Alfa feed products.

Equus Leather

Equus Leather

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I'm no expert, I shall start on that point!

Yesterday I was doing my training with a BHSI (and previous head girl in Karen Straker in the good ol' days!) so I do trust what she says, also being a chief examiner....

ANYWAY!

We were discussing feeds, and in particular protein analysis of feeds on the market.

Hi-Fi & Alfa-A came up. I said that as someone who is a fairly novicey horse owner, these brands all appear in the same category as good roughage/fibre feeds.

Then we looked at more detail.
Hi-Fi is 10% protein
Alfa-A is 14% protein.

We then discussed the protein requirements of your different types of horses. General all purpose recreational horses should be on 9-10%, with your racehorses/p2pers on 14%, stud horses on 15-16% (for short periods of time).

I then said that when I first got my horse I used Alfa-A (as it was already used on the yard I was at then. My horse was being ridden for an hour a day, but mainly hacking/light schooling so nothing strenuous at all. I was quite shocked that I was feeding her 14% protein...no wonder she was busting out of her skin.

It got me thinking that lots of people, who have recreational horse/ponies, probably are feeding this as I did....should it not be printed in a more bolder way on the bag? Do people know what protein their horses should be being fed??

Then, we talked about sugarbeet/alfabeet.

Speedibeet is 10% protein
Alfabeet is 15% protein

Again we discussed as above, but how many people will be feeding alfabeet because it's new out and fashionable even though they may only be plodding around 3/4 times a week?

I found it quite scary really!
 
Don't forget that the protein requirement of 9-10% refers to the WHOLE diet, ie including grazing and hay/haylage, not just the bucket feed. So if you were feeding a low protein hay (some can be as low as 4.5% protein), then the higher protein level of the alfafa feed would be balanced out.

You also have to take into account the amount of bucket feed that is given. In the case of most balancers, because the amount fed per day is small, they have to have a high % of protein to make an impact on the overall protein content of the diet (ie Top Spec Comprehensive is 25% protein). Where the concentrate is designed to be fed in larger amounts (like your average mix/cube) then the protein content of the mix/cube doesn't have to be so high.
 
Ah right, so for example a horse needs 10% protein in the whole of his diet. Say he's an average 1200lb horse, so roughly 30lb feed needed, split 25lb hay, 5lb in the bucket (split in 2 feeds). So in 1 feed of 2.5lb the horse needs how much of it as protein?
 
I feed alot of alfalfa [lucerne] My main feed is alfa plus from chestnut horse feeds with unmolassed sugar beet and then I give soaked lucinuts at night as well.
This is still a small part of my horses diet as they are turned out for 6 hours a day and have hay at night as well. So they are not on 15% protein when you look at their complete diet
 
[ QUOTE ]
Ah right, so for example a horse needs 10% protein in the whole of his diet. Say he's an average 1200lb horse, so roughly 30lb feed needed, split 25lb hay, 5lb in the bucket (split in 2 feeds). So in 1 feed of 2.5lb the horse needs how much of it as protein?

[/ QUOTE ] That still depends on the protein content of the hay! Now, if you had really good hay and you knew it was 10% protein, then it would be easy to calculate as you could just add a bucket feed that you knew was 10% protein and then the protein level of the entire diet would be 10%.

If I get time, will try and sit down and work out a few examples of how a higher protein bucket feed can balance out a lower protein hay, but need a while as my maths is a bit dodgy!
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Right, here is an example using easy numbers.

Horse is on a diet of 10kg hay which has been analysed and is known to be 8% protein. You feed 1kg of bucket feed which is 15% protein. 8% of 10kg is 0.8kg, 15% of 1 kg is 0.15, add them together to make 0.95kg of crude protein in the diet overall. 0.95kg divided by 11kg (total weight of diet), then multiplied by 100 makes the total diet 8.6% protein.

If you increase the amount of bucket feed to 2kg, then it brings the overall protein content of the diet to 10.4% protein.

(I hope that is right - I know the principle is correct, but I'm not sure about my maths as I did this in a hurry, but hopefully you can understand the principle from this example, even if my calculations are wrong!
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[ QUOTE ]
I then said that when I first got my horse I used Alfa-A (as it was already used on the yard I was at then. My horse was being ridden for an hour a day, but mainly hacking/light schooling so nothing strenuous at all. I was quite shocked that I was feeding her 14% protein...no wonder she was busting out of her skin.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't forget, protein is not a primary energy source so does not affect temperament. Protein builds muscle and other body tissue which is why horses doing more work, or who are growing or pregnant, need more.
 
JaneB
I totally agree. I read a really good article explaining protein, Laminitis and colic. Anyway one part that i read stayed with me and i quote (along the lines of)! "If protein caused fizzyness/ to much excessive energy then it would be made into a supplement to given to lazy horses!"
:0)
 
Hi,

My mare is just coming back into work after 6 months off. She is 15hh a draft/native type and weighs about 490kg. I have owned her for 2 1/2 years. She is fed Alfa A Lite (one stubs dipper split into am/pm feeds) formular for feet, garlic and a joint supplement.

We have no grass at the moment, so she just has hay. I'm not sure of the exact weight, but she has one full large net in the morning and two at bedtime. The hay quality is ok, but not great. Turnout all day and in at night.

Currently she has a very slight crest starting to form, all of her ribs are covered other than the last few which you can still feel quite well (but not sticking out). I am a novice so I'm not quite sure what I'm doing wrong with her feeds.

Any suggestions would be really appreciated!

Thanks
Shanny
 
If she is a native type ( her weight sounds ok to me) she probably doesn't need two full haynets at night. She needs around 2% of her body weight, so around 9.5k a day or 20lb.
One large section of hay is around 4/5lb, so about 5 a day.

I would give her two sections in the field am, then three at night.
Her bucket feed sounds fine.

I feed my welshie ( 14.1hh and 400kilos)2 scoops of Hi Fi Lite, 1scoop of speedi-beet, plus biotin and a vit and min supplement twice a day.

He doesn't get any hay as I have plenty of grass and he's out 24/7;
 
I feed alfa-beet. Completely against what you're saying about temprement as I found speedi-beet caused my horse to become 'fizzy' whilst alfa-beet she does quite well on. I certainly don't feed it because it's fashionable - I think I was feeding it before it become so as it's only recently I've noticed that the local store is frequently sold out of it.

She's only ridden about 4 times a week but is a poor doer and needs to put on topline/muscles. So far the high protein diet (as she's also on topspec comprehensive) seems to be doing her well.
 
you have to remember, alfa beet is slower release of energy compared to speedibeat, so their might be more protein, but it is released slower.

you forgot to mention the protein requirements for poor/good doers, and second the mention about protien gained throughout the entire diet, i personally, do not like dengie feeds.....but thats just me....
 
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