feeding people - can you give your opinion?

[parsley]

I would like to feed my two straights and have put together a diet plan. I would appreciate any comments????
Both have ad lib haylage in the stable and field
both are in low levels of work (ridden about 3 times per week, not strenuously!)
they are turned out on good pasture in the day but there isn't a lot of it
they are in at night
in addition to the below I would also feed a general purpose supplement.
I am not sure whehter I would need to feed limestone flour?

I have put Bomber's diet down - Teds is similar in proportion with no barley.

Bomber
Weight (KG) 700
2.5% body weight 17.5kg feed needed

requires 175MJ DE and 1045g protein

if haylage is about 80% of ration he needs about 14kg giving 131.6 MJ DE and 1260g protein

therefore he requires from concentrate 3.5kg of food and 44 MJ DE and he already has 215g of extra protein
feed as follows:
oats 3Kg
Barely 0.25 kg
2 scoops of hi fi original (about .6 kg)
I think that this means that he is over by 567.5g of protein but about right on the MJ DE?

One question I am especially confused about is how much hayage he will eat (generally I just pile it up so there is always a bit left)

 

[lilym]

i would just stick with the oats to start with, if you are feeding a broad spectrum supplement this will make up any deficincies so you will not need to add extra limestone flour, if he is on add lib haylage in light work and is a good doer then he will not need much in the way of cereals anyway, and you may even need to cut down on the oats... or how about feeding alfalfa alongside his haylage?? also it may be worth having the haglage analyzed, to give you a guide to protien levels etc...

 

[parsley]

OK thanks - I think a lot of people secretly think Bomber is too fat but his weight is about constant and last winter he did lose quite a bit but I will do as you suggest and leave the barley out - I can always add more. How do you get haylage analysed? It was all taken in one cut so will it be alright to just take the analysis of one bale?

 

[Happytohack]

If their weight is pretty constant and you are feeding ad lib good quality haylage and a vit & min supplement, they really shouldn't need much else as they are in light work only. There was an excellent article in H&H by the ILPH about horses' diets.
Alternatively you could feed a balancer instead of the min & vit supplement which is a concentrated form of nutrients. This could be fed with a alfalfa based chaff for instance.

 

[lilym]

if from the same cut then just analyze one bale dodson and horrell have a service for this for a small fee.