How much feed in one meal?

[jm16015]

Hi all, forgive the daft question; I know the general rule that you shouldn't feed more than 500g of feed per 100kg bodyweight per meal (so a 500kg horse shouldn't more than 2.5kg per feed), but does this apply to dry or soaked feed? My mare gets a sugarbeet/grass nuts mash (plus supplements), so obviously once soaked it is a lot heavier than it's initial dry weight. Can I give her up to 2.5kg of dry feed (which then becomes 3 or 4 times heavier once soaked) or should I only be given her 2.5kg of soaked feed? At the moment she's getting about 1.5kg (dry) at dinnertime and she woofs it down quite happily; she is a bit of a skinny minnie so I wouldn't be adverse to increasing her rations, but obviously I don't want to give her too much in one meal if it's going to be a waste on money and not going to get digested.

 

[windand rain]

increase calories before increasing bulk so add a mug of micronised linseed or some other high oil feed first would be my go to. however I think it is dry weight as fibre feeds are digested in a different way

 

[Bellaboo18]

increase calories before increasing bulk so add a mug of micronised linseed or some other high oil feed first would be my go to.

I'd do this. You can pack alot of calories in a very small feed.
ETA feeds only have to be fed an hour apart to be classed as a separate meal.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I, too, would add linseed into the meal. Do remember that the stomach of a Shire is barely bigger than that of a Shetland. I wouldn't give even a Shire 2.5 kg in one meal, tbh.

 

[be positive]

You will find she benefits more from having it split into at least 2 feeds, adding linseed would be ideal to give extra calories but in my experience a lean horse will gain more weight if fed 3 or 4 smaller feeds every day, obviously it is not always possible but if you can find a way to do so it will really help.

 

[ihatework]

Concentrates and fibres are digested differently, which is why if feeding a poor doer you can feed fibres ad-lib.
It sounds like your current bucket feed is currently fibre based.

In terms of size of bucket feed the weight is generally considered to be dry weight and concentrates. That said for a 500kg horse 2.5kg wouldn’t really be good practice. I have a 650kg horse that needs grub and he would get one heaped Stubbs scoop per meal of cubes that would be approx 2kg and the max I would go to. Mid winter he would get 3 meals a day (6kg), but most of the year when grass is good just 2 meals.

As others have said I’d look to feed higher calorie concentrated meals, as frequently as your schedule allows. linseed is an option as are high oil pellets (I like omega rice personally).

You could probably feed your soaked grass nuts overnight in a trug to supplement the bucket feeds if really needed. But for now I’d suggest 0.5kg each off grass and Sb dry - soaked, with 0.5kg of omega rice added. Minimum twice a day.

 

[jm16015]

increase calories before increasing bulk so add a mug of micronised linseed or some other high oil feed first would be my go to. however I think it is dry weight as fibre feeds are digested in a different way

She is already on 200g of micronised linseed (sorry should have clarified, I lump it in with the supplements!)
Really I'm just curious to know how much I can give her in one go that's all going to be digested properly! As the grass nuts and sugarbeet are fibre based and not cereals, I have a vague memory that they can be fed pretty much 'ad lib', but would like to make sure I haven't just made this up!

 

[windand rain]

Yep can be fed ad lib but bucket feeds are still best fed little and often