Seaweed meal? feeding advice needed for a good doer!

[CrazyMare]

Hi, just wanted some advice because someone has told me that Seaweed meal is packed with goodness and is a really good supplemeent, I have a very good doer cob that lives out 24/7 but I am only feeding him hay this year and nothing else because I want him to drop some weight off before spring again,so he won't be having no vits or mins in a feed so just wanted to make sure he is getting all he needs , so what does the Seaweed meal look like and how do you feed it, how much etc? and is it fattening? do your horses like it?!

[Bay Mare]

Be careful with seaweed. I know that a lot of people feed it and it does have a good nutritional content but it's also iodine based which can adversely affect thyroid function. If your horse is fit and well then you could, possibly, throw off his nutritional balance using seaweed, I would prefer to supplement with a straight forward multi vit.

[Tangle]

Sorry - no info on seaweed.

I'm with BayMare though - Madam is a pretty good doer and doesn't really need any feed, especially over the summer. She just got a small scoop of HiFi light as something to mix a general supplement in and managed just fine. Giving a supplement doesn't mean you have to give a high-calorie feed :)

[CrazyMare]

Tangle- what supplement were you giving?

[Wally]

Bod Ayre do a supplement I think.

The ponies here love sea weed when they can get it at low tide, so do the sheep.
http://www.seaweedproducts.co.uk/index.php

[virtuallyhorses]

The seaweed meal available frequently claims to be 'full of all vitamins and minerals' most of these are in very small quantities and the predominant thing that they get is Iodine. For a good doer this isn't necessarily a bad thing as Iodine is a thyroid regulator and can help to speed up the metabolism. :)

One thing you do have to be aware of is that like all plants it will contain whatever it has grown in (including heavy metals and other pollutants in the oceans) yet you probably wont know where it comes from (unless you buy direct from a gatherer) or have a chemical analysis on the pack for that batch (as opposed to an ave. for kelp in general). So I'd give it a miss - there are better sources of minerals and vitamins.

[Tangle]

Tangle- what supplement were you giving?
She's on the NAF General Purpose supplement :)

[Wally]

We are lucky as we know where it is grown and where it is from, the Shetlands here thrive on it, but then that's all they might get in winter out in the hill once the grass is scarse.