Working it out - help please

[Girlychu]

Hi. I have a 8yo, 15hh piebald cob. For the past couple of years I have allowed him to run with the herd and eat ad lib hay during the winter. I allowed this to happen for a number of reasons, with the result that come spring he is a real fattie. This year Im determind not to allow this to happen.

During the summer he went from 587kg to 496kg and ideally he needs to be 460kg. I did this by working him every day and popping him in a starvation paddock.

This Winter I would like to feed only what he really needs and I will do this by restricting his grazing, having limited access to a mineral and vit lick and weighing his hay.

My question is what would be his daily intake of hay? What percentage of his bodyweight is it?

Any info/help welcome. Many thanks

 

[springer1021]

I think it's 2% of their body weight to maintain the weight and 1.5% if you want them to lose weight.

 

[Girlychu]

Thank you Springer1021. So that would be 2% of 496kg? and the answer would be made up totally of hay

 

[unbalanced]

You round his weight to 500 kilos then divide it by 100 to get 1% of his bodyweight, which is 5 kilos. Then times by 2 to get 2%. Simple!
If you want 1.5% you can just do half of 1% which is 2.5 kilos (half of 5) and add it on to the 5 kilos to get 1.5% or 7.5 kilos of hay for weight loss.

 

[unbalanced]

You round his weight to 500 kilos then divide it by 100 to get 1% of his bodyweight, which is 5 kilos. Then times by 2 to get 2%. Simple!
If you want 1.5% you can just do half of 1% which is 2.5 kilos (half of 5) and add it on to the 5 kilos to get 1.5% or 7.5 kilos of hay for weight loss.

Oh and this amount is the total amount of food he should consume in 24 hours including hay, grass and any hard feed.

 

[Girlychu]

Thank you. Ive been struggling with a calculator and its been ages since Ive had to do percentages (sp) %.