feed for pregnant mare

[shirecross]

My percheron mare will soon be in the last 3 months of her pregnancy and I have been advised that she needs to be fed more but I am confused as to what to give her.

She is in very good condition and a the moment has haylage at night and two feeds of Hi Fi, a beaker of calm & condition pellets, mixed with speedi beet and a general supplement.

I obviously want the unborn foal to have the necessary nutrients but don't want my mare to get too fat.
Any advice please.

[specialsparkle3]

Everyone has their favourite feed company and mine is D & H. In their last 3 months before foaling, my mares have Mare and Youngstock mix which is designed for good doers who do not need a large amount of food and have access to good quality grass and hay. The vitamin and mineral content is concentrated so smaller amounts can be fed. I feed this with Alfa A and have been pleased with the result. If I am unable to feed the recommended amount of mix due to the mare being overweight, I compensate by adding Surelimb in the recommended proportion.

If your mare is tending towards overweight, you can feed D& H Suregrow, to the same effect, but if I were you, I would ring D& H whose nutritionists are very, very helpful.

[Pauline]

My mares are fed Baileys Stud Balancer all through their pregnancy and only increase it once the foal is born.

[pd]

My mare has 4 months left and I've had her on Baileys stud cubes instead of her normal pony cubes for the last month and will continue through the rest of her pregnancy. I judge her weight daily and will only increase the amount if she looks like she needs it. She's definitely asking for more hay in the last week or so though, she's up to over 1/2 bale a day at present.

I'd just swap your calm & condition for stud cubes and continue as you are if she looks the right weight.

[june]

We fed ours on Top Spec Balancer and Alfa A Lite. I rang Nicola Tyler at Top Spec and she sent out some very useful leaflets with advice on feeding pregnant mares and youngsters. Its worth giving her a call to get the leaflets.

[specialsparkle3]

There you are 3 different feed companies to choose from already. lol All I will say is that for the mare to fully digest and utilise the protein and vitamins and minerals she will now need up to foaling, you need to keep the volume of the feed down to essentials, and not fill her up with bulk feeds like beet products. Feeds should not exceed 4 lbs per feed to be digested properly, but grass and hay made be fed ad lib.

[june]

The leaflets Top Spec send out are useful no matter what you decide to feed. They are full of lots of general info so worth getting hold of even if you don't want to use Top Spec products.

[shirecross]

Thanks everyone

[pd]

Dec 23, 2008 22:06:44 GMT 1 specialsparkle3 said:

All I will say is that for the mare to fully digest and utilise the protein and vitamins and minerals she will now need up to foaling, you need to keep the volume of the feed down to essentials, and not fill her up with bulk feeds like beet products. Feeds should not exceed 4 lbs per feed to be digested properly, but grass and hay made be fed ad lib.

I'm always interested in your view on breeding Thanks. This is very interesting to me as for some reason I haven't given my mare any sugarbeet this year...she just doesn't seem to want or need it. I was beginning to consider giving her it, but your post has made me decide not to. She is definitely asking for more hay though, and that I'm happy to give her. I had a vet check this morning and she's "positively blooming" in his view, so whatever I'm doing it appears to be right for my mare.

I expect I will split her feeds to 3 a day as the end of her pregnancy looms, stud cubes being the extra factor in the third feed.

[specialsparkle3]

Hi pd, she is probably asking for more hay as her grass is diminishing, but as she gets nearer to foaling, you may find she eats less bulk due to the rapid increase in the size of the foal, which makes it even more important that she consumes adequate protein etc in hard food.

Personally I feed only Alfa a and a vitamin and mineral supplement to my broodies until the last 3 months as they are all good doers. I then introduce a stud mix / cubes at the time the foal does most of it's growing. If I gave a stud diet earlier, my lot would get too fat. However it sounds as though your mare is doing fine.