For those that feed BLK GLD....step in

[Joeyman]

I look at their stool or atleast try to when we are out hunting and I see no worms but that dont' mean they don't have worms. Its not like this is all the sudden they are skinny its just a slow progression. No they are not sluggish. They keep rolling hard all day long don't get tired on me either. Full of spunk at feeding time too. Scarf down the food quick. I don't know I thought it was the feed and was thinking bout switching to something else. Guess I need to start uping the amount.

Thanks for all the advice from everyone. Keep em coming.

[barnold1]

Joeyman,

There was an earlier post I contributed to about dogs feeling solid but not keeping on their weight. Since that time, I fully insulated their box in my uninsulated shed. They have a dog door from kennel coming in to their "house" which is about 2x4 foot footprint, floor level. I used r-13 on exterior walls and the 1" sheathing foam panels for interior walls, floor and ceiling of their "house." I then added a houndheater furnace (which may have a defective thermostat, but the jury's still out) and my dog that always seemed to get thin in the winter, regardless of how much feed I gave, is looking a lot better than last year.

[andrew_kirby]

joey i havent been in this a long time but ive been feeding hi standard for the past 6 years switched to diamond a few months ago and the price jumped so i went back to hi standard....I know a lot of guys dont condone self feeders but i use them in the winter plus it works out right now cuz i have all pups under 1 yr old but even when i had my adults and i use it with my lab...They regulate them selves after they adjust my dogs stay looking good and i run my pups almost everyday and my lab is loose all the time and i use him for hunting but self feeders for me is how i keep them good and then in the summer when i try to keep them thinner cuz of the heat and running i just go back to feeding by hand. no more waste than in the summer and they always look good now as posted before my house that there in goes the length of the kennel and is divided into two houses it takes 5 guys to move because is fully insulated built with treated lumber sided and shingled but joey your houses all look well built of the ones ive seen so maybe look at throwing them on self feeders and monitoring them for a while. they wont get fat with as much as you run.....my 2 cents i havent been at this as long as most

[rabbitsmoker]

I also mix chicken broth with my feed and feed as much as you would a big hound sometimes twice a day thru running season absolutely no raw meat and scraps and worm every 6 mths with drontal plus and i will not use ivromech for my own reasons ive studied JMO

[andrew_kirby]

rabbit smoker i dont want to hijack this so could pm with your reasons i currently use prescription heartworm meds but considered switching to ivomec but would like to now why you dont use it just for food for thought

[Joeyman]

thats not to bad of an idea andrew. I do have self feeders attached to my kennels. All i do is dump in 2cups and stick a dog bowl in the run for the other dog. They know where to stand for feeding time. One stands in front of the feeder the other at the door.

I could fill up that feeder let them fill out some. I may give that a try. they might eat and eat and eat for the first day and poo all over the place.

I at one time use to keep them on the self feeder but they got to fat on me so thats why I started feeding the 2cups a day.

[Joeyman]

ON THE ivomec I've always been scared to use it. But I double triple checked with my vet he gave me the syringe and told me how to use it and said I can use it. So I'm trusting him. If my dogs get sick I'm goin after him...lol

[andrew_kirby]

ya joey it is really cold her as i am sure it is where you live in the winter and as soon as summer hits i go back to bowl feeding it works for me usually the first day in the fall i fill them up they would eat and go but then no more problem after a couple days. Now the pups i have now have been on them since i brought them home so i have no problem the other reason i like them which is not as common of a problem as it is in labs but when you drop a bowl of food down they tend to scarf it down and that can lead to stomach twists which ive had happen twice with labs with my lab hes 10 now and eats what he wants it also prevents fights in the pen during feeding time but like i said all my dogs are on them as pups so its not hard for them to adapt where it may be guys with adults.....and theres a lot of folks that dont liek them and i know that cuz when i first started asking about using them i heard all about it but theyve worked for me so thats what i base my opinion on.

[big mike 50]

I wasn't feeding black gold but I liked Diamond chicken and rice all summer and ran the dogs hard but when it started getting cold I couldn't feed them enough so I switched. If feeding more doesn't keep the weight on them you could supplement that EVO their red meat formula is something like 45/30. That stuff is great!

[Mitchell Bearfield]

I feed Plantation 22/16 w/ Omega 3 & 6 also I mix a little Purina High Pro that I bought at a salvage feed place, and I been running 3 & 4 Days a week gunning heavy and my Dogs were looking a little rough checked gums for pailness and wormed if needed w/ Canine All Wormer. When it started getting cold I started soaking my feed in hot water and letting it soak until soft stirring it until ready to feed. I have noticed a considerable difference in my dogs coats, looking filled out, and overall 100% better. I am happy with the soaking especially in the cold, and hard hunting / running times.

I feed once a Day in evening and give according to the dog and appetite 1 or more Campbell's Chunky Soup can and just keep a daily look of overall condition.
Depends on each dog and how fast they gain weight. I started out a little heavy and adjusted from there.

Mitchell

[ddetar00]

Joey...

I feed black gold black bag mixed 1-1 with black gold blue bag... feed approx 1 3/4 cups twice daily.... except my lil Twister Man (the 13" Lemon) he
gets 1.5 cups twise a day (he was putting on too much weight for me). This has seemed to work well... IMO the colder damper nights has their body
working overtime to generate heat... and the days not getting above freezing has the same effect. So they are burning calories 24 / 7 running or not.

The Blue bag has additional fat (Omega 3) to replennish what is being burnt... this way muscle is not being used to fuel the fire.
Based on the pics you posted of Leah... she was well toned... not aht I would call "SKINNY". But if you continue to feed a high protein lower fat
feed, the muscle will be used by the body to feed the bodily functions.

Good Luck

[Spini Boys]

I have had no problems with Black Gold. I have been feeding the Blue bag this winter, do to the extreme cold we have had and the amount of running, I feel they need more fat. So I went with the Blue bag 24/20. They have been doing great on it. Also like someone else stated, I dont get caught up in the 1 cup 2 cup thing during the winter. I give them as much as it takes to keep them looking good. Some not as much and some as much as they will eat.

[CottonBlue]

I learned about Black Gold years ago from a friend in Tennessee. His dogs looked good and the clean up in the kennel was easy. You could run the dogs hard all day long and they looked as good at the end of the day as they did at the start. A fellow the next county over decided to start selling Black Gold. I fed Black Gold (black bag 26/18) and at the time it was a very good feed. The dogs looked great and there was little waste in the kennel. I even promoted the feed locally to other beaglers, fox hunters, etc. and they started using Black Gold and were happy with the results. About two years after using Black Gold I noticed that my dogs were dropping off. I increased feed to double the amount and the only result was a lot of waste in the kennel as the dogs never condition never improved. Other dog owners in the area started calling me asking if I was having problems with the feed. I keep my dogs in above ground kennels and they are on a regular worming schedule so it wasn't a problem with intestinal parasites. I contacted the owner of Black Gold by email and initially got no reply. I resent the original email stating my (and others) concerns. He assured me that it was the same quality food the company had always manufactured and sold. Well it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that was a lie. I talked to a friend of mine who was big into fox hound trials and he promoted Black Gold in the Full Cry magazines with his stud dog advertisements. He was also having the same problems as the rest of us and told me that Black Gold told him they were having a "problem" with their feed. We never did get any satisfactory results and I even bought more Black Gold in the hopes that they had worked out the "problems" with their feed. The end result was I carried about 500 pounds of Black Gold dog food to the landfill. Since then nobody around here will sell it or feed it to their hounds. At this time I use the Orange Bag Pride 24/20 and Chestnut Mountain 26/18 with pretty good results.

[Big River Beagles S]

The black bag and the yellow bag are there over the counter feed they contract this feed out to other companies to make and bag for them. The quality of the ingredients are not near as good as when they mad eit themselves. I started feeding the blue bag 24/20 in the winter, and I feed the gold colored bag in there premium line (plantation blend) 24/18 it has xtra Vit. C in it for summer running. I have noticed alot better quality when I switched to there premium line of feeds that is made in there Mo. plant. I have to order it at my local feed store and its more money but I feed less and better results. I am very impressed with these feeds
Joey if you want a bag I will see if I can get you a bag and bring it next weekend?

[DEA]

Joeyman
Ive been feeding blackgold for a couple of years now. LOVE IT. Try feeding 1.25 cups twice a day and add 2 raw eggs to the top of it. I run as much and probably more than most. hare and cottontail. My dogs have been holding up real well. Also make sure they have water 24-7. In the winter they really need it. As far as temp go it has beenreal cold here lately. It was -5 when I went work this morning. There coats look really good also. The eggs really made a big differance there. I had a dog that had a real bad staff infection about a month ago and my vet told me about the eggs, told me it was a good way to put weight on them fast. It worked great so I started giving them to all the dogs. They are not putting on extra, probable cause im running so much. They are hard as a rock.

Hope this helps. let us know
Dennis