By Alex Simpson
Jennifer’s Feed & Supply
My name is Alex Simpson, I am the daughter of Jennifer Kruse and co-owner of Jennifer’s Feed and Supply, your one stop shop for all pet and livestock needs in Alpine. I attended North West College for multiple degrees in equine riding and training, farm and ranch business management and animal nutrition. I have spent my life time working with all types of animals on training and ensuring they all meet an ideal nutritional balance. In this particular article I will be discussing the nutritional needs of most maintenance horses.
Maintenance feeding: This is for keeping a healthy weight , not for changing the weight of the horse. This feeding regimen is perfect for pasture pets, light riding on a smooth trail or in an arena about 1-3 times a week. .
Light work Feeding: This will be most trail horses which are ridden on harder trails usually worked 3-5 times a week
Moderate work feeding: Most ranch, roping, cutting, and reining horses usually fall into this category.
Heavy work feeding: The horses in this category are generally racing, polo, and endurance horses.
Of course energy requirements for each category vary significantly. I will talk about the average rider with an average weight horse(1100 lbs). Figure most of us with our busy schedules are going to fall into maintenance feeding & riding, like I said above this is the trail riders going out for a fun enjoyable ride 1-3 times a week.
To meet the energy requirements for a 1,100lb maintenance horse, more might be needed than you think. Keep in mind just like humans whatever you take out you must put back in. Lets take one of Jennifer’s Feed & Supply’s newest line of feed, Safe Choice Original by Nutrena. The energy levels in this feed are about 81%. Now you may ask how I found this number, it is based on total digestible nutrients (TDN) or as megacalories (mcal) of digestible energy (DE). TDN is found by adding together your crude protein, crude fat, and crude fiber then multiplying it by 2.25. Granted every horse is different in his or her feeding requirements. The energy required for work depends not only on the type of work but the speed and terrain on which the work is done. Your 1100lb maintenance horse would need about 2.75lbs of this feed a day to meet its energy requirements.
The protein requirements of horses go hand in hand with their energy requirements. The crude protein of this feed is 14%. With this said approximately 1lb of crude protein per 1,000lb of body weight is suggested for a horse at the maintenance level feeding. Like I stated above your protein and energy requirements go hand and hand. So with Safe choice Original you will still be feeding about 2.75 to 3.5 pounds of grain a day. With this feeding ratio you will be at 40% to 50% of your daily protein requirements. The rest of your protein will be derived from dry matter (hay) that is also fed with your grains.
Have you ever seen your horse licking dirt or eating manure? This could be contributed to a mineral deficiency. Minerals are a must in horses to develop sound feet and legs. What your horses actions are telling you is it’s system is missing out on some essential minerals. You may be thinking “hey calcium builds strong bones in humans will it work on my horse?” The answer is no the horse requires more than just calcium in their diet to build strong bones!
First lets touch on calcium and phosphorus, to obtain optimum utilization, a number of conditions must be met. First and adequate level of both must be fed. Second a suitable ratio between the two must also be met. The ratio of your calcium and phosphorus will vary depending on the weight and age of the horse and the amount of it found in your hay. The ratio of calcium to phosphorus for the mature horse fed at maintenance should be aproxmetly 2 to 1. Studies done on horses systems would indicate a horse needs .3% of the ration to be calcium and phosphorus. This can be met by feeding a long stem hay which contains more calcium and by feeding some alfalfa which has more phosphorus. If your horse is sensitive to alfalfa you can provide a 12:12 block, which is an even amount of each.
Salt is another important mineral needed in the horses diet. The average horse needs 0.2 pounds of salt daily. Salt serves as both a nutrient and a condiment in the horses ration. As a nutrient it contains vital mineral elements such as sodium and chlorine. As a condiment it simulates the secretion of saliva and make feed more palatable to horses. Salt should be kept at free choice at all times!!
Another important group of minerals are the trace minerals. Trace minerals include iron, copper, iodine, zinc, manganese, cobalt, selenium and sulfur. To meet the salt and trace mineral requirements you can have a trace mineral salt block in your stall or pasture to be ingested at free choice.
Although not much is known about the vitamin needs of horses, studies have proven that they are necessary to allow proper growth, development, health, and reproduction. Nature has provided the horse with the ability to meet its needs for vitamins D,K,C and most of its normal requirements for B- Vitamins. Have problems with horses tying up? This could mean a deficiency in vitamin E. Injections of vitamin E and selenium is your cure (consult your vet before any injections are given to insure your horse is healthy enough to receive it).
Normally hay or its pasture equivalent, for those of us that are lucky enough to have it, will be fed at the rate of 1 to 2lb per 100lb of body weight a day. Good quality hay is a major benefit to horses. Moldy or dusty hay may cause colic and heaves in horses. Large amounts of very poor quality hay should never be fed because it may not be digested properly and will not pass thru the system which will cause colic. Same goes with extremely rich hay fed with grains, they are so rapidly digested it will case loose feces colic and in some severe cases dehydration.
Grain and supplemental feed should only be fed to make up for energy, protein, minerals, and vitamins not furnished by hay alone. The most popular grains used in today’s feed are oats (low energy less trouble with stomach compaction) corn (high energy should be cracked or ground) and wheat bran (very valuable for its laxative effect). Popular protein supplements are, Linseed meal (produces a glow in your horses coat) and Soybean meal ( high quality protein and quite economical).These other items such as molasses (adding make the feeds more palatable to the horse) fats and oils(highly concentrated energy sources and depending on what oil is used ads shine to your horses coat)
and dehydrated alfalfa meal ( great source of vitamins, minerals, and protein) are optional additives to your feed to meet certain deficiencies or to meet the appeal of a picky horse.
Here are some tips and hints for general horse feeding and nutrition
Minimum roughage in the diet should be 1lb per 100lbs of body weight. Normal diets are 1 to 2 pounds per 100 pounds of body weight. Grain should be fed if horses need additional energy. Feed grain by weight of nutrients not by volume. Establish a daily schedule and stick to it. No grains should be left from one feeding to the next, and all forages should be cleaned up by the end of the day. Adjust each horses ration to its individual needs. Make feed changes over at least a 10 day period. For more information on the nutrition or feeding of your trusty steed come on in to Jennifer’s Feed & Supply today! Be sure to read next months article when we discuss the ins and outs of canine nutrition.
Enjoy the ride,
Alex Simpson
Credentials
A degree in Animal Health & Nutrition, a degree in Equine Riding & Training, and a degree in Farm & Ranch Business Management from North West College.
References!!
Animal Feeding & nutrition tenth edition by Marshall H. Jurgens and Kristjan Bregendal
http://www.infovets.com/healthyhorseinfo/A575.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment