I've been reading this with interest. I
personally would like to put out enough hay so ours would nibble all day, but
all they do is toss it out of the deep wooden bin I put it in and then stomp it
into the ground. I adjust the amount of hay dependent on how much of it
they eat and how much they waste. I'm feeding grass/alfalfa (heavy to grass)
and one of the horses just turns up his nose at it, flings it out on
the ground and walks all over it. Sometimes, I just rake it up, put it
back in the bin and add a small amount of fresh hay. Or sometimes I don't
rake it up, but just add a small amount of fresh hay to the bin. Amazing
what a little hunger will do to a horse's attitude.
I've always had enough hay set out as to have my horses be able to nibble
at something all day. I just think it's just plain safer for keeping a
more even weight in the intestines and (I'm hoping) less chance for a twist in
them. I don't think horses are very well designed to eat a meal in the
morning of about 2 hours and nothing until that evening. I know
it's not good for my BIG dogs so we feed 3 small meals a day to them for
the same reason.
Tammy Robinson (16,000 AERC miles) Trail-Rite
Products 18171 Lost Creek Road Saugus, CA 91390 661/513-9269
office 661/713-3912 cell 661/513-9206 fax www.trail-rite.com
In a message dated 2/6/2008 11:11:22 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
> I
thought that "adequate" intake was about 2% of body weight.
Since > he is 840 lbs, that is about 16.8 - 17 lbs, which is
about what he > normally seems to eat, including
supplements. So -- I thought he was > doing OK in that
respect. However, it sounds as if other folks >
horses eat a whole lot more than 2% body weight of hay. So -- is
the > 2% figure wrong, or on the low end, or ??
That's
maintenance. Work or lactation takes a lot more. Figure an
intake of 3-4% of body weight for heavy work or for lactation, preferably on
the high side of that for lactation, and wherever within that range meets
the level of work being
asked.
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