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Post by ryanrocks on Jan 3, 2010 20:07:18 GMT
We have a beautiful section a colt who is seven months old. Having never owned a foal before we would welcome some guidance from anyone out there who may have more experience in feeding foals. We have used Baileys Stud Balancer in the past. We have concerns however at the large amount of protein in this feed - 32% (the same as Spillers). Are there any dangers to feeding this much protein? The Baileys Lo Cal is only 16% but as it is for good doers we aren't sure if it is suitable for little ones. Recently we have tried Frickers Lo Cal - also 16%. Frickers do a Tiny Tots which I believe is 8% - does anyone know much about Frickers and have they had any positive experiences? Also, are these feeds intended to be fed alone? The reps from all of these companies will obviously promote their own product and so we never seem to get an unbiased answer to our questions. We would greatly appreciate some impartial advice - many thanks
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danath
Junior Member
Posts: 113
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Post by danath on Jan 3, 2010 22:34:07 GMT
we feed all of ours FRICKERS no problems they love it
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sarahp
Happy to help
Posts: 9,510
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Post by sarahp on Jan 4, 2010 8:42:46 GMT
Foals do need a higher proportion of protein in their diet than mature horses to support their growth - body tissue is made up of protein! The recommended amount of a good stud balancer for your foal is designed for the job. Mine have ad lib hay, Top Spec stud balancer and some equijewel to provide more calories, you will have to judge the need for something like that according to the condition of your foal and they should not be allowed to get over fat, but I feed the last two together with nothing else with them. Of course out on the hill the nutrition would not be as good - but then the colt would be likely to be scrawny in the spring and then do some compensatory growing when the grass came through!
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Post by ryanrocks on Jan 4, 2010 13:30:51 GMT
Foals do need a higher proportion of protein in their diet than mature horses to support their growth - body tissue is made up of protein! The recommended amount of a good stud balancer for your foal is designed for the job. Mine have ad lib hay, Top Spec stud balancer and some equijewel to provide more calories, you will have to judge the need for something like that according to the condition of your foal and they should not be allowed to get over fat, but I feed the last two together with nothing else with them. Of course out on the hill the nutrition would not be as good - but then the colt would be likely to be scrawny in the spring and then do some compensatory growing when the grass came through! Thank you Danath and thank you Sarah - we don't have much grass at the moment which is to be expected but will have good grass in the Spring. The foal is a good weight but not overweight. Can I ask you how much stud balancer do you feed and is your foal a section a or bigger?
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sarahp
Happy to help
Posts: 9,510
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Post by sarahp on Jan 4, 2010 17:29:40 GMT
I prefer to feed the balancer which supplies all necessary micronutrients separately to the equijewel which basically suppliec calories, so that I can feed more or less of the latter as I think fit.
Ryanrocks I'm feeding two Welsh As and one D, but would have to go out and weigh it to see how much balancer I feed! The recommended amount is on the back of the bag, and TS supply a measuring cup but I use the much smaller measure that comes in boxes of Persil washing powder - yes I did weigh it properly when I weaned them so it is correct but just use my own measure.
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Post by brindlerainbow on Jan 4, 2010 18:09:34 GMT
I feed Suregrow,barleyplus,Hi Fi good doer to my baby section B and she looks really good and has a nice shiny but fluffy coat
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sarahp
Happy to help
Posts: 9,510
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Post by sarahp on Jan 4, 2010 18:17:20 GMT
Overbent - I have human OCD about insulin resistance, so won't feed anything with sugar or cereal in it! I only have natives, so IR more of a danger than equine OCD.
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