It has been quiet around the farm this week. We never complain about that. About the only thing of interest going on is we are having to change feed. We have fed the same feed for a couple of years, a locally milled complete feed that was very low in NSC’s (9%), with good fat, fiber and protein content and a nice vitamin/mineral profile. After a couple of years of scooping out way too many different feeds every day trying to meet each horse’s needs, we found this feed a couple of years ago that worked beautifully for all of the horses.
Unfortunately Jason learned that the mill is now making medicated cattle feeds as well. Jason feels it is not worth the risk of purchasing horse feed from a facility that also mills medicated cattle feed and he declared that the load of feed we had would be the last one. Rumensin is deadly to horses and he did not want to take the risk of contamination. Feed mills have various protocols in place to avoid contamination but accidents happen. In fact to the best of his knowledge all of the major nationwide brands have had horses pass away due to a feed problem either in the distant past or recently, and many of the regional brands have as well. The good news is that these incidents have led most major feed manufacturers to revamp their safety protocols to prevent another occurrence. It is not just accidental rumensin contamination that has lead to the deaths of horses, but his feeling is if we can hopefully eliminate that possibility than we would be remiss in not doing so.
We are in the process of switching to a Triple Crown feed (TC Senior). It is slightly higher in NSC’s than what we have been feeding at 12% NSC vs the 9% NSC of our old feed . That is still low compared to many other feeds though. For example Safe Choice is something like 22% NSC’s (don’t quote me on that exact number). It does have a higher fat content than what we had been feeding (10% vs 6%) which we like, and is the same as far as protein and fiber. The vitamin/mineral is comparable as well. I like the fat that the TC soaks and softens a lot faster, when you are soaking feed for over 30 horses every day that makes a difference! We are making the change slowly over a couple of weeks. The feeds are comparable enough that I do not anticipate any issues with the change.
Other than feed adjustments there is not much else going on around here out of the ordinary. As always we hope it stays that way!
I probably won’t blog again before the 1st so Happy New Year!!
Something had Asterik’s attention
Cuff Links; I think he manages to get cuter every day
Missy and Lily grazing companionably
Baby, Dustin and Tony
Lily, MyLight, Cuff Links and Harmony
Leo on the run
Front to back Chance, Ivan and Leo running through the pasture; the big boys love to play and run.
More Boys on the run: Front to back Levendi, Thomas and Elfin
Levendi, Thomas and Elfin . . . still running!
Homer and Tony on the run