Winter Feeding

[rhightsh@aaamissouri.com]

I live in an area where the winter temperatures range from moderate
(yesterday's low was 47 degrees), to cold (today's low will be 26 degrees)
to not much fun and below (tomorrow's low will be 10 degrees or less).  The
wind chill factor is frequently below the freezing mark.  I know many
states have winters much colder than we do.  My reason for bringing this up
is not so we get into a contest on who has the most severe winters; I'll
let someone else claim that honor if it will make him or her happy.
Personally, I wish the weather were good all year round so I could enjoy
riding more often.

The reason I bring this up is to see if I can learn a horse feeding formula
that is influenced by weather, particularly the wind chill index.  Has
anyone created a chart showing how much to increase calories fed to horses
according to the wind chill factor?

For example, when the morning temperature was 47 degrees and the wind chill
was above freezing, I fed my average 1000 lb. horse 1/4 lb. of MFA 32%
Easykeeper, 1/4 lb. of oats and 2 flakes of timothy hay.  Since it was not
muddy enough to ruin my pasture (fescue), I turned them out for the day.

What about feeding tomorrow morning?  The temperature is supposed to be 10
degrees and the wind chill will be well below 0 degrees.  I'll probably
free feed hay but what about increasing the amount of oats,  adding corn
oil, etc.?  I wish I knew a formula that I could use to feed according to
the wind chill and have my horses maintain their normal weight throughout
the winter.

I believe a formula for feeding according to the wind chill index would
make a great paper for publication.  However, since I personally don't have
the determination to be an equine nutritionist, I probably won't be the one
to publish my idea.  I would appreciate learning from you all what formula
is used most often for feeding when the weather is cold and the temperature
fluctuates considerably.  Thanks.  Bob





=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=