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honey
Platinum Member
 N. Ireland
2634 Posts |
 Posted - 18 Nov 2011 : 3:58:47 PM
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milos been off phoebe just over a week and hes a really fussy eater . should i be concerned hes not getting enough for his growth needs? hes litteraly eating a handful of hay or haylage(prefers the hay) and he spends more time throwimg his feed round the stable than eating, his hooves have to go into the buckets i have a biggish heavy feed bucket in with him as he was just swinging the bucket round his head depositing feed where ever it landed. I put a ful round scoop in morning and night and he eats about 50%. i add a general supplement in too. I tried sugar beet and he wouldn't even pick at that after an hour cause it was "off" in his little eyes. im considering buying him something like stamm 30 a concentrated pellet but then im concerned feeding this will give him the protein but not really the right amount of everything else. Really meet his needs either. Hes just picking through the feed taking the barley, flaked maize and chaff out of it, leaving any of the pellets ect in it. he likes veg so i try to get him a small bucket of that a day of varied greens. I have never had a foal as fussy as him with food.
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Callisto
Platinum Member
6905 Posts |
Posted - 18 Nov 2011 : 4:22:56 PM
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| Lily has a moulded plastic feeder on the floor that has sloped sides outwards to the floor and a bucket sized depression in the middle (best description I can come up with), anyway she can't pick it up or tip it over - you just empty the feed into it. (And a bit of a stretch to stick his feet in it too - works with my pony who likes to stand in his feed). Hope you find something he wants to eat - a mix without pellets? Straights with a balancer? Plenty of carrots/apples chopped up and mixed through? |
  Zahkira (GR Amaretto x Taffetta)
Linda
East Sussex |
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sab2
Platinum Member
8467 Posts |
Posted - 18 Nov 2011 : 4:57:41 PM
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| What about putting his bucket in a tyre, we had one like him in the past and we tied her bowl into the tyre, making sure it was a snug fit, no matter how hard she dug and pawed she couldn,t get it out, or how about a bucket holder on the wall, you could tie the bucket into that, we waited till she had eaten then untied and took them out. We have our babies on a youngstock balancer to ensure they have the right vits and minerals we mix this with simple systems and unmolassed sugar beet and a handful of Alfa A unmolassed .If he won,t eat a lot of feed just try and make sure he gets enough to get the supplement in.Good luck, i wouldn,t panic too much as long as he is looking healthy, growing and gaining weight not dropping he should be ok. |
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honey
Platinum Member
N. Ireland
2634 Posts |
Posted - 18 Nov 2011 : 5:14:40 PM
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Thanks. I have some straights so tonight i hand fed him a bit out of straight barley,straight, flaked maize and cherry chaff and he wasn't spitting it out, so i made him a bucket up with a small bit of each mixed togeather on one side and on the other side just unmollased sugar beet and chaff. He gobbled up the straights and then was picking at the sugar beet so may try him on just the barley, maize and chaff and vits and mins and then start adding to it, and once he stops eating it i know he doesn't like it and remove the last added feed. Hes certainly not lacking condition hes a little podge. We have a backet for the bucket for the wall this week end we may look it out and fit it, as he also like to eat his feed at head height cause we always used to put the buckets of feed ontop of the haylage pile but now hes not really eating much its basically on the floor. Hes also really clean in his bed he has a poo area and a wee area. There was people at the yard this morning that my brother in law sent up to collect stuff, They adored milo, they were standing petting and fussing him for at least 15mins and milo was loving all the attention lol |
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Suelin
Platinum Member
England
2514 Posts |
Posted - 18 Nov 2011 : 5:30:59 PM
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Some just don't like sweet things and sugar beet is quite sweet. Try to put a spoonful of salt instead and leave out the s/beet. This worked for a very picky chap I once had and after we discovered that he really didn't have a sweet tooth he ate everything in sight.
Hope you solve it, they are such a worry at times. |
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Mrs Vlacq
Platinum Member
Wales
3776 Posts |
Posted - 18 Nov 2011 : 7:03:02 PM
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Often weanlings prefer to eat from a slightly higher level, where they can still see what's going on. So put his big heavy bucket higher off ground, and where he can see and hear others munching.
Just feed him a small ammount of the pellet/mix/straights he is eating ok. Don't over face him with huge feeds with lots of variety and supplements. Give him another small ammount often. He will soon tune into when the others make a fuss at proper feeding times, and hopefully tuck into his grub well and clear his bucket. We've had a couple of weaned colts prefer straights for a while, even though they ate mixes with their mums.
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- V Khazad - V Calacirya & V Sulime - Quarida(L) - V Boogie Knights - V Hamra Tofiq |
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honey
Platinum Member
N. Ireland
2634 Posts |
Posted - 18 Nov 2011 : 11:06:01 PM
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| Thanks mrs vlacq i have noticed the last month that he wasn't eating the hard feed when he was with phoebe. He was more interested in looking for fuss and attention than eating. I will put his bucket bracket up and start feeding him higher of the door or use the bucket that hooks over the stable door and see how it likes that. |
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honey
Platinum Member
N. Ireland
2634 Posts |
Posted - 19 Nov 2011 : 10:26:15 PM
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| well the little man is starting to scoff his haylage hes nearly doubledwhat hes clearing up in the last two days and hes starting to slowly eat his hard feed up now, Hes on basic chaff, barley and maize barley being his favourite and the majority of it with his supplement. Going to start adding stamm 30 next week and see how we get on. |
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barbara.gregory
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
4531 Posts |
Posted - 20 Nov 2011 : 10:25:23 AM
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Years ago I has a filly who wouldn't eat short feed at all. I tried everything but it was as if I was trying to poison her. As I don't wean she was still wth mum but I was getting worried as she was almost 6 months old so I asked the vet to have a look at her when he was here for something else. He glaced at her, asked me a few questions and then said she looked perfectly healthy to him but I could waste some money on bloods etc if I really wanted to. He said when the weather got really cold she would start eating as she would be hungry. A few weeks later it turned cold and wet and she started eating everything in sight!
She is now 8 and had her first foal this year and has never had a day sick in her life; she is a great mum and her foal tucks into her feed. Yuor boy may be a bit stressed at weaning and that is his way of showing it. He is better off not being overweight so don't worry unless he really starts to lose condition and the weather is bad. He will eat when he is hungry.
Barbara |
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fussy eater
