Grass or alfalfa hay, or a combination of the two, are good sources of roughage. Grass hay is generally higher in fiber and dry matter than alfalfa, but alfalfa may be higher in protein, energy, vitamins and calcium. Hay can be long-stemmed in hay bales, or come bagged in cubes, or pellets. Many horse owners feed grass hay or straight alfalfa or a combination of grass and alfalfa to their horses. Grasses commonly used as hay are brome, orchard, and timothy.
Horses need good quality hay. It should be bright green, leafy and fine textured, with a fresh, pleasant aroma.
Musty hay or other indications of mold or heating, and dust, weeds and other foreign material in hay can be unhealthy for an animal. Color is an indicator of quality and nutrient content; good hay is a bright green.
Most nutrients in hay are in the leaves, and leafy hay is a valuable source of food. Leafiness is influenced by the kind of hay, its maturity when cut, the weather conditions while growing and curing the hay, and curing procedures of the hay.
Dust is objectionable in any feed for horses. It not only reduces the taste of the hay, it also aggravates respiratory problems. Sprinkling or dunking dusty hay in water can reduce dust.
Avoid feeding moldy or dusty hay. In the field, heavy rain can break off drying hay leaves and leaches energy and protein from the hay.
Hay baled before it is dry enough will lose nutrients through fermentation, or heating in the bale. This sometimes starts fires through spontaneous combustion in barnyard stacks of stored, baled hay. This type of hay is unacceptable for horses. Good pasture or grass that an animal can graze can be an economical food for horses, but pasture must be maintained.
If animals are allowed to graze on a pasture too long, the grass may be killed. Well-managed pastures reduce feed costs and provide energy, protein, vitamins and minerals to animals. An exercise lot with a few blades of grass is not a pasture; such a lot, or overgrazed pasture, is not a source of nutrients and can be a serious source of internal parasites.
When a grass stand becomes too thin, overgrown, coarse or unappetizing to a horse, it should be clipped or mowed.
Lush pasture forages can act as a laxative in early spring and may cause founder. Introduce horses gradually to pastures by slowly increasing their daily grazing time. Small grains, such as corn, oats and barley, are known as concentrates. Concentrates are lower in fiber and higher in energy than roughages. The grain should be clean, mold- and insect-free, with a bright color. Grain quality is just as important as hay quality.
Grains may be cracked, steamed or rolled, but, if ground too finely, may cause respiratory problems or colic. Oats are the safest and easiest grain to feed with hay because it is high in fiber and low in energy, and higher in protein than corn. Corn has the highest energy content of any grain and can put weight on a horse quickly. It can be fed on the ear, cracked, rolled or shelled. Barley is an intermediate source of energy and protein content. All grains are low in calcium, but high in phosphorus.
Protein and vitamin-mineral supplements are added to the diet to increase the diet's concentration. Grains are energy supplements to a high forage diet. Only add supplements to the diet if something is missing. Some protein supplements are oilseed meals, soybeans, cottonseed, linseed flaxseed meal, peanut meal, sunflower seed meal and rapeseed canola.
Vitamin and mineral supplements should only be added to the diet if the horse is deficient. Generally, the only minerals of concern in feeding horses are calcium, phosphorus and salt.
In some geographical areas, lack of selenium and, in growing horses, copper and zinc, is a concern. Other minerals are likely to be present in adequate amounts in a normal diet. Concentrated mixes are cereal grains with supplements added to increase the specific nutrient content of the mix.
A complete feed is a grain mix that is high in fiber because it contains a forage or high-fiber byproducts feed such as hulls. Complete feeds are held together, usually by extrusion puffed up like dog food or by forming into pellets. If you are feeding a commercial complete feed, you will not need to feed hay follow the label for feeding recommendations. There are also feeds for specific classes of horses. Some feeds are specially formulated for young, growing horses weanlings and yearlings ; and for geriatric aged horses that are old and have specific nutritional needs.
Some commercial feed companies make pre-mixed, convenient, easy-to-use formulated feeds for horses that are on different hay diets such as grass or alfalfa. You should not need to add any other supplements to the diet.
When the supplemental feed is concentrate, overeating may lead to colic and laminitis. The more submissive horses in the group may not receive enough food and thus may lose body weight and condition. In addition, the competition between horses for food in group feeding situations may lead to injuries resulting from kicking, biting, etc.
Individual Feeding A distinct advantage to individual feeding systems is that every horse can receive a ration that has been specifically designed to meet its needs. There is maximum flexibility in the amount and types of feeds that can be given to each horse. Generally, individual feeding also reduces the opportunity for injury due to competition for feed within a group.
On the negative side, it is more time- and labor-consuming to feed horses individually than to feed them as a group. Further, individual feeding systems usually require some type of facility where horses can be separated, usually a barn with stalls. The horses may be housed in the stall more or less continuously, or just brought into the stall at feeding time. It is not uncommon for horses that are fed in stalls to develop undesirable behaviors at feeding time.
For example, horses may kick at partitions, walk the stall or strike at the door in anticipation of feeding. Some of the disadvantages associated with individual feeding can be minimized with good barn and stall design.
For example, the time and labor associated with feeding can be reduced if all feeders are placed at the front of the stalls in a location that can be reached without entering the stall. For example, small doors that swing out into the aisleway can be placed above the grain tub. May be cavity under tail. Slight step where neck meets shoulders Some cover over dorsal withers Spinous processes felt but not prominent Ribs not visible but can be felt with ease.
Dorsal and transverse processes felt with light pressure. Poor muscle development either side midline. Poor muscle cover on hindquarters, hip bones felt with ease. Neck flows smoothly into shoulder, which is rounded. Belly firm with good muscle tone and flattish outline. Cannot feel individual spinous or transverse processes.
Muscle development either side of midline is good. Good muscle cover in hindquarters, hip bones rounded in appearance, can be felt with light pressure. Withers broad bones felt with firm pressure. Ribs dorsally only felt with firm pressure, ventral ribs may be felt more easily. Overdeveloped belly. Can only feel dorsal and transverse processes with firm pressure. Slight crease along midline. Hindquarters rounded, bones felt only with firm pressure.
Fat deposits evenly placed 5 Obese Neck thick, crest bulging with fat and may fall to one side. Shoulder rounded and bulging with fat. Withers broad, unable to feel bones. Large, often uneven fat deposits covering dorsal and possible ventral aspect of ribs. Ribs not palpable. Belly pendulous in depth and width Back broad, unable to feel spinous or transverse processes.
Deep crease along midline bulging fat either side. Cannot feel hip bones, fat may overhang either side of tail head, fat often uneven and bulging. You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form. Enter a valid email address. This feedback form is for issues with the nidirect website only. You can use it to report a problem or suggest an improvement to a webpage. Enter your feedback characters maximum.
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Coarse hay with long stems that smells spicy and light green to yellow in color is the healthiest for your horse. Always check whether there is no stinking willie on the land. If you doubt the quality of your roughage, or if you want to know if your hay contains all the necessary ingredients in the right proportions, you can have it analyzed. Hay is fairly consistent in quality. When you buy the suits, you can see, feel and smell what you get or rather: your horse in general terms.
Hay can not hurt: in principle, a horse can eat it without restrictions. Hay can be dusty and if it was not dry enough when it came from the land, later became wet or stored for too long, it could go moldy.
In addition, hay must be kept dry and in a ventilated place. Not completely dried grass. It is also called pre-dry pit, grass silage, press feed or silage.
Silage hay contains much more moisture forty percent than hay twenty percent. Because silage hay for horses is much coarser, less protein-rich and drier, this is also called predatory pit.
Silage for cows is browner, more acidic and wetter than the feed that is healthy for horses. It is important to clearly describe which silage you want. Good silage for cows is a completely different product than a good pit for horses, for your horse you have to say that you are looking for dry, hard-growing silage.
How is it made? The grass is pressed into silage bales before being completely dried on land. The food is sealed airtight with plastic. A biochemical process is created in the silage bale so that lactic acid bacteria in the grass multiply. This preserves the product. Silage hay contains less crude fiber and more protein than hay, so it is less suitable for colicky horses.
Unlimited hay can not hurt in most cases, unlimited silage. The plastic bales can be stored outdoors, saving space. Silage is damper than hay and much less dusty.
That is why it is suitable, for example, for horses with sensitive airways. Many people are annoyed by the heirs where the bales of silage are stacked up high. A hay is more beautiful than shiny plastic bales. The quality of silage is less constant than that of hay because it depends on the way the product is preserved. When the plastic packaging is opened, the feed can only be kept for a limited period of time. Many horse owners are worried about the fact that silage in its packaging undergoes a kind of 'rotting process'.
Pit does indeed spoil faster than hay, but it is certainly not the case that with silage, your horse gives a 'rot' product. Pit should smell a little sour, but the product should not be too wet or smelly. Cut corn or maize silage is chopped and ensiled maize. When producing maize, the whole plant is used, not just the corn cob. By collapsing airtight covering , the maize generally undergoes the same process as silage: the lactic acid bacteria ensure that a preservation process takes place.
It is produced as feed for pigs and cows, but some horse people regularly get a bucket from the farmer to feed their horse. Cut corn contains a lot of energy, a fair amount of fiber and little or no protein. Many people use cut maize to make chunky horses thicker, but opinions as to whether they are healthy are divided.
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