feeding straights (grain)

[All]

has any one have any experience feeding horses straights eg grain

i have access to straight grains as part of my job
and am looking to see if i could feed a horse on them

i can get
maze
soya
red meal
sugar beet
barley
soya oil
fish meal (probably not recommend for a horse)
whey (liquid)

some people i have asked say
its not worth it as i will not get the nutrition balance and minerals right (fair enough)
or they say the cost would be to high ( its free for me)

 

[Carrottom]

I would ask why you are looking to feed/what yout horse is currently fed?
I think that the grains in your list need processing before feeding to horses.

 

[PurBee]

I wouldnt feed any on that list except cooked/sprouted barley, if horse was in a decent level of work to burn off the carbs without becoming a fizz-head, and sugar beet, once the sugar’s been removed.

maize - high starch/carbs, id want to cook it
soy - phytoestrogens mimicking estrogen in the body causing numerous down-stream issues (same with alfalfa and other legumes)
fish meal - never, strict herbivores consuming fish protein, gut bacteria shifts etc same reason i wouldnt feed hay nuts to my cat -some ingredients can reach way over the ‘species specific’ benchmark.
whey liquid - theres several types, and generally is mostly water with lactose, few minerals - the horse as an adult doesnt necessarily have lactase enzyme to break down the lactose sugar to avail of the sugar nutrition. There’s a risk of intolerance.
(Whey protein liquid is whey liquid thats been further refined to extract all protein making it a more protein rich liquid than standard whey, there’s possibility in this process the lactose is removed, would be brand specific)

 

[Cragrat]

As above, it massively depends on what sort of horse you have and what their work load is.

Boiled barley, rolled oats, cooked flaked maize are all good feeds for hard working horses, when combined with other feeds to balance them. Sugar beet is very useful, especially with no added molasses. For the reasons PurBee points out, I try to avoid soya - but it is in many bagged feeds becuase it is a cheap form of protein.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

If you search back a few years you will find a feed mix I developed for my ponies
Oats need to be bruised and fed within six weeks.
No wheat, maize, or other unknown grains.
Unmolassed dry sugar beet pulp is a good base feed, MUST be soaked every day, or horse will colic.
Barley is to put on weight, usually boiled.
All grains or straights as they are known need to be mixed with chaff or other base.
Linseed is a good oil, but some others might be OK, not soya.
Minerals to be added at recommended rate. They are an expensive component of a commercial feed, so you will find you have to feed more nuts etc purely in order to get to daily mineral requirement
Be very careful feeding stuff because it is free. You need it to be fresh and suitable for your horses.
I remember some woman leaving two sacks of cooking apples at the stables, enough to kill every pony in the yard I would think.

 

[Lois Lame]

Perhaps a bit of maize, cracked.
Sugar beet, soaked.
Barley, boiled.
Soya - seems to be everywhere, probably because it's cheap. I'd avoid.
Red meal - no clue what that is. A meat product?
Soya oil - no. I don't like oil. I prefer using the whole grain, such as linseed, either crushed before use or boiled.
Fish meal - definitely not.
Whey (liquid) - no.
And like the others, I think roughage should be fed with grain - as course a roughage as possible. (I think it's cut too small.)

 

[PurBee]

Perhaps a bit of maize, cracked.
Sugar beet, soaked.
Barley, boiled.
Soya - seems to be everywhere, probably because it's cheap. I'd avoid.
Red meal - no clue what that is. A meat product?
Soya oil - no. I don't like oil. I prefer using the whole grain, such as linseed, either crushed before use or boiled.
Fish meal - definitely not.
Whey (liquid) - no.
And like the others, I think roughage should be fed with grain - as course a roughage as possible. (I think it's cut too small.)

youve reminded me, i forgot about red meal as im also unsure what it is! Beetroot flakes?

 

[Mule]

I feed rolled oats. I also feed sugar beet. The straights I buy are generic agricultural feed. The sugar beet has no added molasses. If you have access to straights I would definitely take advantage of it. You can feed whole oats as well as rolled oats. Horses can digest them. You can also soak them if you want. Oats are the best grain to feed as they are highest in fibre and lowest in starch and sugars.

It's very important to soak sugar beet, they will choke if it isn't soaked.
I make up a few days worth in the evening, and feed it the next day. You can use boiling water if you need it done quickly. It expands massively. It can also be used as a partial hay replacement if necessary. I haven't fed any of the others on your list.

 

[[153312]]

maze - starch.bomb
soya - cheap filler used in many feeds precisely because there's not much to it
red meal - what is this?
sugar beet - yes but it's NSC is quite high
barley - needs processing
soya oil - no, there's much better oils available
fish meal (probably not recommend for a horse) - absolutely not, indigestible for a horse and very little quality nutrition in it even if they could...
whey (liquid) - again, why?

All the above are, like the fish meal though to a lesser degree, relatively hard to digest and low in nutrients anyway. You'd have to feed collosal amounts to see any benefit whatsoever.

 

[MidChristmasCrisis]

I haven’t fed straights for years but a friends just gives her horses a feed of boiled barley if they ve been ridden.

 

[TGM]

You say you want to know whether you could feed 'a horse' on them? I presume that means you don't have a horse of your own at present? The only ones of those I would feed to a horse would be the barley (but would boil it first) and the sugar beet. However, I would only feed that to a hard-working horse (perhaps a hunter) that struggled to keep condition on, and that would still be alongside ad lib hay or haylage.

However, if you are thinking that access to free straights might be a way to significantly reduce the costs of keeping a first horse you might be rather disappointed. The main cost of feeding a horse (particularly in the winter when good grazing is not usually available) is the forage - hay or haylage. The majority of leisure horses in light work will get the majority of their calories from hay/haylage/grass and will need very little in the way of bucket feed. And, in fact, if you tried to feed them, say, barley and sugar beet you might end up with problems such as laminitis, excess excitability etc., due to the high sugar and starch levels.

 

[teddy_]

I like feeding barley rings but, be mindful of the high protein content which does not suit some horses. Especially horses prone to stocking up.

 

[I'm Dun]

sugar beet make a good base feed. But it depends what horse you are feeding and what work its in etc

 

[All]

This red meal I am referring to is actually rapeseed meal

 

[Lois Lame]

I don't know anything about rapeseed, but meal in general I am not a fan of.