feed quantities

[dwi]

I read that you should try not to feed more than 1.4 - 1.6kg of feed at a time because of the size of a horses' stomach but my new bag of Slim and Healthy recommends that you should feed 1kg chaff and 1kg Slim and Healthy per meal but surely that is too much? It looks loads in the bucket

 

[Eaglestone]

Not too sure how much that equates to in the feed bowl

. However I am of the understanding that as the horse's stomach is the size of a Rugby ball, anything over this amount would spill over into the large intestine and then there could be problems

. Someone may be able give more advice than this, I am sure

I knew it was not the large intestine .... I was wracking my brain for the correct term er um .... yes it's the hind gut

 

[TGM]

Depends whether it is fibre or not. Obviously we give horses more than that amount as fibre in a haynet. This is for two reasons, firstly they tend to eat fibre more slowly, and secondly, fibre is digested in the hind gut. It is feed like cereals that need to be restricted in size, because they are digested in the fore gut, and if feed size is too large they overflow to the hind gut and cause problems.

I'm not familar with Slim and Healthy (who manufactures it?) but if it is a fibre only feed then it should be fine to feed in that quantity.

ETA: Although I must say that if it is a fibre feed, then I'm not sure why they would suggest feeding chaff with it?

 

[Daisy11]

divide the concentrate ration (preferably mixed with chaff or other small roughage ) into three or four feeds a day - never give more than 4lb (1.8kg) of concertrates in one feed

 

[dwi]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not familar with Slim and Healthy (who manufactures it?) but if it is a fibre only feed then it should be fine to feed in that quantity.

ETA: Although I must say that if it is a fibre feed, then I'm not sure why they would suggest feeding chaff with it?

[/ QUOTE ]

It's an Allen and Page feed, I've emailed their helpline to see if they can explain the feed advice for me so we'll see what they say. Its not a fibre feed as such, it is more of a mix. The back of the pack clearly states that you should mix 1 scoop of chaff, 1 scoop of S&H and 1 scoop of water as a feed.

If I'm mixing it with chaff then presumably the chaff counts as fibre so doesn't count when I'm working out the maximum weight of feed that I can give her.