Horse Feeds and Feeding

Chapter 13: Feeds and Feeding Horses

Learning Objectives

• Identify and describe sources of hay
• List and describe sources of concentrates
• Describe how to feed roughages and concentrates
• Name and describe sources of proteins
• Explain how horses are fed according to their activity level
• Make feeding recommendations or management suggestions
• Describe some typical rations for horses at different stages and activity levels
• Calculate the nutrient level of a mixed feed using a feed composition table
• Discuss how to feed minerals
• Describe the addition of vitamins to a ration.

Introduction

• Feed is the greatest expense of owning a horse
• Feed costs can be lessened by keeping a healthy horse, feeding a balanced ration according to need, and purchasing feeds that meet the needs of the animal

Determining What to Feed

Overview

• Balancing rations
• Daily supply of nutrients
• Easily obtained feedstuffs
• Economical for the conditions
• As-fed basis or on a dry-matter basis
• Roughage includes hay, silage, and pasture
• Concentrate includes protein supplement, minerals, vitamins, bran, cane molasses, and dehydrated alfalfa

Feeds for Horses

Overview

• Roughages include legume hays like alfalfa, clovers, and lespedeza, as well as grass hays like timothy, bromegrass, orchard grass, cereal grasses, and fescue
• Silage includes corn silage, grain sorghum, and grass silage
• Pastures can help reduce stable vices and boredom or mineral deficiencies
• Pastures provide available forage, can be rotated, and need to have proper pasture and grazing management practices.
• Some concentrates include grain sorghum, wheat bran, cane molasses, linseed meal, soybean meal, and cottonseed meal
• Vitamins can be obtained from green forages (vitamins A and E) or sunshine and exercise (vitamin D). Horses also produce B vitamins.

Water

• Water is a nutrient
• Lack of water intake can cause illness and death
• Water requirements vary, especially in hot environments

Free Choice Water

• Extra intake of water is easily expelled through urine
• Voluntary water intake varies considerably between horses and by the same horse on different days
• Water sources must supply fresh, clean water

Commercial Feeds

• Commercial feeds may provide nutrients in a less-expensive form, such as trace minerals, vitamins, and protein supplements
• No nutrient or supplement will make the hoof grow faster and stronger, increase conception, increase intelligence, prevent colic or cure heaves

Sample Rations

• Individual horses' needs vary based on whether they are a foal, weanling, 2-year-old, pregnant or lactating mare, or an adult horse

Calculating Nutrients

• Essential to know what the horse requires, feed requirements, what feeds are palatable, how much of a given feed the horse can eat, and the amount of a nutrient in a feed

Sample Calculation

• Process will work with the digestible energy, calcium, and phosphorus of the feed mix

Feeding Management Recommendations

• Feeding horses is as much an art as it is a science

Overview

• Feed only quality feeds
• Feed balanced rations
• Regulate hay-to-grain ratio
• Feed salt separately
• Keep teeth functional
• Feed by weight, not volume
• Change feeds gradually
• Feed before work and at least twice a day if confined
• Give half the hay allowance at night

Summary

• High-quality roughages form the basis for feeding horses
• A horse's nutritional needs change depending on its condition, activity level, age, gestational stage, or lactation
• Horse owners can make their own rations or buy commercially prepared feeds