2kg per meal

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DonskiWA

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I recently a completed a great online nutrition course and one of the thing I learned was that each meal should be a max of 2kg (for an average 500kg horse). That 2kg is the total dry matter weight ie. starch, fibre, everything.

My feed was always close to this anyhow, but now I have measured my feeds and make sure I strictly adhere to this. I have seen others though make HUGE meals for their horses, so I'm just curious to see how many out there follow this principle and how many don't - and why?
 
What if the available grazing is poor or the horse is a poor doer?

Last winter when we had no grass at all my TB was probably close to 2 tonnes per meal than 2kg lol
 
DonskiWA said:
I recently a completed a great online nutrition course and one of the thing I learned was that each meal should be a max of 2kg (for an average 500kg horse). That 2kg is the total dry matter weight ie. starch, fibre, everything.

My feed was always close to this anyhow, but now I have measured my feeds and make sure I strictly adhere to this. I have seen others though make HUGE meals for their horses, so I'm just curious to see how many out there follow this principle and how many don't - and why?
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I haven't weighed the meal, other than to weigh the linseed and mark on a cup his measure each meal. But Ben gets 2/3 scoop speedie beet soaked, 2/3 hi fi, 1 cup of linseed in each meal... Way below 2kg but even that looks huge to me as I used to feed 1 scoop max! He doesn't mind though!
 
I do but then mine don't get a feed as such, just something to carry minerals.
Little and often is much better if you want to get weight gain etc.
 
chrisritch said:
What if the available grazing is poor or the horse is a poor doer?

Last winter when we had no grass at all my TB was probably close to 2 tonnes per meal than 2kg lol
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Over feeding per meal is not the answer - it will generally cause more problems than it solves. In these cases it is necessary to add addtional feeds, not increase meal sizes. That's what I do when my poor doer needs an extra boost.

Though if its just a case of poor grazing then the obvious solution is to feed hay in the field.

In answer to the OP - yes, I do :).
 
I reckon my horse's feed is around 10kg. Yep, you read it right! He is a fully paid-up member of the odd squad though. His feed is mostly grass nuts (soaked bucket full), two scoops ERS pellets, two linseed and one readigrass. He gets this in a vast bucket in his stable overnight and quietly munches his way through it over several hours. Since I've been feeding this (about a month), he's put on loads of weight and looks fab.

He is a bit speshul though and it wouldn't work for food lovers!
 
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I wieght all " bucket " food so the feeds are under two kilos if the horse needs a lot of food I give more meals.
 
Two kg dry matter weight is very differrent to two kg fresh weight! To measure this accurately you would need analysis of the feed stuffs pre soaking if applicable. Most nuts tend to run around 86% dry matter so fresh weight feed would be closer to 2.3-2.4kgs. Soaked feeds obviously depend on the ration of water to feed for dry matter calculations. On this basis a very large fresh weight feed could be given as in the case of the above poster however it is not ideal unless a horses eating manner is similar to above and will pick over a long period rather than gorge all at once
 
Ours get very little hard food. The 2 Dutch Warm Bloods basically get a handful of a chaff based product, about 250 gms of very basic pony nuts and the odd carrot or apple. The Fjord even less and then that is only for his old age and tendon supplement. They are out at least 12 hours a day in the spring / summer and have ad lib haylage.
If they don't need it, don't feed it!
 
Beausmate said:
I reckon my horse's feed is around 10kg. Yep, you read it right! He is a fully paid-up member of the odd squad though. His feed is mostly grass nuts (soaked bucket full), two scoops ERS pellets, two linseed and one readigrass. He gets this in a vast bucket in his stable overnight and quietly munches his way through it over several hours. Since I've been feeding this (about a month), he's put on loads of weight and looks fab.

He is a bit speshul though and it wouldn't work for food lovers!
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AFAICR the 2kg rule only applies to concentrates - grains, mixes, etc. It looks to me that your horse's meals are mainly made up of grass products and as grass is forage the 2kg rule would not apply. Sugar beet is also exempt as it's highly digestable fibre.
 
I also think that it only applies to concentrates, digesting fibre doesn't work in the same way. My horse's feed might be almost 2kg at the mo, certainly no more but I would have no qualms about adding more. It is 80% fibre in the form of chaff, high fibre nuts and linseed meal.

Beausmate - sounds perfect since he doesn't eat it all in one go, although even my greedy ponies would struggle to eat that much in one sitting!
 
I specifically asked the course tutor about the safe weight of fibre feeds, and the answer was that forage feeds (grass nuts etc) are NOT subject to the 2kg rule.

But I would not apply this rule it you're mixing fibre with starch/molasses etc - it's for fibre only.
 
I did the course - where does the 2kg come from? The only reference I can find is "no more than 2kg PER MEAL" as an addition to forage etc. And I do think that is a misleading figure - when you speak of the horses capacity to take in concentrates the relevant figure is volume, as the stomach has a capacity of 8 litres. 2kg of heavy feedstuffs is significantly different from 2kg of much lighter, so volume is the important thing to remember. And remember the 2kg was quoted per meal - so a horse could have 6 or more meals a day, and furthermore it doesn't account for vastly differing sizes of equids.
The important figure IMO is the % of body weight in dry matter - 2% for maintenance. less for weight loss, more for weight gain, as a daily ration.
 
I don't make massive feeds anyway, I prefer to feed less and more often, but then I have that luxury because my horse is out the backdoor and I only work part time :)
 
I worked in one of the biggest raceyards in Australia, horses got 2 feeds a day.
Morning one was about 4kg i think, afternoon feed was double that.

These horses are some of the best in the world
 
JillA said:
2kg of heavy feedstuffs is significantly different from 2kg of much lighter, so volume is the important thing to remember. And remember the 2kg was quoted per meal - so a horse could have 6 or more meals a day, and furthermore it doesn't account for vastly differing sizes of equids.
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But surely 2kg is 2kg, no matter what the material or am I misunderstanding your meaning?

I'll try and dig the relevant parts out of the course notes.
Yes that was their point - if you need to feed more than 2kg, make it a separate feed.
 
DonskiWA said:
But surely 2kg is 2kg, no matter what the material or am I misunderstanding your meaning?

QUOTE]

2kg of, say bran is very different to 2kg of grass pellets - it all depends on the weight of the item. Did the 2kg relate to cereals, because too much of the starch can upset the system?
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DonskiWA said:
I recently a completed a great online nutrition course and one of the thing I learned was that each meal should be a max of 2kg (for an average 500kg horse). That 2kg is the total dry matter weight ie. starch, fibre, everything.

My feed was always close to this anyhow, but now I have measured my feeds and make sure I strictly adhere to this. I have seen others though make HUGE meals for their horses, so I'm just curious to see how many out there follow this principle and how many don't - and why?
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Did you do the Equine Nutrition course with Edinburgh University?

2kg is the weight but the volume is the Rugby ball size. People do feed a lot more, I've seen trainers give around 15 litres (volume) sized feeds but they are left with the horse overnight.

They did tend to be OK, during the day the feeds were small and mainly consisted of whole oats. The problem arises when the enormous feed contains little bulk in the form of chaff or sugarbeet. Then the horse is likely to have problems as too much grain gets moved too fast through the digestive tract.
 
JillA said:
DonskiWA said:
But surely 2kg is 2kg, no matter what the material or am I misunderstanding your meaning?

QUOTE]

2kg of, say bran is very different to 2kg of grass pellets - it all depends on the weight of the item. Did the 2kg relate to cereals, because too much of the starch can upset the system?
Click to expand...



I think I must still be confused. 2kg is still 2kg. It doesn't matter what the material is. 2kg of lead still weighs the same as 2kg of feathers - ie. 2kg!
2kg of bran is exactly the same as 2kg of grass pellets ie. 2 kg. That IS the weight of the item.
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But the digestion isn't overloaded by too much weight but by too much volume. Your original post was about size of individual meals, for which volume is the relevant consideration, whereas daily ration in dry matter does rely on weight. But only in relation to body weight and condition. 2kg per meal for a mini shetland or a Clydesdale? It is always risky to deal in absolutes IMO.
 
DonskiWA said:
I recently a completed a great online nutrition course and one of the thing I learned was that each meal should be a max of 2kg (for an average 500kg horse). That 2kg is the total dry matter weight ie. starch, fibre, everything.

My feed was always close to this anyhow, but now I have measured my feeds and make sure I strictly adhere to this. I have seen others though make HUGE meals for their horses, so I'm just curious to see how many out there follow this principle and how many don't - and why?
Click to expand...

As you said,

Small meals little and often for me is the way forward. Overfeeding in one hit is a sure way for digestion- feed related problems.

I refuse to give mine huge meals of concentrated starchy feeds, no mixes what so ever.

I hate the way these feed companies make these feeds pretty to look at etc, without thinking of the impact on the horse. Then you find owners - not clued up, pumping all this stuff into the horse.

I think everyone should take a good hard look at what they are putting into their horses, to reduce things like laminitis etc.
 
DonskiWA said:
But surely 2kg is 2kg, no matter what the material or am I misunderstanding your meaning?

I'll try and dig the relevant parts out of the course notes.
Yes that was their point - if you need to feed more than 2kg, make it a separate feed.
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I've just been and looked back through all our notes - their is no mention of 2kg anywhere, amounts are in percentages except for the example below

"No more than 1.25 kg cereal‐based feed per meal for 500 kg horse"

Most horses/ponies will eat ~ 2 % of BW per day

See page 32 Week 3 - Nutrition sources
 
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