Feeding youngsters through winter

[Skye08]

I just wanted to know what you would feed a 15.1 yearling through out the winter? She is currently on stud mix which i was going to change to mare and youngstock. But i need a feed that will promote growth and everything like that. Also should i feed her sugar beet and barley through out the winter for her body weight? Sorry if i sound totally dumb but i havnt had a yearling before this is the first time i have had something young and i dont want to wreck her. lol

[emlybob]

You just wanna make sure she gets the vitamins and minerals necessary for a growing horse and also protein. You don''t want to fill her with food as u don't want her growing too quickly. I have used d & h suregrow on lods of horses and had fantastic results. The best thing as well as this is hay or haylage as fibre is extremley important and should be fed ad lib especially when there is a lack of grass. What breed is she? Sugar beet and barley is individual prefence but as long as u don't over do it i don't see why not

[The Flying Irishman]

Thanks Laura, I was just wondering the exact same thing myself as Scout seems to be getting a bit ribby (might just be paranoid mum though ;) ) Am going to arm myself with suregrow and see how he goes.

Is Scarlett going to live out over winter?

Kath x

[Skye08]

no shes staying in an shads is getting kicked out bless him! hehehe im horrid arnt i..! I would keep her out but im soft and she hasnt a good start in life so im just going to keep her in

[teabiscuit]

a great tip i picked up off a breeder is to follow the horse with feed as it grows.

if it is getting fat, reduce the feed

if it has a growth spurt and starts getting ribby give more feed.

then the growth spurt stops and they may be getting more feed than they need and get fatter again, so reduce it again.

that way you avoid problems associated with having overwieght youngsters and still get the food they need into them.

large youngsters like yours can look awfully ribby all of a sudden, at times, they are a bit trickier than the more petite youngster.

[Jessey]

You have to be very careful to get a balanced ration into youngsters and it has to have all the vitamins, minerals and trace elements they need, its so important when they are young.
Its also important that they don't get over fed or under fed, Suregrow seems to be a really good option, but any basic ration fed at the recomended rate should be fine. If you can I would avoid straights such as barley, as this will unbalance the ration, youngstock mixes are already balanced and should give everything they need, if she begins loosing weight I would opt to add oil as this shouldn't upset the balance of things.

With my girl I fed adlib hay with a small meal of chaff and nuts with a vitamin and mineral supplement as she never needed much hard feed to maintain weight.

Babies do go through ribby patches, esp when they have a growth spurt, they suddenly look all ribby and leggy but will soon fill back out, I don't normally adjust feed then, unless they stay looking that way for a few weeks then I will adjust it slightly.

How big do you expect your girl to get, 15.1 at a year old, I would have thought she will be pretty big :D

J x

[teabiscuit]

the trouble with recommended rates is that they are recommended for your average horse, so not sensitive enough in my book
nothing beats feeding to what you see in front of you, it's how the old horsemen did it, and it makes more sense

as you can tell, i hate recommended rates with a passion

learn to do it by eye, especially with youngsters because it's more important that they get what they need

very sorry, rant over :o

ETA i'm obviously not talking about huge swings in feed amount, just small adjustments over time

[Jessey]

I totaly agree there, but nutritionally you have to be feeding at least the recomended daily ammount (of commercial feeds) otherwise you are risking your baby not getting enough of the most important stuff, vits, mins and TE's :D Thats why mine get a supplement, I rarely feed upto the RDA, I don't want that much fizz food going in ;)
But that is the good thing about SureGrow and the likes, they are more like a balancer than a mix/nut, then you can adjust how much you 'top up' with out effecting the 'good stuff' :D
I agree with feeding by eye, an its that old saying, 'feed for work done, not planned' growing is hard work for a babe, but no point overfeeding in preperation for it as you never know when it will happen, just top up after the event, if they need it :D

J x

[Skye08]

she will be about 16.1 at the least lol so about 16.2 16.3 hopefully not over