feeding yearling friesian in winter

anna_lindsay

anna_lindsay

New Member
Feb 21, 2004
123
0
0
Manchester
Visit site
Apollo will be 18 months old going into this winter.

Basically i have no intention of giving him any youngstock/growth feeds because he doesn't need it. He's a good doer and will be on ad-lib haylage but i'll be using a powder-based youngstock supplement for his vits & mins so need a way of getting it down him without any fizz, calories or unneccesary protein. Any ideas?

I also read today that friesians are quite intolerant to alfalfa based feed as alfalfa doesn't exist in holland so they're not built to cope with the protein levels so does anyone know of any chops/chaffs that are mostly straw based. Not sure how much truth there is in this but was interesting all the same!

The idea is just to use something like justgrass or hifi, POSSIBLY with a high fibre type cube and water to make it nice and mushy and palatable.
 
Tazanne said:
im all for less is more! im not into feeding anything unnecessarily.
Click to expand...

I'm inclined to agree! Hence why he's just going to be getting a chop with his vits. Think i'll end up going for hifi original or lite.

The hi-fibre/lo-cal cubes were to make sure the vits were well mixed in, we add water so the cubes go to a mush which holds the supplement very well- i've found in the past that using chop alone a lot ends up left in the bowl. the feed manufacturer reccomends you use a kilo of nuts per day and this is LOADS-i'd be using about 25g-tiny amount- so i doubt it's likely to add anything nutrition wise, the purpose is more as a binder if you see what i mean. Might be worth thinking about for Xander? It seems to make it tastier, like a bit mushier which for some reason all horses i've come across seem to love :rolleyes:

I don't know if that alfalfa thing is true, i just read it yesterday on a friesian website. Would be interested to know more about it though.
 
Being a baby he will drop weight fast in the winter, he will go through growth spurts, I stick to basic food, Sugarbeet/kiwkbeet, D&H fibegy, Garlic.
 
Have decided on a handful of hi-fi light with a small amount of allen and page fast fibre so thanks beki for reccomending it- its perfect as it's basically condensed hay in its nutritional value- will only be using it in small amounts but its perfect to make his vitamin "soup" :D
 
Although its good to plan in advance, you cant just guess what your horse is going to need during winter, your horse will show you by his weight if he is getting enough or too little. My frisian horse ate three times as much as my 26yr old last winter to keep weight on yet he is a good doer in the summer.
 
My Friesian was 1.5yrs last winter. He got ad lib hay and a small amount of speedybeet, chaff and a balancer by Jan i found he had lost a bit of condition and was starting to look abit too skinny. I therefore increased his feeds, bulking it out with the hard feed and increasing the balancer, this made a big difference and suited him. Vel is vinnies brother, he needed alot more feed than Vinnie to keep him in condition over last winter. Each youngster is different. I believe its trial and error and what suits the individual horse. Even over the summer Vinnie has had a scoop of Suregrow each day.
 
Just seen this one - all of ours get hard feed over winter. They are in at nights and will have chop, sugarbeet and oats, some of the weanlings will still get a bit of stud n youngstock mix added but for the minerals more than anything else. We don't feed huge quantities and they still drop a touch of weight but not lots - all are friesians.
 
newrider.com
Top Bottom
Back