Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

In response to: "I knew it was coming and now I would like 
to hear some feedback. I am meeting with a Purina rep 
tomorrow to talk about this feed. I wonder who they talked 
with in the endurance community when they came up with the 
recipe for this feed. It does sound like a pretty good 
complete feed for someone who doesn't like to make their own 
feed. Any questions I can ask for you all?"
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I've been part of the trial for the new feed (Ultium)in the 
TX area for the past 2 1/2 months.

It's worked well for my two guys (both endurance horses) - 
one horse recovering from colic surgery and the other being 
used for endurance now.  The colic surgery horse (Rroc) had 
been underweight for the past 6 months or so. I had been 
feeding him much more than normal and still not able to put 
enough weight on him.  All the tests we ran for possible 
reasons didn't show anything likely to cause this.  He was 
getting a lot of Complete Advantage, shredded beetpulp, 
grass hay, and alfalfa.  He paces a lot and in SoCal where 
the stalls are 12x20 pipe corrals  - he did this all the 
time.  He would even pace during his 6 hours a day turnout. 
He paces in circles in the pasture in Texas too.

Since his surgery - he's put on 115 lbs being fed the Purina 
Ultium.  My other guy (Thor) has put on about 45 lbs.

The feed is 12% protein, 12% fat, and 18% fiber.  It's 
beetpulp based and has only 3.5% molasses.  It has a much 
longer shelf life than Complete Advantage because the BP is 
pelleted.  In south TX - CA has a 30-60 days shelf life 
depending on whether it's summer or winter.  The shelf life 
is supposed to be 3-6 months for the Ultium.

Both like the taste and it's easy to feed.  The Mcals/lb are 
about 20% more than Complete Advantage (1,77 vs 1.4).  The 
cost is likely to be more than CA.  I was.buying CA at 
$8.80/bag in California but am paying more than that in TX.

It's intended primarily for high performance horses but 
works well for putting on weight too.

I've been told that it's being introduced in the East first 
and gradually moving to the west coast.  I've also been told 
that Purina wants their distributors educated about this 
product before allowing them to sell it.

It's worked well for my two guys and I intend to continue 
with it once it's introduced.

Mike


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