Feed Fight!

So I'm currently trying to convince my barn owner to let me switch Memphis' feed. I have some reasoning behind this so I'm not nuts. Let me sum it up in the emails I have been going back and forth with her on, so I don't have to retype it all out.

Email 1 of the convincing:

Back onto the feed thing (I can see the sigh and eye roll from here hehehe) You had me worried about the protein so I spent most of last night researching protein, grains, fat, and molasses in horse feeds. My conclusion is that while I do not think sweet feed is bad, I really don't, I'm pretty sure it has it's place in a lot of horse diets and works very very well for most people in most situations. I'm just worried that it is not the correct type of feed for Memphis. I learned a whole lot last night about what happens to extra protien intake for horses (how neat is this: their body turns it into nitrogen which is then passed through the kidneys and expelled as urine) since I was concerned about the extra protien making him "hotter" than he is now. From what I can gather, most new research suggests that its not the protien making the horse hot, but the increase in feed that is given to a horse that is usually done with higher protien feeds.

Then I started reading about grains. I should NEVER have done this. I found out what the NSC "rating" (and what NSC means and why it is important) stands for and what each grain is from an energy standpoint to the horse. That started learning about hindguts, stomachs, choke (that was neat!), and those friendly little bacterias that help digest everything. It actually helps because I have more of an understanding now what happened to my first horse than I did when she died. Since I had to think about her feed and her change of conditions at the end and how it all relates to that little delicate interior that horses have.

Grains also led me to behavioral problems in some horses, seems to lean more towards the "light" breeds (that is not scientific, just what I came to my own conclusion on). The sweet feed has a higher concentration of grains that are cheaper and get the job done (like corn), but these grains also cause quite the spike in insulin in horses and can make some horses get "hot".

Blah, this is getting long. In the end, I don't believe its the molasses in sweet feed after I read SO much last night. My gosh I was up till 12am reading that stuff and did a lot at work yesterday. I think it is in part to the grain that they use in sweet feed and technically, I would say Memphis could go down on the amount of sweet feed and it would probably help take some of the edge off of him. My worry with that is getting enough nutrients and getting enough protein into his body.

The feed I'm wanting to switch him to does have a higher percentage of protein, which he will just expell through his urine. A higher fat content (which, I also found out that horses can eat up to 20% fat before getting the runs!) which has some research to back it up that it helps reduce colic in horses, and it has replaced high rated NSC grains with lower rated NSC grains, which take a little longer to digest and don't cause a spike in insulin that is quite as great. He will also be eating less of it as the calorie content is higher due to the fat which will also help. In the end still getting less energy from the feed.

So that's my final scientific review of feed. However scientific and long this so happens to be. Phew. Sorry it's long, but I feel like I should at least give some explanation for this instead of just pushing the switch.

Email 2 when she asked me about her own feed (not sure if she was curious or I irked her with that last email):

Pelleted feed I really don't know, just depends on what is in it. I'd have to go crazy over research on the feed you have :)

Found the feed tag on Southern States, when did you switch to this feed? Just curious as I remember purple bags before or the stuff from TS before.
Molasses is the sixth ingredient down, so I'd go with it is just there for flavor as opposed to anything else in the feed. Everything up, the first five ingredients, are just fillers for fiber. Limestone is added for calcium and then the corn meal add some energy and protein to the feed. Everything else is just supplements.

Now, I did looks up the NSC rating for the Southern States feed, as they do list it on the website. The rating percentage in this feed is 30%, the higher the rating the higher the starch is (I do not want to say sugar, since it's "not" but is but not haha). Compare this to the feed I am looking at where it's rating is 15%. (NSC rating tells you basically the carb/sugar/starch (all the same thing in my mind) percentage of a feed)

This is where I feel that just trying a new feed would be a start to Memphis.

I will say that the Southern States website is very nice and their feed info is excellent, I was not expecting that much information on the website

And something I posted on a horse forum about my own thoughts in the end on the feed:

"Right now, I don't feel like sweet feed is the enemy as I did maybe a week ago and early yesterday morning before I rolled up my sleeves and really got into the types of stuff in feed. There are many opinions on feed, just as there are on training methods. Everyone has an opinion. I think the issue with the sweet feed is the amount that he has been given. It is also made with the cheapest grains possible and I do not believe that the molasses is the evil feed devil in disguise.

I do believe he is being given too much sweet feed for his amount of work and think that if I wanted to, I could cut his feed in half and he would probably calm down on just that alone.

But then I look at the quality of what he is eating and that is what does it for me. I can put him on a better quality food and even though I have a baby coming and the what not, I can still afford to do this so I am. (I'm not rich, just retarded frugal) I don't think he needs the higher protein in the Kalm N EZ, but I know that it won't hurt him and the body will convert it to nitrogen and then expell it through the kidneys in the form of urine. I'm good with that. I also have figured out that the higher fat content, while horrid for us humans watching a wasteline, is good for horses.

He will be getting a smaller ration of food (gonna start him at 6lbs when the full switch happens and try to wean him down to 5 or 4, although it is all played by ear) and that alone should do it. Like I said before, I have to be a realist here and venture with the possibility that this may not work. At least if it does, I cross it off my list and move on. 50% of his issues is exercise the other 50% I'm going with his feed. There is a small 2% that is just him being big and dumb. (I know my percentages add to 102% haha) "

So, here is where I am. I have taken an interest in horse feed lately and horse nutrition. Am I an expert? Hell no. Not even close. But do I feel better now that I've looked all this over? Yes.

I'm also starting to wonder about the Southern States feed she has been feeding. As his kicking started about a month ago and that is around the time she switched to that feed. I hope she answers me on that. I am not going to tell her that I think the SS feed is the reason for his hyperness as of late, but I have a strong feeling of such.

Now, the new feed that I want to switch to is Tribute Kalm N EZ. I am going to tell the barn owner to just let me try it for 2 months. If it works I'm going to ask for some money off of the board. I think this is fair since I wouldn't be using her feed anymore. I wouldn't ask her for the full cost of the new feed off the board, but just like 25 to 30 bucks a month.

The new feed is 17 bucks a bag and I figure 3 bags a month. It is about 6 bucks more than the feed she is feeding per bag, so that really isn't to bothersome for me. I know that the feed store does bulk discounts and if this works, then I will look into buying in bulk. Where I will store it the world doesn't know but ya know.


Anywho, everything else is peachy. Just redid Memphis' leasing ad on CL and will be making up some flyers to put in feed stores this week or next. I'm a little worried about finding a leaser since he is a Walker and these horses seem to have a special group of people following them here in this state. But we'll see.

Other than that, my life is good!