ok.. what do I do with this now?

[Dakota Sunrise]

Well all of you who are up-to-date on my recent threads will know that I want to switch Beauty to some kind of a mineral/viatamin supplement because I think the grain she gets now is making her hot, plus she doesn't need all those fat calories.:rolleyes:

So I wanted to try this one, or something similar: http://www.blueseal.com/equine/productpages/21_MinaViteLite.pdf

Do you guys remember me mentioning Walter before? He's a friend of the family and just adores my mom (in a fatherly kind of way, he's 72 :cool:), and loves doing stuff for her/us. He helped build my arena and has helped us with fencing, delivers hay, goes garage saling with my mom, irons clothes at my mom's shop, fixes anything that breaks... the list goes on and on. He's a really nice guy but he actually drive me crazy by helping too much, but that is another story.:huh:

Anyway, he gets cranky and depressed if he doesn't have something to do. He needs to have projects going on and needs to feel helpful, so to keep him from getting in bad, sourpuss moods my mom sends him on errands and comes up with things to keep him busy and make him feel useful. And although I hate asking him to do stuff for me because he does too much, sometimes I get desperate enough and send him on an errand for me to make him happy (if you knew him you'd understand, it's sort of a weird, complex situation...:o).
So, to try to shorten the story, he likes to pick up my feed for me. He knows what kind of grain I get so I just give him the money and he gets it for me.
Well I made the mistake of mentioning that I wanted to get something different for Beauty, and I had printed out the ingredients list of the above Blue Seal feed I mentioned and was studying it.
So he decides that he wants to go get that feed for me, but my local feedstore doesn't carry it so he goes to a different feedstore that is by his house. I gave him the ingredients list, explained what I needed and thought he was going to write down the names and main ingredients of some of the feeds they carried so I could see if I wanted to try any of them. I told him if they had something very similar to what was on the ingredients list, he could go ahead and buy it (I didn't think they'd carry the kind I wanted, and I was right- they don't.)
Well he calls me up later on my cell and tells me he got some and put it in the tack room. I didn't have time to talk right then (I was visiting my grandma) so I didn't get any details. Well when I went down to the tackroom to see what he had bought, I found this: http://www.buckeyenutrition.com/equine/grassplusmineralmix.html

I guess he got confused and didn't understand when I told him that I wanted a pellet, etc etc. It was nice of him to do... but what do I do with that stuff?:eek: It has a lot of the same ingredients as the Blue Seal feed, but it's an actual supplement so it obviously can't be fed alone. Actually it says on the bucket that it can be fed free-choice and they should consume 4 oz. of it daily.:rolleyes:

So.. what do I do with it? For a second I actually wondered if it had all the important vitamins and minerals that she needs and thought I could maybe sprinkle it over some beet pulp and feed that to her and she would be good to go.:innocent: LOL. But I dismissed that thought quickly because I am so not that lucky.:cool: So basically I have no idea what to do with this stuff and I still don't have the feed I need for her.:o:huh: *sigh* This would only happen to me.:innocent:

[Palogal]

Keep it and give it to her once in a while for a treat?

[vicklynn]

Both are supplements. Both have a few different numbers. I use granular supplements now. I just put it in Citys feed.
If you dont want to keep the granules. Tell your friend how much you appreciate his help, and tell him that its important that you have the pelleted type. Explain that you may of miscommunicated that to him(not saying its your fault, just takes the pressure of the elderly, makes them feel good)
I bet he returns it for you. Id also ask if you can go with next time, see if there is something that you would like. Get him to feel special in this purchase.
Im glad you have someone that needs to be needed...lol. send him my way will ya..hehhehee

[WashingtonBay]

For a second I actually wondered if it had all the important vitamins and minerals that she needs and thought I could maybe sprinkle it over some beet pulp and feed that to her and she would be good to go.:innocent: LOL. But I dismissed that thought quickly because I am so not that lucky.:cool:

Actually, that's not a bad idea. Give it to her, in the amounts they say you should, with beet pulp, and call it good.

She's not going to starve, it's a good vitamin mineral supplement, and you know, you might find out that that, along with the hay and bp, is all she needs. If not, if she's losing too much weight, then put her on the pellet at the end of the bag.

It will give her a chance to get off the grain, maybe drop a few pounds, and settle down. It will be a good test of whether some of her behavior was just from that grain.

[JackieB]

I think you are that lucky, Dakota. I certainly don't see any reason to take the stuff back. I'd just put it with her beet pulp as you are thinking at the rate of 4 oz. per day.

The one thing that is missing entirely is salt. You would need a salt block (pure salt, not a mineral block) available for the horses.

But, you should probably wait for another opinion or two. I really don't know squat about supplements. The only one Buster has ever received in his 17+ years is his glucosamine/chondroiton/MSM for arthritis. He has good hay, a mineral block that contains most of the ingredients from those supplement labels, gets very small amount of sweet feed with his arthritis supplement so that he will eat it, and I worm him. He's as healthy as a horse and has been all of his life.

[Peggy Sue]

Those aer the loose minerals that go with the Buckeye Gro N Win :) just free feed it like you would any loose mineral ... put it in a bucket someplace it won't get wet and they will eat on it as they want ..

[Dakota Sunrise]

Thanks for the replies, guys.:)


I actually don't know if it can be returned. Can you return feed and supplement items? I never have so I have no idea.
I also really don't have the heart to tell him:(. He can drive me nuts sometimes by being too clingy (I don't always do well with too much socializing:innocent:), but he is a really nice guy and just wanted to help, and I don't want to hurt his feelings. He even drew a smiley face on the note that he left for me on top of the supplement bucket.:o

I'm thinking I'll try what WashingtonBay and JackieB said. She certainly isn't going to starve. I mean, my neighbor's horse is built just like Beauty and gets next to no grain at all (just a few handfuls for a treat, hardly anything) and only gets hay and grass and is really healthy. I was just worried that she would be lacking some of the viatamins and minerals she needs so I wasn't comfortable doing that. Plus I couldn't give Kota grain in front of her and not give her anything.:o It would really mess up our morning feeding routine too.:rolleyes:

They allready have a salt block, so they are all set in that area. I don't want to just put this our for them to eat whenever they want because the goats would spill it and I want to be sure she gets what she needs, since she won't be getting any grain.

How much beetpulp do you think I should give her? When I used to feed it to her, I would fill up one coffee can of it (measured dried), soak it, and split it between the two of them. Now that she isn't getting any, I just measure out half a coffee can and soak that for Dakota.
So how much do you think she should have? Maybe measure out 3/4 of a coffee can and give Kota 1/2 and her 1/4, with the new supplement sprinkled on top? (and of course her Majesy's Flex Wafer cookie that she loves so much. Dakota won't eat them.:rolleyes:)

[Peggy Sue]

throw a couple handfulls of beet pulp to her with the supplement on it .. I am sure as long as the bag has not been opened you can return it and ask them for Gro N Win instead :) if you want too ... if not just use it .. I am sure she will be fine on it .. and if you want to add something else you can do it later or next time you get that way ...

[Gret<3sBub]

if she starts getting heavier supplement oats for beet pulp they have low energy content and are more of a grain then in between a grain and forage like beet pulp, if you dont want her getting excess calories on beet pulp make sure you do not buy the kind pre coated in molasses

[JackieB]

You don't need to return the bag, especially if it means asking Walter for something you'd rather not. Just use the bag right up.

I'd give her just as much beet pulp as she needs to eat the supplement, but not more. Beauty is as heavy as you want her to be right now for sure, and she's got more energy than you would prefer.

[Peggy Sue]

if she starts getting heavier supplement oats for beet pulp they have low energy content and are more of a grain then in between a grain and forage like beet pulp, if you dont want her getting excess calories on beet pulp make sure you do not buy the kind pre coated in molasses

Oats have a NSC of 50% or higher NORMALLY which is NOT what this mare needs at all.. the beet pulp is a much COOLER feed IOW it won't make her hyper

[Happy Horselover]

Oats have a NSC of 50% or higher NORMALLY which is NOT what this mare needs at all.. the beet pulp is a much COOLER feed IOW it won't make her hyper


Agreed, don't go with oats for sure. I think the beet pulp with the mineral supp. is a good thing to try (I have read all your posts on this!)

[Dakota Sunrise]

Well, I tried giving her just beet pulp with the supplement on it this mornin, and she wasn't too thrilled. She only ate half of it.:rolleyes:
Of course Dakota used to hate beet pulp and now he loves it, it just took him a while to get used to a new feed. So maybe she'll be the same way. If not, I'm not concerned that she'll starve, so I can alway just feed it to them free choice (just set it in their shelter next to their salt block and hope the goats don't spill it all:innocent:) and just give her a handful of beetpulp and a handful of Kota's grain in the morning so she thinks she's getting something, but it wouldn't be enough to make her hyper or give her a lot of extra calories. Sound like a plan?:cool:

[Peggy Sue]

sounds like a plan to me

You might want to put the minerals up where the goats can't get it don't they ahve a reaction to copper or something .. I know you are not suppose to feed them horse feed but I forget which mineral it is that will harm them ... hmmmm I am not a goat person

[Peggy Sue]

She won't starve but she will be lacking if she doesn't eat the vitamin/mineral supplement like they should ... if you can get that you can get the Gro N WIn which is GREAT stuff I used it for almost a year but it got too expensive and our dealer was talking about not selling it anymore

[vicklynn]

Sounds like a good plan.
City didnt like his suppliments at first, or beet pulp. He eats them now.

[Dakota Sunrise]

You might want to put the minerals up where the goats can't get it don't they ahve a reaction to copper or something .. I know you are not suppose to feed them horse feed but I forget which mineral it is that will harm them ... hmmmm I am not a goat person

Good idea, I didn't think of that. I know copper is bad for sheep.. don't remember if this one had copper in it or not, or if it would have the same effect on goats. But just to be on the safe side, I will make sure they don't get into it.
I'm hoping I can just put it over her tiny bit of beetpulp and handful of grain and she'll realize that that is her feed and it's all she's going to get and learn to like it.:innocent:

[Gypsy Rose]

Yep- copper's bad for goats, too. I was just at the local feed store a few weeks ago with a friend that has goats, and she was reading labels on the mineral supplements to make sure there was no copper, lol!

[Equine_Woman]

I was so just coming on here to warn you about putting it out where the goats can get it because of the copper! Lol. See it's already been covered!! Carry on!