should do the job. You can tell how wet it is by grabbing the bag and kind of bending it, if you will, or lightly punching it. A wetter feed will feel as if it is slightly bound together. A dryer feed will feel more like you’re punching a bag of oats; the feed will separate out rather than stick together.

When I fed sweet feed and picked up (and unloaded by hand) a ton at a time, I could tell the really super fresh bags that were really wet because I could hold each end of the bag in each hand and carry it out in front of me; instead of slumped over my arms like a sack of potatoes.

Mold should not be an issue. I just wouldn’t stock too many at one time. Maybe 2-4 weeks tops.

And syrup is such a gross way to do it. None of my horses will eat anything that has syrup on it