I don't know what Natural Glo recommends as a feeding protocol, but I have included 2
possibilities below.
Oat Hay: DE - 0.87 Mcal/lb Ca - 0.32% P - 0.25%
Alfalfa: DE - 1.03 Mcal/lb Ca - 1.37% P - 0.24%
50/50 mix DE - 0.90 Mcal/lb Ca - 0.85% P - 0.25%
Natural Glo doesn't give any DE figure, but they indicate 20% fat. Rice bran is 15% fat
so I assume they have added additional fat of about 5%.
Rice Bran DE - 1.30 Mcal/lb
Veg. Oil DE - 4.09 Mcal/lb
Natural Glo DE - 1.44 Mcal/lb Ca - 0.05% P - 1.8%
For our 1100 lb horse at light to moderate work we need about 23 Mcal.
Feeding 15 lb hay will give you 13.5 Mcal and you would need to feed 7 lb Natural Glo.
You would then be feeding .131 lb Ca and .164 lb P, or a too low ratio of 0.79.
Feeding 20 lb hay will give you 18 Mcal and you would need to feed 2.75 lb Natural Glo.
You would then be feeding 0.17 lb Ca and 0.10 lb P, or a Ca/P of 1.7 which is fine.
I have assumed mid bloom alfalfa in these calculations. Early bloom has higher Ca
levels and full bloom has lower. I would also caution that if the hay mix is field
grown (as opposed to alternating am-pm feedings or mixing your own) that there is
tremendous variability in grass alfalfa mix and would be real cautious.
If the pasture is grass then the Ca/P ratio is going to be very low.
Duncan Fletcher
dfletche@gte.net
Jorene Downs wrote:
>
> Ahhh, someone who seems to understand all this stuff! So I have a
> question. We normally feed 50/50 alfalfa/oat when the horses are in
> the barn (otherwise on irrigated pasture). Do you see problems
> supplementing with Natural Glo in this situation? (light-moderate
> work)
>
> - - -
> Jorene
> just moseyin' down the California trails ... :)
> - - -