Home Current News News Archive Shop/Advertise Ridecamp Classified Events Learn/AERC
Endurance.Net Home Ridecamp Archives
ridecamp@endurance.net
[Archives Index]   [Date Index]   [Thread Index]   [Author Index]   [Subject Index]

[RC] Weight hay requirements/question for Heidi and Susan - Patti Kuvik

What is the "recommended" amount in weight per horse per feeding -2x per

day

feeding of good quality grass/alfalfa hay? These are Arabs, age 6 and 7 in
moderate (2-3 times a week) endurance training. They live in a pasture with
covered feeding/shelters to get out of the rain.


If you look at the "Nutrient Requirement Tables" and the "Dry Matter Intake
Table" on the Equi-Analytical website
http://www.equi-analytical.com/default.htm (under the tab "Putting Results
to Work")
you'll see there's a lot more than just "how much" hay.
An 880 lb horse in moderate work requires approximately 1.9% of their body
weight in dry matter and 20.1 Mcal/day and 804 grams CP (crude protein).
Based on DairyOne Library averages
http://www.dairyone.com/Forage/FeedComp/disclaimer.asp
Bermuda hay can range from 0.870 to 1.019 Mcal/lb and 7.8 to 13.3% CP (or 35
to 60 grams CP per lb). The lower energy hay (DE or Mcal) would require
23lbs/day to meet calories needs to not lose weight, or 20lbs of the higher
energy hay.
Alfalfa, with a DE of 1.04 to 1.34 Mcal/lb (and CP of 18-23%) would require
15 to 19 lbs.
Theoretically, a horse could stuff himself on low DE, low CP hay and not
meet his minimum needs for calories and protein - or he could be eating what
he considers starvation rations of a high DE hay and become overweight. You
can wait and see if your horse loses or gains weight, or can have his forage
analyzed - not difficult to do and fairly cheap insurance ($24 for
DairyOne's NIR plus wet chem minerals) to see if it will provide his needs.
Because high DE does not necessarily correlate with high CP, the calorie
needs could be met but provide inadequate protein (or vice versa). Protein
quality may be more important than quantity - while mixed hay plus pasture
is likely to provide a good amino acid profile it might not be sufficient
for a horse in serious training. General hay and pasture analysis doesn't
test for amino acids but the estimated lysine can be used as a "marker" to
judge if the forage has reasonable amino acid levels or needs to be
supplemented. KER's library http://www.ker.com/ has several "readable"
articles on protein (and minerals and other nutrition topics).

Patti Kuvik
Vail AZ

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=