Baileys Natural Meadow Cobs – 20kg

Baileys Natural Meadow Cobs – 20kg

These cobs are cut from perennial meadows in the Bavarian Pre-Alps, where up to sixty different species of grass, wildflower and herb grow together. The crop is coarsely chopped, high-temperature dried and pressed into chunky cobs — nothing is added, so the bag holds meadow grasses and herbage and nothing else.

At 6 MJ/kg they are the lowest-energy feed Baileys sell, and at 30% fibre they behave like forage rather than like a hard feed. Soaked, they can take over the whole hay ration at 1.5–2kg per 100kg bodyweight a day, which is what makes them useful for a horse whose teeth have given up on long forage. Supplied in 20kg.

Performance & Benefits

• 100% meadow grasses and herbage. No added vitamins, minerals, molasses, grain or alfalfa.
• Up to sixty species of grass, wildflower and herb from Bavarian Pre-Alpine meadows.
• 6 MJ/kg and 30% fibre — a true forage replacer rather than a concentrate.
• Starch 2.2% and sugar 7.8%, low enough for calorie-controlled diets.
• Coarsely chopped before pressing, so the soaked cob keeps some structure to chew on.
• Baileys publish a full forage-replacement rate, so it can be used as the entire forage ration.

Suitable For

• Horses with dental problems that can no longer manage hay or haylage.
• Fussy feeders and poor forage eaters.
• Good doers needing calorie-controlled forage.
• Stabled horses that need some variety in what they are chewing.
• Not a balanced feed on its own — Baileys add no vitamins or minerals, so a balancer such as their No.14 Lo-Cal is needed alongside a full replacement ration.

Feeding

• Soak before feeding, in a minimum of two parts water to one part cobs.
• Thirty minutes in warm water, or up to an hour in cold. Overnight soaking is acceptable in cooler weather.
• Full forage replacement: 1.5–2kg of dry cobs per 100kg bodyweight daily — 7.5–10kg for a 500kg horse.
• Supplementary feeding alongside hay: 0.5–1kg dry per 100kg bodyweight daily.
• One Stubbs round bowl scoop holds about 1.4kg of dry cobs.
• Split a full replacement ration across several feeds through the day.

Composition & Analysis

• Composition: 100% meadow grasses and herbage. Supplied in a 20kg bag.
• Digestible energy 6 MJ/kg. Protein 9%. Oil 2.0%. Fibre 30%. Ash 11%.
• Starch 2.2%. Sugar 7.8%.
• No vitamins or minerals are added; what is present comes from the meadow itself and varies with the cut.
• Baileys state no BETA or FEI approval for these cobs.

Care & Caution

• Always soak the cobs. Fed dry they are a choke risk, and a hard pressed cob is exactly the sort of feed that lodges in the oesophagus.
• Do not leave soaked cobs standing in warm weather. Make them up fresh for each feed.
• Used as a full forage replacer they supply no added vitamins or minerals, so the rest of the diet has to make that up.