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Feeding Faux Pas–
How
many are you guilty of?
Feeding Grain by Volume
and Not Weight
Horse people are infamous for feeding by volume
not by weight. This means that when asked how much they feed,
most people respond with how many cans or scoops their horse is
receiving. It is important to remember that all grain weighs a
little differently. For instance, that 3 lb coffee can that
many of us feed with (that is actually a 2 lb 7 oz size since
the price of coffee went up) doesn’t always hold 3 lbs. of
grain. For example, that can actually holds about 3.75 lbs of
race horse oats, about 4.25 lbs of many pelleted feeds, and
about 3.5 lbs of an average sweet feed. These values do differ
though which makes it that much more important to weigh your
feed. Remember the average 1000 lb horses’ stomach only holds
about 5 lbs. of grain at a time. If an owner feeds much more
than this figure or about 1/2% of the horses’ bodyweight in
grain per feeding, he is putting that horse at risk for colic
and/or founder problems.
Feeding Feeds Not
Formulated for Your Horse
If you haven’t read a feed tag lately, you
probably don’t know that feed companies have to put a statement
of usage on that bag or tag. This statement is usually listed
right above the feeding directions. The manufacturer has to
state for what type of horse (maintenance, pregnant, growing,
etc.) the feed is intended for. The feed tag also lists the
feeding directions, as the minimum amounts of that particular
product to feed to each age and metabolic state of horse that
the feed is intended to meet requirements for.
Many horse owners make one or both of these
mistakes. First of all, they are feeding a feed intended for
mature horses either idle or in training to pregnant mares,
lactating mares or young growing horses. This means they are
feeding a deficient diet, maybe not in calories, but most likely
in mineral and vitamin levels. Secondly, they don’t follow
feeding directions listed on the bag or tag. If the
manufacturer tells you to feed a minimum of 5 lbs/day and you
only feed 2 lbs/day because your horse gets too fat on 5 lbs,
then you need to find a feed meant to be fed at 2 lbs.
Essentially you are feeding your horse less than half of the
daily recommended levels of vitamins and minerals by feeding
less than half of what the manufacturer recommends. This is a
common practice when feeding Senior feeds.
Changing Grain Mixes
Cold Turkey
Each year many horses are subjected to possible
bouts with colic and/or founder when owners indiscriminately
switch grain mixtures without gradually acclimating the horse to
these changes. When speaking about grain, it is important to
understand that grain mixes have many different analysis’ and
ingredients. When changing grain mixes it is important to do a
couple of things. First of all, weigh your new grain to make
sure that you haven’t drastically changed the pounds of grain
the horse will be receiving on a daily basis. Secondly, it is a
good rule of thumb to do at least a four day changeover when at
all possible. This means that on day one you will feed 3/4 of
the ration as the old feed and 1/4 of the ration as the new
feed. Day two you can mix them half and half, while on day
three you feed 3/4 of the new feed and 1/4 of the old feed.
Finally on day four you should be able to feed the entire ration
as the new feed. This should help eliminate digestive upsets
due to differences in calories, fiber and ingredient sources.
Changing Hay Types Cold
Turkey
When dealing with hay changes it is also
important to do it gradually if possible. The fermentation vat
in the horse, known as the cecum, is the organ that digests
forage (hay or pasture). This organ contains microbes that are
very ph sensitive, meaning changes in acidity can affect the
health of the gut population. It takes a different makeup of
microbes to digest grass hay as compared with alfalfa hay. The
changeover takes approximately 2 weeks, thus ideally if you are
changing hays and they are quite a bit different, you should mix
new hay with old hay for at least a few days to a week. If you
switch too quickly from grass to alfalfa you may get loose
stools, some colic issues or worst case scenario a founder
situation if the fiber contents were drastically different.
When switching from alfalfa to grass too quickly you may see a
little bit of a hay belly develop.
Not Acclimating Horses
to Lush Spring Pastures
Attention also needs to be given to pasture
turnout in the spring. Lush spring pasture is high in fat which
is why horses slick off and gain weight so quickly, but it is
also very low in fiber content. When horses consume too much
low fiber pasture too quickly, the ph of their gut is altered.
The ph drops and the gut environment becomes very acidic. The
acidity in the gut will start to kill the important microbes
that reside there. A signal then goes to the horses’ brain
asking for a “fix”. The body’s natural mechanism of defense is
to flush the system with water, you observe this as a loose
stool. This is a signal that the horse is now at risk for colic
and/or founder. Horse owners should slow down on pasture
turnout, or make sure they provide dry forage (hay) for the
horses so that they can increase the fiber in their gut,
therefore increasing the ph again, and ultimately reducing the
risk of grass colic or founder.
In Summary
These are only a very few of the many feeding
mistakes that we as horse people commonly make. I encourage all
of you to educate yourselves through nutrition seminars or by
consulting with nutritionists to make sure you are getting the
most for your money, and not doing harm to the very horse that
you love so dearly.
By: Kelly Ann
Graber B.S., P.A.S.
Equine Nutrition Consultant for Progressive Nutrition, LLC
888-360-2204 or lkgraber@win-4-u.net
Equine Nutrition Library |
