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Feeding Forages-
The
why, when and what for!
Forage as the
Foundation
The overall health of our horses and proper gastrointestinal
function is
 reliant
on using forages (hay or pasture) as the foundation of your
feeding program. A horse has no requirement for cereal
grain (oats, corn, barley) in his diet, but cannot exist without
forage. One of the most common mistakes that people make
in feeding horses is not providing enough good quality forage.
We as horse owners have forgotten or never learned that horses
are forage eating animals who when left to their own accord will
“graze” about 18 hours out of every 24 hour day.
Horses have a very small stomach that requires them
to eat many small meals all day long to function at its best.
These meals are not meant to be grain, but forage. A horse will
graze a little, rest a little, graze a little and so on. When
we confine a horse to a stall or dry lot, we really need to
mimic mother nature as best we can, and let them “graze” and eat
those small meals all day long. In addition, the horse has a
very long and coiling intestinal system that when empty is much
more prone to twists and torsions. Keeping forage moving
through the gut all day long can also help reduce these types of
colics, similar to when we have water in a garden hose… it
becomes more difficult to twist or kink that hose. To
accomplish our goal of keeping the GI tract full, we can either
feed them every 2-4 hours or give them enough hay so that when
you go to feed them again, they haven’t quite cleaned up what
you had given them previously. This means that they were able
to “graze” all day or night just as their system is meant to.
This practice can reduce many common vices like wood chewing,
pawing and cribbing. In addition, horses are happier, healthier
and more willing to work for you.
An average mature horse in light riding requires
about 2% of it’s body weight per day in feed. On a 1000 lb
horse that would equate to 20 lbs of something per day. If you
are feeding 5 pounds of grain, that would mean that a bare
minimum of 15 pounds of hay should be supplied. If you feed
less grain, more hay would be required. An average flake of
grass weighs about 3 pounds, while an average flake of alfalfa
weighs about 4 pounds. This means that somewhere around 4 to 5
flakes of hay per 1000 lbs should be fed per day as a
bare minimum. If the horse is in heavier training,
growing, reproducing or lactating the percentages of feed
required for body weight will increase thereby increasing the
amount of hay or forage needed.
Building on the
Foundation
Hopefully the importance of forage is now understood
and we can build upon that. Before you select your grain or
diet balancer you need to think about what kind and quality of
hay you are feeding. Again, use the forage as the foundation
and evaluate through analysis or average comparison, your
forages’ attributes as far as protein, calories and major and
trace mineral levels. Many horses can meet or exceed protein,
calorie and even some major mineral requirements through good
quality forage fed in adequate amounts. If you are in this
situation, you may not need to feed any cereal grain (corn, oat,
etc) and only need to use a diet balancer to meet the trace
mineral, fat and amino acid needs that the forage may not be
providing. If we use forage as the foundation, the only reason
we would even feed grain to our horses is to make up for the
difference in what our horse needs and what the forage is
providing. We know forages tend to fall short in the trace
mineral and amino acid categories so we would want to add these
things back, but we may only need to add additional grain if the
forage falls short in the calorie department. Your horses’ body
condition will tell you this.
The Economics of Forage
Most importantly to some are the economics.
Generally speaking, forage in the form of hay or pasture is much
less expensive than grain. Even if you pay $4/bale for hay…
where can you find a decent bag of grain for $4? So, by feeding
good quality hay and plenty of it, you may be able to decrease
your feed bill by only having to feed a concentrated amount of a
diet balancer type product. Pound for pound, hay is usually
your cheapest feed source and really is what horses are meant to
eat!
By: Kelly Ann
Graber B.S., P.A.S.
Equine Nutrition Consultant for Progressive Nutrition
888-360-2204 or lkgraber@win-4-u.net
Equine Nutrition Library |
