Tell me about feeding barley..........

cob&onion

cob&onion

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I have heard that boiled barley is a great feed for keeping weight on during the winter.

Can someone explain to me how feed it and what you feed it too.........

Thanks :)
 
i feed it to my two year old idx he's a very poor doer and drops weight at the drop of a hat

I use dodson and horrell barley rings and soak them into a mash

My friend also feeds them to her exracer to maintain condition and he looks fab!

Just be careful as they can be very heating
 
Im feeding it to my poor doer TBxWB whos on box rst at the minute as shes tressing so not maintaining (but slowly gaining :)) weight.

Ill dial it down to maybe 1/2 a scoop between two feeds once she is at a healthy weight. Shes currently getting a round scoop between two feeds a day :)
 
Do you think the rings are as good as boiling it as straights?
Mare is out 24/7 and has been turned away till spring :)
 
I personally prefer the rings as I find it easier and I can make as much or as little as I need on a daily basis it takes about 15mins to soak in cold water and about 5 in warm water. I personally wouldnt home boil it, i used to do it in slow cooker overnight but with the rings I get the same effect but save lots of time x
 
Barley Rings? - gee some of you are real suckers and must have money to burn!

Buy whole barley, put the days ration into a slow cooker, pour on boiling water, put lid on and leave overnight. In the morning it will be all cooked and ready to mix into the rest of the feed.

It is so cheap to make and they do really well on it.
 
My understanding from studies is (though I've never read them) that the calorific value of boiled barley differs very little from flaked/bruised which is far easier IMO. Agree with Evelyn on the rings though!
 
Barley is best fed boiled or heat treated in some way (ie micronised) because this makes the starch more digestible for the horse. Micronised barley is often called flaked barley - Masham do 25kg bags of flaked micronised barley which usually work out very cost-effective. Feeding it in combination with beet is a good idea, because the beet supplies fibre and calcium that are lacking in the barley.

The downside of barley is that some horses do not tolerate it well - a common reaction is the appearance of lumps on the skin. And obviously because of the starch content it is not suitable for laminitics, and other horses sensitive to cereal starch.
 
You can't change the calorific value of things by cooking them but you can change how much of those calories are available. There is an eternal debate about leaving grains as whole as possible because it reduces the starch level and increases the fibre level, with the other wide arguing in favour of various heat treatment options to make it more quickly digested in the stomach.

I caqn't imagine I would ever feed it. Horses are ill equipped to digest starch (WAY fewer enzymes for digesting it than we have, or pigs have as a example) and it is almost inevitable that a trickle will reach the hind gut undigested. Some horses do not seem to show symptoms of that trickle - others will show stressy, "hot" behaviours and other stereotypies. These are from discomfort in the hind gut. I think there are much more natural, efficiently digested options that can keep weight on.
 
Okay so just to clear this up, barley husks have GOT to be boiled/soaked in boiling water.
Flaked barley and micronized barley are the same - these DON'T need soaking??
Barley rings - expensive but can be fed as they are or soaked as a mash?

If this is the case i may look out for micronized/flaked barley then, unless Barley husks can just be soaked in boiling water over night and theres no cooking?!
 
cob&onion said:
Okay so just to clear this up, barley husks have GOT to be boiled/soaked in boiling water.
Flaked barley and micronized barley are the same - these DON'T need soaking??
Barley rings - expensive but can be fed as they are or soaked as a mash?

If this is the case i may look out for micronized/flaked barley then, unless Barley husks can just be soaked in boiling water over night and theres no cooking?!
Click to expand...

Whole barley needs to be cooked, the grains are very hard and will not be digested properly otherwise, it can be fed rolled and not cooked but as others have said is not always the best feed for horses.

The rest is correct.
 
I fed D&H barley rings which are a barley & linseed mix last year to my youngster who was out 24/7 and dropped weight over the later part of the winter - he had it with beet and suregrow and a little bit of oil + plenty of Hay ! I didn't feed a lot as fed them soaked and they swell up + it was just for that extra little top up

Folk are saying they are expensive but at 9.60 a bag and saving all that faffing + buying a slow cooker I used a bag and a half so that is about 15, and imo hardly burning money !!
 
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