how big is a 'big' feed?

A

at work

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 March 2007
Messages
326
Visit site
A question that has often puzzled me
blush.gif


My horse is fed twice a day, and at the moment gets 1 scoop conditioning cubes in each feed and nothing else - well, plenty of hay and grass in between, no other hard feed. Everything I've ever read says 'little and often' or 'small stomach, small feeds'.

Now I need to increase the amount of feed energy to my horse and practically I can't feed more often, so I need to increase the volume of the feeds. I'm thinking of giving Alfalfa-sugar beet. So - if you feed 'two scoops of this' and 'half a scoop of that' and 'a large scoop of the other' (if you get what I mean) and end up feeding a full bucket, how does that fit with the advice to give small feeds?

I'm confused
crazy.gif
 
If you feed foodstuffs that are high in energy, you can increase the calories you get into your horse without increasing the size of the feed. Horse 'calories' are expressed in terms of megajoules of digestible energy (MJDE) and should be listed on the bag somewhere and on the manufacturer's website. So if you were feeding a cube that had 10 MJDE/kg, if you changed to a cube with 12.5 MJDE/kg, you could have the same size feed but it would supply more calories. Oil is a particularly good food in this respect as it is very dense in calories - you can either add straight oil to the feed, or use an oil-rich supplement such as Equijewel (about 15MJDE/kg) or Outshine (about 24MJDE/kg).
 
no feed containing starch should be more than 2kg in weight or it will just go straight through the horse's stomach and into the hindgut and cause all sorts of problems. your average scoop of mix weighs 1kg, nuts a little bit more. i see so many people giving huuuuge buckets of hard feed - complete waste of money and really not good for the horse. if they're still not getting enough from 2 feeds of 2kg a day then either give a 3rd feed or i find giving them one feed of concentrates in the morning then a huge tubtrug of fibre at night works quite well - anything fibre can go in the tubtrug - alfalfa, sugar beet, alfa-beet, grass nuts, ready-grass, fibre nuggets, anything like that and it keeps them busy for ages.
 
[ QUOTE ]
i see so many people giving huuuuge buckets of hard feed - complete waste of money and really not good for the horse

[/ QUOTE ]

That is sort of what worries me - I could give more concentrate per feed but will it do any good? I guess the question is, if I give fibre-feeds like sugar beet mixed into 2kg concentrate - am I giving a huge feed or not?

If the argument (which I've heard) is that they are 'only' fibre and the horse eats them more slowly than concnetrates, are they actually better than just giving good hay?
 
I feed huge feeds during the winter (3+ full Stubb scoops (big half circle one) full), but it's all fibre - Hifi/Readigrass/Alfa-Oil depending on weight, and sugarbeet. It takes them a good hour to eat usually. It keeps them occupied, makes them feel full and keeps them warm (esp important as unrugged)

If I need to feed a large amount of hard feed (large amount is more than a scoop full) I give it in a feed ball - it then takes hours for them to get at it (assuming stabled), esp if you mix a couple of handfuls of chaff in to slow the release.

Is he stabled at night/have a flat indivual paddock? If so a feedball may be the way to go. You could feed a BIG bucket of high energy fibre (Alfa-Oil and sugarbeet) and put a large scoop of hard feed into the feed ball. If you mix the hard feed into the fibre, it still gets pushed through the stomach too quickly (albeit 'diluted' with fibre). With a feed ball he'll stuff himself full with fibre then slowly graze the hard feed as he manages to get it out the ball.

It's what I did with Kalli the year I got her, as she was thin. Barley rings esp as great for it - high energy and a good size for feed balls. Plus they're fairly cheap.

As for Oil - if you feed oil is large quantities (i.e more than a splash) you need to supplement them with Vit E as horses are poor at digesting fats and oils. Alfa-Oil (dengie) would be ideal - it's very high in oil (and therefore calories), all fibre and has added vit E.
 
Agree with Star. 2kg of hard feed - not including fibre otherwise straight out of the stomach.

Remember, your horses stomach is approximately the same size as a rugby ball.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I feed huge feeds during the winter (3+ full Stubb scoops (big half circle one) full), but it's all fibre - Hifi/Readigrass/Alfa-Oil depending on weight, and sugarbeet. It takes them a good hour to eat usually. It keeps them occupied, makes them feel full and keeps them warm (esp important as unrugged)

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto above,
People cringe when the see the huge bucket I feed my horse and past horses but it depends on what you are feeding them with, which is what I have to point out every time they see the bucket and gasp thinking its a huge bucket of mix or nuts etc....its only Redigrass, chop and alfa a etc...which takes him as long to eat as it would do pecking at lush grass of stuffing his face with hay from a net etc. Not only that but he chucks it all over the stable or field anyway so I have to make a huge bucket so he's gets what he needs as he just wastes half it.

He gets this all year round, through winter I will introduce sugar beat and bailey no.4 as a separate small meal.

My rule re feeding is fibre fibre fibre, lots of it and as much as they will eat...and only the best, then smaller amounts of what is not natural to their diet, condition mixes, sugar beat etc etc Never leave a horse on an empty stomach, never feed just before or just after exercise (where they can bolt lots of food down) Never let them drink lots of cold water after exercise and never turn out on frosty morning without a warm bran mash...old fashioned but my parents drilled that into me and it has never failed a horse yet.
smile.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
If the argument (which I've heard) is that they are 'only' fibre and the horse eats them more slowly than concnetrates, are they actually better than just giving good hay?

[/ QUOTE ] Depends on the horse. I would always say start off with adlib good quality hay and a horse with a good appetite will often eat enough of that to stay in good condition. Hay or haylage is usually the cheapest way to get lots of calories into a horse. However, some horses don't eat a lot of hay - once dental problems have been ruled out, then feeding big tubs of fibre is a good way to get more roughage into them. However works out a lot more expensive than hay.
 
All mine get huge size feeds but made up of soaked Copra Meal, Sugar Beet and Grass Nuts so mainly a sloppy bucket of highly digestable protein and fibre 'mush' for them to slurp away on!
If using concentrates make it a maximum of 2kg for a horse and 1kg for a pony.
 
my 4 yr old freisian is on 2 feeds a day which includes in each feed
half scoop competition mix (dodson and horrell)
2 handful of apple flavoured mollichaff plus he gets a normal size haynet (not stuffed) filled with adlib hay and half a section of horse hage ( high fibre one) he also gets 1/4 or so of baileys no 4 in his ball only because another one of our neds is on it lol
wink.gif


he is currently being ridden most days for 2 hrs hacking

is he getting enough for his work load bearing in mind he is not a highly strung horse lol although he is finding his feet now!!!! lol
grin.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top