What ya feeding these days

[Bigfoot]

I know the people on this forum are cattle people with a few horses. That's a lot different than a horse person with a few cows. IMHO the vast majority of horses just need grass in the summer, and hay in the winter.

I visit a barrel horse forum, once or twice a week. Never to post, just to see what's going on. Actually a lot of people there know what they are talking about. If you've got a health question, or a behavior problem to solve, it's probably been asked before. They do linger on feed. Seems like everybody has a different opinion.

Now, I'll tip my hand a little bit. I've got opinions on feeding. If a horse is being used, I think he needs to be fed.

I like:
Oats mixed 50/50 with a quality textured horse feed. Top dressed with calf manna.
I won't feed a by product to my horses.

For hay, I like fescue cut just as it starts producing a stem. Pure blade. I have to raise that, you can't find that anywhere.

Supplement is equibloom, and biotin.


Stemmy hay, and a pellet would probably be just as good, I'd just like to know what my own kind are feeding?

 

[SmokinM]

Same mixed grass hay my cows get only I do keep theirs in the barn. Mostly it is fescue.Purina Strategy for grain. Not working any of mine hard enough to feed any other supplements. I am constantly amazed at the people who tell me their horse can't eat fescue it will poison them. Obviously they don't look down in their pastures. Also for a horse a lot of low nutrient forage is better than a little high grade.

 

[Angus Cowman]

When using mine they get alfa/oat pellets and a little rice bran along with good bermuda hay

If not using them they get good bermuda hay or bermuda pasture

I used to have my own mix when I was using my horses daily and had a bunch of yearling and young horses
It was 50% oats 10%soybean meal 25% alfalfa pellets and 15% steamed crimped corn also the oats where steam rolled
Then I top dressed with calf manna and red cell
I also fed Matua Brome hay

 

[Angus Cowman]

The only time mine got pulled off Fescue pasture where mares 60 to 90 days before foaling because it can make the sack tougher and also the toxicity can lead to little or No milk production

 

[Bigfoot]

I never let any of my horses on mature fescue, especially seed heads.

 

[Angus Cowman]

I never let any of my horses on mature fescue, especially seed heads.

I always trued to keep mine clipped just to be safe

 

[Bigfoot]

Ok, I've got it worse than I thought. I hate to waste anything. Grass is at the top of the list. I move my horses as the fescue matures. More importantly, before they kill any of it. I follow that with a sprinkling of calves I've bought just to graze behind them. Then I clip the pasture if necessary. I keep this move going all summer. Horses on fresh growth, calves behind that, and clip if need be.

 

[Bigfoot]

I belive this old tiger dun is 23 or 4 in this picture. IMHO teeth and feet are the key to longevity. Feed and care being critical for both.

 

[Angus Cowman]

I belive this old tiger dun is 23 or 4 in this picture. IMHO teeth and feet are the key to longevity. Feed and care being critical for both.

I agree with ya BF it amazes me how many people will just let anyone throw a set of shoes on a horse That was a hard part about moving down here was finding a good farrier finally found a good one after going thru a few he isn't fast but he is good and like I always said I don't pay by the hr so I don't care how long it takes as long as it us a good job when they finished

 

[branguscowgirl]

My horses have really good grass, but unfortunately I have to pull them off in the spring because they will founder. Always a balancing act. Some can tolerate it a few hours per day, others can not.
When they are on limited grazing or in the winter, I feed a good Sedan or Orchard grass hay. Cows and horses eat the same and it is whatever is available at the best price. However I won't feed them junk. It has to be of good quality. The same horses that founder on the pasture, also founder on Alfalfa.
Old horses or any being rode get a little Safe Choice every day.
The horses get the same free choice minerals that the cows get. Per my vet. The Western Sweet Goat Mineral. They do really like it! But they may start baaing anytime now. :lol:

 

[cow pollinater]

I feed grassy alfalfa through the winter and they're on pasture most of the summer. I will pull them off pasture and feed hay here and there to avoid founder during the summer. I don't grain them at all unless I'm using them every day and that really doesn't happen very often.
My go to horse right now is a mare that you can feed one alfalfa leaf and stand back and watch her a$$ grow so I'm pretty comfortable feeding lower quality stuff most of the time.
Even when I was in the saddle forty hours a week I didn't have horses that needed anything more than hay and pasture. In fact I had one that I had to ride daily and limit to poor quality hay just to keep him rode down enough to where he was tolerable and he always stayed in good condition.

 

[LazyARanch]

I still have 7 mares and an old stallion. The mares do well on big round bales of grass or 1st cutting alfalfa in the winter. Summer they are on a mixed grass pasture, and I will occasionally supplement them with oats to keep them friendly. My stallion is 20 and has had some teeth issues so he has Nutrena Safe Choice pellets/cracked corn/rolled oats to maintain weight. He can't have alfalfa so I give him the best grass hay I can find in the stacks.

 

[TexasBred]

90% of the horses in this country don't need anything but grazing and/or hay and the hay doesn't have to be nearly as good as most of us think it has to be. But being animal lovers most of us feed or overfeed literally "loving them to death". We load them up with starches, and thousands of calories and all they do is eat it all then go lay down under a tree and doze all day. A horse being really worked would need more feed and more calories but that would be the other 10%. I notice several are recommending the low starch horse feeds. All they do is remove the corn from the ration. Cheap horse feeds have always been "low starch" because they have no corn in them. One of you feeds low starch horse feed then add corn to it. That doesn't add up. If you're going to supplement corn get away from the expensive low starch ration and just feed them a good textured ration. Do this and you probably won't even have to add the extra corn. Feed your horses according to body condition and level of activity.

 

[cross_7]

https://vine.co/v/MwLqKdjvAUH

 

[TexasBred]

I could never get any sound.

 

[cross_7]

Yeah it's screwed up
Right click and click unmute

https://vine.co/v/MwLqKdjvAUH