Re: RE: Strategy Feed and Quicksilver

["Susan Garlinghouse" <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

>
> I think Strategy is one component of Complete Advantage.
> I'm sure Susan G. knows.
>
> Kathy & Beau Joust


I don't *believe* that Strategy is in Complete Advantage (Amber, help me out
here)---you might be thinking of Athlete, a high fat pellet that is in some
of the Purina products like the Omolene line.  I don't have a Complete
Advantage or Strategy tag here (at least not where I can find it), I think
the only pellet in CA is probably a vit-min, and probably soybean meal
pellet.

I've fed Strategy in the past and liked it---the advantages are that, like
any good-quality concentrate mix, the vit-min are pretty well balanced for
average horses on average pasture, etc, so supplementing with anything extra
is generally unnecessary (or even contraindicated) except for specific
nutrients for specific reasons (ie, to correct a regional selenium
deficiency).  It's a mix of different grains, which is often preferable
because of better amino acid profiles and such and sometimes less glycemic
spikes.  The disadvantage is, if memory serves, the feed tag to Strategy
lists "grain products" or "forage products", not specifics like "corn, oats,
barley".  This is an okay thing for feed manufacturers to do, it means that
exact ratios or types of grain used from one batch to the next might change
somewhat, thus the "blanket" terms.  The guarenteed nutrtiion stays the
same, just the ingredients *might* change.  However, this is where choosing
a reputable company comes in, because while a small local mill might make
drastic changes in ingredients from one batch to the next based on whatever
grain is cheap this week, the really large companies tend to buy their
commodities in enormous amounts, and/or have contracted for some huge
amount, and/or are situated in areas where supplies don't fluctuate all that
much.  So the ingredients generally stay pretty stable, at least stable
enough that you really don't have to be concerned about causing digestive
problems from unexpected or unknown changes in the diet.

The other potential disadvantage to Strategy, like any other commercial
concentrate mix, is that they're sometimes more expensive than mixing it all
up yourself.  If you can balance a ration, mixing it up yourself is fine.
If you can't, and.or are having someone else "feed him two cans of this",
then it's a lot more reliable to feed an already balanced feed out of a bag
rather than trust that two scoops of this, a pinch of that and a glug of
something else will all get mixed together the way you want it.  In the long
run, the difference in cost isn't all that much, anyway.  When I had horses
in the backyard and had time to crunch spreadsheets all the time, I fed
commodities.  Now that I'm boarding them all over the country, they're fed
commercial mixes.

Hope this helps.:-)

susan g