.png)
Our Custom Feed Mix
We combine 80 pounds organic alfalfa pellets with 80 pounds organic wheat bran in a 55 gallon plastic drum with a lock-band sealing lid. This feeds our herd of 3 for about 2 months.
This mixture gives us a 1:1 mix of wheat bran to alfalfa in a fixed ration, ensuring a balance between calcium and phosphorus. We add flaxseed for essential fatty acids, and because our mineral supplement is separate from this mix, it is easy to increase just the protein/calories/fat if needed while keeping minerals at the same dose. We do also add a vitamin E supplement, salt, Redmond Conditioner to bind to and absorb alfatoxins, and organic kelp.
Daily Feed:
1 pound Feed Mix
1 serving California Trace
1 scoop Elevate
1 Tablespoon Redmond #10 fine salt
4 ounces Redmond Conditioner
1 ounce organic Thorvin kelp
Starch and Sugar Sensitivity
We do have a horse who is starch/sugar sensitive and we have fed him like a horse prone to founder for the past 4 years. Following recommendations by the ECIR group for a metabolic horse, and Pete Ramey's advice as well, I have tried a variety of carriers for his mineral supplement. We have used Timothy Pellets, Triple Crown Lite, Triple Crown Senior, and Stabul1 for him and saw similar results between all those options. Stabul1 and Triple Crown were our favorites, though. He did well and was significantly better on those feeds than on higher starch bagged horse feeds we used previously. He did, however, continue to struggle with thin soles and mild but persistent thrush. And our other horses also battled thrush in the collateral grooves and the central sulcus, leading to some narrowing of the heels and requiring daily preventative treatment to keep the thrush at bay. Our favorite thrush treatments can be found here.
I was a little nervous to try this experiment of switching to a much higher starch feed (this feed mix is around 18% starch and we had been sticking with things that were 11% or less). I am constantly learning and improving upon what I know and this past year I have been considering if my animals could just be sensitive to the glyphosate or other chemical treatments in the ingredients that are used to produce many horse feeds. My other animals have done very well on organic feed so I decided to experiment with my theory and we changed to an organic feed to reduce his glyphosate exposure and see how the horses tolerated those changes. Not only has our starch sensitive horse done fine, but all three of my horses' hooves and coat have never looked better.
Likewise, I was nervous about giving our horses grazing opportunities but I was inspired by Won Der Fjiords as I watched their operation over the past year. They successfully graze entire herds of their beautiful Fjord horses on lush, green pastures. Seeing their methods and asking questions gave me the bravery to apply what they do to our farm. Our current setup utilizes aspects of sustainable grazing methods and rotational grazing of traditional livestock, Won Der Fjords winter track and summer paddocks, the Equiculture and Equicentral system, and the Paddock Paradise track approach. To think we will ever have the perfect static setup would be terribly naïve, so this current approach gives us the physical and mental flexibility to learn from our land and adapt what we do from year to year so we can work with our land instead of against it while also maintaining a healthy herd of horses. Caring for livestock and farming in general requires a lot of humility. We can learn a lot, but nature will always have the upper hand. It's better to assume you're getting some things wrong and to try to evaluate your management from one year to the next, making changes as indicated than it is to wait until disaster strikes and have to deal with some messy challenges.