Hence, legume forages are best suited for horses with elevated nutrient requirements such as equine athletes, broodmares and growing horses. On the other hand, grass forages, because of the lower energy content, may be better suited to horses that gain weight easily or for pleasure horses.
The mixed grass or corn plant/alfalfa cubes are recommended if fed as the sole source of forage to adult maintenance horses. Straight alfalfa cubes will contain more protein and calcium than the normal adult horse needs, but will not harm the horse as long as its kidneys are functioning properly.
Lucerne Hay and Grass Hay being the most popular. Lucerne Hay is a favourite hay for horses and contains ample protein (between 15% – 18%). For some horses, this may be more than they require. Lucerne is an excellent option (due to high protein levels) for Foals, Mares with foals at foot, and growing horses.
Feedstuffs high in fat include vegetable oils (100%), rice bran (15-18%), flax seeds (30-40%), and heat-treated soybeans (15-22%). In addition, commercially available fat-added concentrates typically contain 5–14% crude fat.
While most horses do well and thrive on a grass hay diet, other horses with different needs and medical conditions are better suited to being fed a diet of grass/alfalfa mix, or an exclusively all alfalfa.
Consider the amount of hay or pasture your horse gets: Horses who are grazing on good pasture the majority of the day don't need much hay, if any. Horses who don't get much turnout or aren't on good pasture will need more hay, whether they are inside or out.
Adding vegetable oil purchased from the grocery store is one of the most cost effective and easiest ways to supplement fat in your horse's feed ration. You can use peanut, canola, corn, or any other vegetable oil your horse prefers.
Employ stabilized rice bran.
Much like the widespread use of vegetable oil, stabilized rice bran has been a staple feedstuff in the equine industry for many years. Rice bran is naturally high in fat and extremely palatable, which makes it an appropriate energy source for horses.
Free access to good forage is essential for any horse but particularly critical for those that struggle to keep weight on. You can help your horse to gain weight simply by swapping his hay for alfalfa, which has a higher protein content.
Protein Content
Lucerne may have anywhere from 16 to 20% protein, while grass may only have 4 to 12% protein, depending on the quality of the hay. In general, the protein in lucerne/alfalfa is in excess of the requirement of the horse, and grass hay or oaten chaff may be just right or too low to meet the requirement.
Alternately, leisure horses can be overfed and encounter health problems due to diets too rich from very high-quality hay. Knowing the hay's forage quality is the key.
A horse needs to eat 1.5% to 3% of their body weight in food daily! In our example of a 1,000-pound horse, they would need between 15 to 30 pounds of forage. It is recommended that at least 1% of a horse's daily food intake is comprised of roughage, such as high-fiber chopped hay for horses.
Typically an adult horse will consume 1.0 to 2.0 percent of its body weight daily in forage. This would mean that a 1,000 pound horse would consume 10-20 lbs.
Examples of fibre types with higher digestibility include early cut, soft leafy hay, haylage, grass, alfalfa and sugar beet. For horses that need to gain weight we should therefore focus on using these types of fibre.
You should avoid oats with a light weight per bushel because of their low energy and high fiber content. The best oats usually come from the north central states such as Minnesota, North and South Dakota and northern Iowa. Corn is fine for feeding horses, but is highly concentrated in energy.
For boosting calories and keeping omega balance in check, canola or soybean oil would be a far better choice than corn oil,” explained Whitehouse. Fish oil has superior fatty acid content, with an omega-3 to omega-6 ratio of 6:1, but it is generally not fed to increase energy consumption.
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Fat sources are a great way to get more calories, because every gram of fat provides 2.25 times more calories than an equal weight of carbohydrate or protein. A couple of pounds of rice bran in combination with beet pulp often does a nice job of putting weight on horses.
A balanced diet with a lot of hay will do wonders to your horses topline. Soya bean meal is a great carb and protein source for your horse, just make sure you get it from a quality source. Speedibeet is an allround feed with high nutrional content.
Answer: While horses do not need 24-7-365 access to forage (hay or pasture), they do need enough forage to ensure their nutritional requirements are met and that they have enough forage to maintain stomach and gastrointestinal tract health.
Warmer weather or dark periods (night hours or cloudy days) offer better times to graze as plants are using sugars for quick growth.
According to the sixth edition of the NRC's Nutrient Requirements of Horses, one study concluded that horses need to graze for 17 hours daily to meet their nutritional needs. So unless your horse is going to be on pasture 24/7, it doesn't sound like he'll be able to meet his forage needs on pasture alone.