Quick dim question - Forage

Persephone

Persephone

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 August 2007
Messages
19,992
Location
Down South
Visit site
Thinking I should be a bit more scientific about my forage feeding!

Can anyone remind me of the percentage as rule of thumb per KG bodyweight please?

I have googled but have found variation!

Also would the percentage take into account grass eaten during turnout? Do I have to split by hour in/out to be more accurate?

Thanka!!
 
So how do you know how much they have eaten in the field?

Or do you split the 24 hours by how much time in/out?

say 700kg/2% = 14KG/24 to give KG per hr then x it by say 14 hours in?

Do you see what I mean?
 
I do my nets as 1.5% of body weight as although they are out grazing for the best part of 10 hours, there is very little in the grass nutrition wise at the moment.

ETA- Horse is 521kg approx, so net weighs 7.5-8kg, there about.
 
Golden rule is between 1.5%-3% so 1.5% weight loss, 2-2.5% for maintenance, 3% Weight gain - ish you need to play around a bit with your own horse.

You do need to take into account grass, chaff etc and est grass can be hard but you could do lots of grass assume horse is eating suffient quanitys, winter / hardly any grass nil or negilable intake.

Grass is up to 50% water so only half can potentially be fibre and nutrients and the wetter the less fibre / nutrients so this does need to be taken into account as well.

Adlib is best if your horse is in good condition and if they are leaving a bit by the time you come to refill then that is what your horse deems it needs.
 
I agree, have always been an adlib feeder, but with spring coming, and her being at a perfect weight now, I don't want her to pile the pounds on as the grass comes through IYSWIM.

She was a total bloater last year and I don't want it to happen again!
 
Their feed intake is based on their appetite. If you have a horse with a poor appetite its no good feeding them 3% bw in fibre because they wont get through it and consequently loose weight. You'd have to feed them a more calorie rich diet, likewise you need to feed a horse with a good appetite 3% of their bw but it would have to be calorie sparing- i.e. soaked hay.
You assume a horse at grass will get their needed requirement from the time at grass so long as the pasture is adequate. If they have 8 hours at pasture they have 8/24 (33%) their fibre intake.
 
Persephone said:
I agree, have always been an adlib feeder, but with spring coming, and her being at a perfect weight now, I don't want her to pile the pounds on as the grass comes through IYSWIM.

She was a total bloater last year and I don't want it to happen again!
Click to expand...

Id still feed ad lib but monitor weight weekly, if she starts to increase, reduce ration accordingly to maintain, its different for each horse, as they may metabolise at a different rate
 
Unless you have a weigh bridge to weigh your horse its very difficult as weigh tapes can be miles out!
I try to use the 1.5% rule for my good doer but its only a very rough guide as I don't really know his weight, weigh tape says 490kg but have heard of them being out by up to 100kg! I monitor him with the tape regularly just to see if he's going up or down, and adjust his forage accordingly, so not really scientific at all :)
 
Marydoll said:
Id still feed ad lib but monitor weight weekly, if she starts to increase, reduce ration accordingly to maintain, its different for each horse, as they may metabolise at a different rate
Click to expand...
This^^^^^.

If you make sure that you use the same weight tape each week, you can monitor the weight, it does not matter whether it is an accurate weight or not, so long as you make a note of optimum measurement and compare subsequent measurements to that.
 
My mare turns into a spacehopper overnight when the grass starts growing - so she'll be in her grazing muzzle from this weekend when she's out, and I'll continue with her forage at the same level as now. Even with the muzzle (GreenGuard) she'll still get enough grass intake, and she'll gradually stop eating all of her hay. - there were a couple of mouthfuls left this morning She'll probably be in the muzzle until the end of October, on previous experience, but again it's the consumption of hay that drives it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top