Hay supplement

[Not So Practical Horse(WO)man]

Long story short: The hay being supplied at my "econo-barn" is crappy. I know my mare is not getting the nutrients she should because she gets turned out on dirt only twice a week. Yes, I am in the process of searching for a new barn.

Is there a supplement I can use to make up for the lost nutrients? Someone mentioned hay cubes, how would I feed those?

Thanks :)

[AKB]

I would give her some high fiber, beet pulp based, complete feed, such as Purina Omolene 400 every night. I would also buy some hay cubes, and put a bucket of wet hay cubes in her stall every night.

[edhjmh]

Triple Crown hay produts that work really well in supplementing poor hay. I think the one you wouild want to look at is Grass Forage. Alfalfa/timothy cubes woudl also work. The idea of a high fiber, beet pulp based feed is also a good idea. However, I would recommend Triple Crown Complete or the Senior rather than Omolene.

[JB]

How do you know it's "crappy"? Is she getting enough?

Ration balancers are perfect for providing nutrition to a forage-only diet, or a forage diet supplemented with unfortified grains.

[tcnhorsefeed]

Not So Practical-

As Edhjmh said TC offers many forage products to help your horse get the "good quality" hay she needs, if you are looking for a feed to balance out the lack of quality hay or pasture time consider one of the beet pulp based feeds like TC Senior or TC Complete..if you have an easy keeper on your hands, consider finding some good forage supplements like cubes or chopped hay and get your horse a ration balancer to make up for any vit/minerals that she may be lacking in. TC lite would be a good choice for this, it is low in fat, low in starches and sugars and is fed at the rate of 1 lb per 500lb of body weight, that is just 2 lb a day for a 1000lb horse.