Feeding For Weight Gain Spotlight: D & G Horse & Cattle Fattener Pellets
Weight gain is always a hot topic when it comes to equine health. It’s an aspect of feeding that owners often struggle with. There are those horses that are poor doers and are difficult to get weight on, horses who are recovering from illness or injury, horses who have been purchased by new owners in poor condition, or those horses that are older and struggle to keep weight on.
There are many reasons why a horse needs condition and extra weight added to their body score, so for the next four weeks we’re going to spotlight four feeds that are great for doing just that.
Start with the horse’s health
Before embarking on a weight gain feeding regime, we must first address the horse’s health to ensure there is no underlying reason why the horse is not gaining and maintaining weight.
Health Checklist:
- Teeth and dental up to date?
- Worming and parasite control up to date?
- Virus and infection free?
- Gastric ulcer free?
- Is the horse getting at least two per cent of its body weight per day in roughage?
- Have you changed/ removed external factors that may be causing stress and anxiety?
Feed for the job - D&G Horse & Cattle Fattener Pellets
D&G has formulated its Horse & Cattle Fattener Pellets as a high protein supplement containing 15 per cent protein. This high protein content makes it suitable for mature horses, young horses in work, cattle and young calves, as well as sheep, goats and rabbits.
Horse & Cattle Fattener Pellets are palatable and digestible, containing a premium blend of nutritional elements such as protein, trace elements and vitamins to meet the needs of horses and cattle for sustenance and energy in performance.
Feeding requirements will depend on breed, age, and sex of horse, plus the quality of pasture/hay and stage of training, intensity of exercise, body condition and metabolism of your horse
Mill mix, steam rolled barley, steam rolled oats, cracked corn, sunflower, lucerne chaff, salt and premium vitamin and mineral premix.
This feed comes in a 25kg bag and is once of the most economical feeds on the market for weight gain.
Keep it balanced – it’s about the big picture
Feeding a pelleted feed such as D & G Fattener Pellets is a great base for your horse’s weight gain regime, however, don’t forget these important feeding rules to ensure that all the horse's requirements are being met:
- Free access to fresh, clean drinking water
- Feed at least 2% of the horse’s body weight in roughage per day (fresh pasture, hay and chaff)
- Feed smaller feeds more often, this is how a horse’s digestive system is designed
- Feed by weight not volume and always feed the recommended amount for you horse’s weight/ workload
- Don’t feed more than 2kg of grain at once as this can cause stomach issue, such as ulcers
- A complete feed does not always meet the required intake of vitamins and mineral if there’s a deficiency in the horse or the pasture is depleting them of something (for example horses on high oxalate grasses may need extra calcium added to their diet), therefore it is important to keep it all balanced. There are apps such as FeedXL that can help you calculate and balance your horse’s feed.
- Oil is a great way to add extra calories without adding extra hard feed
- Be careful to not overfeed your horse, this can cause issues and will for the most part be a waste of your money as it will pass straight through the horse.
- Weight gain, conditioning and top line building takes time, this will not happen overnight but rather over months!
Stay tuned for our next weight gain blog! Don't forget to read our previous weight gain blogs on Johnson’s Every Horse Weight Gain and Pryde's EasiConditioner too!