Anyone feed Purina feeds for youngsters?

[Whitfield Farm Hanoverians]

I'm asking as I know someone who feeds the Purina feeds, the different Omolene for diff. stages & the JR for the youngsters. What experience have you had with these feeds?

[Carol Ames]

I fed Purina Junior:yes: for years; was very happy with it!

[rideagoldenpony]

I absolutely LOVE Purina's Equine Junior. I've had nothing but fabulous results with it for many years.

[Hillside H Ranch]

I haven't fed those particular feeds, but I do feed my youngsters and broodies the Purina Enrich 32. It is basically a ration balancer that is similiar to the Buckeye Grow N Win, which is what I used to feed. I have been very, very happy with the condition of my mares and youngsters since switching to the Enrich 32.
Several of our clients use the Jr. and have been very happy with it. I'm not a huge fan of the Omolene's b/c when I used the Omolene 300 (this was years ago) it was LOADED with molasses and I try to avoid "sweet feed" type feeds for my babies. It may not be the same formulation now, though, as that was a long time ago.

[Dressage_Diva333]

Yep, I feed Junior. Great feed!

I also feed Omolene 200, 300, and 400 to various horses. I've been very pleased with it all :)

[Summerwood]

I feed Junior to the youngsters and Senior to the oldies. The in-betweens get something else. I do not start the foals on Junior, however, I use Buckeye's Foal Starter for that and put them on the Junior when they are weaned and needing something a bit more since they are away from Mom. My foals have not gotten what I call the "tee-pee butt" on it when used after weaning but they are ponies after all!!:winkgrin:
I have never been a big Purina person but when it ain't broke, don't fix it and these two products seem to be working well right now for me with my current pasture situation. I only use them with my ponies.
Omolene is ok IMO if you just want a regular sweet feed and your horse needs nothing special, and you have good hay and/or pasture. If you have a grain mill around you they can make you a sweet feed with the amount of molasses you want in it to your specifications and save yourself a lot of money if you are just going to feed sweet feed. I have found their Omolene product to be a bit inconsistent in quality when I have used it.

[clint]

I have never fed the Junior, but I really like the Enrich 32 and Strategy. I use Strategy for the broodmares, too. Isn't the Junior a complete feed? If you feed that, how much do you feed?

[Iron Horse Farm]

I fed Strategy to everybody! Mares in foal get some top dressing of RiceBran or Cocosoya but I don't like molassis, so Strategy was the choice. I've been very very pleased with coat, body condition and rate of growth on the Strategy. :)

[horsetales]

I have never fed the Junior, but I really like the Enrich 32 and Strategy. I use Strategy for the broodmares, too.

I use the same feeds and have had good luck with them

[cyndi]

I used Purina Junior for my 'kids' until they were about two. I used Equine Senior for some of my older adults - my vet said it was really a good feed for any age. Also, FWIW, my husband left two gates open once and my teenaged mare got in and ate, I kid you not, close to 40 lbs of Equine Senior once. (I had JUST refilled the feed cans.)

I came home from work and found her looking miserable and she was six months pregnant at the time! (But after eating all that feed she looked ready to deliver!)

Off she went to my long-time vet for drugs/monitoring - no pressure for him - he knew if anything happened to my beloved mare, or her foal, there would be at best a divorce, and at worst, a murder! :lol:

They were both fine! No colic, no founder, nothing. My vet said if your horse just HAS to get into the feed, that was probably the best feed to get into! but I swear, the resulting foal is five now, and is THE MOST food-obsessive horse I've ever had - I blame it on that incident! ;)

Now we have all our horses on Ultium. Pricy, but it is beet pulp based, and is lower starch than many feeds.

[TKR]

I've used Purina for years, with help from one of their nutritionists. I've used Strategy with the 12/12 minerals for mares and babies as well as the Jr. for youngsters. Strategy is used for my mature ones until they are mid-teens and then they get Senior and Ultium. I've used Ultium with great success on hard keepers, older horses and mares w/foals who need some extra calories - great product.
PennyG

[patch work farm]

Many years ago I was told by an old "horseman" ..."if you can afford to pay for Purina, feed Purina". I have been extremely happy with their feeds.

I feed all of the working/competition horses Ultium, it keeps them in good weight. In order to avoid the overdose of sweet feed, I mix Horse Chow with Omolene. It has always worked well for the ones not in work (I have talked to the Purina reps/managers over the years and they told me that many people do this as well). I know several people that prefer Strategy, I have had one horse choke on all pellets so I started adding the Omolene and have had good luck ever since. I also add warm water to their meals so they tend to get soup anyway.

I used Junior many years ago but went back to my "mix" as I didn't like how my youngsters were looking.

[Signature]

We have fed everyone Strategy for years and find it keeps them looking the best on the least amount of grain. When we were feeding a cheaper feed, it actually was more expensive because we had to feed so much more. From the babies to the mature horses (we have several that are 20), they maintain weight and coat condition very well, and we increase for lactating mares as needed, no problems with anyone being skinny.

It is 14% protein which seems to be plenty for a WB baby. In years past we fed a Mare and Foal feed (16% protein), and we had 2 short cases of physitis... never again since swapping down. We only had one problem with choke but she bolted her feed as well.

We buy in pallets at a time, go through one in about 18 days, so we get a good bulk discount from the supplier! :) We found that Southern States didn't give as good a discount.

[Whitfield Farm Hanoverians]

Thanks everybody! I'm personally a Buckeye Grow n Win user but sold a nice yearling to someone who feeds Purina. Her horses must look great as they pulled top ribbons at Devon last year in breeding classes. Just wanted to know how it worked on the youngsters, mares.
thanks again

[nsm]

I heard Purina has a new feed coming out, Ultium Growth, for broodmares and foals.

Nancy

[Carol Ames]

I fed equine sr.. for years, my mare did beautifully :lol::yes:on it; right after the first strokes,:sadsmile: while in hospital and nursing home, my neighbors' mother took her off:mad:, saying “she still has he teeth, she doesn’t need senior:confused:; when I first saw Merry again , she was literally skin and bones,:eek::cry: spine and hip bones:cry: sticking out; I was furious! She had been n feeding pellets,champion? c I had my brother go to the feed adore and buy a bag of senior;); when we went back 3 weeks later, she was already putting on :yes::cool:weight! The boys’ mother then had the nerve to charge me$1200 for the feed she had bought for her:mad:! I had all 6 of the “kids, 1-4 year olds on Jr..;);) ., Merry on Sr., and with a larvicidal dose of febnbendazole in March of each year, they all looked great:cool: recommend them:yes:!

[Carol Ames]

I fed equine sr.. for years, my mare did beautifully :lol::yes:on it; right after the first strokes,:sadsmile: while in hospital and nursing home, my neighbors' mother took her off:mad:, saying “she still has he teeth, she doesn’t need senior:confused:; when I first saw Merry again , she was literally skin and bones,:eek::cry: spine and hip bones:cry: sticking out; I was furious! She had been n feeding pellets,champion? I had my brother go to the feed store and buy a bag of senior;); when we went back 3 weeks later, she was already putting on :yes::cool:weight! The boys’ mother then had the nerve to charge me$1200 for the feed she had bought for her:mad:! I had all 6 of the “kids, 1-4 year olds on Jr..;);) ., Merry on Sr., and with a larvicidal dose of febnbendazole in March of each year, they all looked great:cool: I recommend them:yes:!

[Carol Ames]

o I was told by an old "horseman"A nutritionist for another company told me the same!,e! ..."if you can afford to pay for Purina, feed Purina". I have been extremely happy with their feeds.

[showjumpers66]

I fed Omelene 300 between 1997 to 2001. All of my foals had epiphysitis. I switched to Buckeye Gro N Win with oats. It was very expensive (especially trying to buy quality oats) and I had a terrible time keeping weight on the TB mares. I then tried Strategy for two years. They did great on it, but again was expensive. We discovered Nutrena feeds in 2004 and I have been very happy with our success with it.

[Cataluna]

This thread kind of surprises me. I don't personally know of any breeders/trainers who feed Purina. Several who flat out refuse to, even.

I tried it a couple years ago on several different horses, and none did particularily well on it. They looked "okay", but they didn't look "great". I switched to Masterfeeds and KER, and never looked back.

Funny how it works for some, and not for others.

[FLIPPED HER HALO]

I fed Purina Enrich 32 to mine until recently. Now that they are turning 2 I have swiched them to Nutrena Safe Choice.

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

Not feeding Purina. I'm feeding Kent Junior, but am going to switch after these bags are used up to Triple Crown Growth. I have nothing but great things to say about the Triple Crown products I've used.

Both (Kent and TC) have a locked formula, which I really like.

[PixelGraphixDesign]

Love Equine Jr. I think the babies fill out and develop so beautifully on that. I rehabbed a severely undernourished colt on it. You wouldn't have even known there was a problem nine months later.

I feed my adult gelding the WellSolve Weight Control.

[hrfponies]

I used to feed Strategy, but I found it making alot of my Tb's hott. I also had a year of colics this past year. So I checked hay, nothing. So I switched feeds to see if it was maybe the strategy. Most colics were impaction.....didn't know if the pelleted feed had anything to do with it or not.