Good alfalfa can be 18-20% protein and 55% TDN or energy. Getting your horse high quality Alfalfa Pellets, best organic pellets, is of foremost importance. If good quality baled Alfalfa isn’t available, substitute Alfalfa pellets or cubes. A bleached, yellow, brown or black color may indicate aged hay, mold or poor storage conditions. The common vegetable oils used in horse feeds are corn oil, soy oil and flax oil (linseed oil). Canola oil, sunflower oil, coconut oil and palm oil are also used, but less frequently. Storage condition and age have a significant effect on vitamin content of hays. should eat approximately 16 pounds of alfalfa cubes per day. When it comes to feeding your horses you know how important it is for me to look out for healthy organic and natural products. Alfalfa horse feed contain nearly three times as much calcium as grass. This need can be met by supplying Alfalfa as half of a horse’s roughage. Feeding horses Alfalfa reduces or even eliminates the need for supplements which often have a … So if a flake weighs about four pounds, you’ll need to feed your one thousand pound horses five flakes every day. Grass hay falls short of meeting the nutrient requirements of high production life stages, but is an excellent filler for horses that require bulk in the diet. Therefore when horse owners use alfalfa cubes in a diet for horses, the cubes replace hay of … Well, that all depends on the horse’s size, age and work load. Bales– the typical horse owner feeds Alfalfa in ~50 pound square bales. Bales– the typical horse owner feeds Alfalfa in ~50 pound square bales. Hay for ponies should be good quality grass hay. 1 Flake timothy hay [email protected] x 4 flakes per day = 20 pounds per day x 800 calories = 16Mcal (16,000 calories) 1 Flake Alfalfa hay [email protected] x 4 flakes per day = 12 pounds per day x 1000 calories = 12Mcal (12,000 calories). He maintained his weight on pasture and 1% of his body weight in pellets in the growing season, and then 1.5% of his body weight in pellets in the winter. The optimal compromise for higher forage quality and dry matter yield of alfalfa is to harvest the first cutting at the late-bud to first-flower stage and to make subsequent cuttings at 32-to-35 day intervals until late August or early-September, often referred to as a “4 summer-cut system.”13 мая 2010 г. Required fields are marked *. Feeding rates recommended for concentrate feeds are based on feeding with good quality grass hay. If a horse is in training or working hard, its calorie needs increase. Nutritionally speaking, however, they are very different. If your horse falls into the at-risk category, consider these diet changes. Alfalfa is also very high in calcium (5 to 1 Ca/P ratio). Your email address will not be published. Grass hay falls short of meeting the nutrient requirements of high production life stages, but is an excellent filler for horses that require bulk in the diet. Timothy, high-quality grass hays, and 50% alfalfa mixes make good forage for older horses, Ralston says. of hay per day. But, it's essential to know that Alfalfa pellets won't replace hay. The amount and type of hay fed relates to the other feeds you use and the use of your horse. If using good quality alfalfa hay, reduce the amount of Purina feed recommended by 1/2 to 1 lb/day. High-quality (“dairy”) alfalfa supplies 20 to 25 percent more calories per pound than grass hays, although the difference is much smaller for more mature cuts of alfalfa. When it comes to feeding your horses you know how important it is for me to look out for healthy organic and natural products. With the alfalfa cube, the forage is coarsely chopped and then mechanically compressed into a 1.25 by 2-inch cube. It can be detrimental, however, to horses with impaired kidneys or liver. Alfalfa hay and timothy hay are different nutritionally. Adding Alfalfa pellets to your horse's daily diet has its reasons. Geriatric horses can also become especially hard keepers during the cold months as they use energy to keep warm. early bloom alfalfa hay, the difference is much smaller than for lower quality hays such as late-maturity grass hays. The average thousand-pound horse who relies on hay for all their forage typically eats fifteen to twenty pounds of hay per day. If you are feeding 100% hay and your hay contains 90% DM (or 10% moisture), your 1000 lb horse should be fed 20 lb of hay (18 lb DM/0.9) straight from the bale each day. After observing the horse for a period of time, the amount fed may be increased or decreased by 10% to obtain the desired body condition and weight. Horses also have a fiber requirement and tend to get bored when roughage (hay) is limited. Flakes are a thin, easy to separate rectangular portion of a horse bale. Adding Alfalfa Cubes to Your Horse’s Diet Start by replacing 1/4 of your horse’s old feed with … Most hay is dispensed in flakes; however, the amount of hay in a flake can vary greatly, depending on the size of the flake and the kind of hay. High-quality (“dairy”) alfalfa supplies 20 to 25 percent more calories per pound than grass hays, although the difference is much smaller for more mature cuts of alfalfa. Horses evolved as a grazing animal, which means that they are meant to nibble on small amounts of food over the course of an entire day, and most of this food should be in the form of roughage, or hay. A typical horse weighing 1,100 lbs. A mature horse can eat 3% of its body weight daily. Getting your horse high quality Alfalfa Pellets, best organic pellets, is of foremost importance. When should I cut my horse’s alfalfa? When a horse refuses alfalfa hay products completely, then substituting other types of hay or soaked beet pulp without molasses with small amounts of Purina ® Equine Senior ® may entice the horse to eat more feed. A well-kept pasture also is the most natural and healthy environment for exercise and rest. Horses fed to appetite consumed 17 to 25% more cubed alfalfa than long-stem hay. early bloom alfalfa hay, the difference is much smaller than for lower quality hays such as late-maturity grass hays. These individuals have problems processing and excreting protein and should be kept on a very low-protein diet. … After years of working with horses, it appears that it may, in fact, lead to laminitis in some horses. Clearly, weighing hay is the most effective way to measure the correct amount. Good alfalfa can be 18-20% protein and 55% TDN or energy. Grass hay falls short of meeting the nutrient requirements of high production life stages, but is an excellent filler for horses that require bulk in the diet. Horses kept outdoors will have higher energy requirements and the higher energy forages such as alfalfa or … In general, feed hay twice a day; limit alfalfa to one-half of your roughage; and feed grain according to body condition and use of the horse. If good quality baled Alfalfa isn’t available, substitute Alfalfa pellets or cubes. Alfalfa hay may not be the best feed for all horses in all situations, but it contains nutrients needed for many classes of horses. Duren also doesn’t recommend feeding straight alfalfa to endurance horses due to its protein and calcium content. Equine Feed Calculator Fortunately, horses do quite well on a forage based diet of hay along with minerals and good clean water. Alfalfa contains higher concentrations of protein and calcium compared to timothy hay (Table 1). For gut health and welfare reasons, she says owners should offer forage at no less than 1.5% of the horse’s body weight per day on a dry matter basis, unless a … I found this to be very puzzling since alfalfa is low in sugar and starch, even lower than most grass hays. Horses that are fed alfalfa cubes tend to eat all the cubes provided, whereas horses fed long-stem alfalfa hay will sort through the hay and not eat all the hay offered. 2015-41595-24254 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Try putting your alfalfa bale on an empty feed bag before you open the bale, and feed the small pieces that fall out in the feed trough or bucket. Adding horses to, or taking horses out of, a pasture containing an old horse changes the herd dynamics and sends the old horse to the bottom of the pecking order. Many myths surround alfalfa’s use, and horse owners often underutilize or misuse it, even though it’s a high- quality horse feed. They carry alfalfa pellets and that's what I'll have to use until they get more. For example, a 1,100 pound horse requires at least 11 pounds of roughage. Generally, horses eat between 1 1/2-2 lbs. The basic principles of feeding laminitic horses are well-established: Avoid high-sugar and … This can contribute to leaky gut and will create too much ammonia which is toxic to the liver and kidneys if accumulated in excess amounts. The horses’ age, activity level, breed, and stage of life can all have a tremendous affect on the amount of feed that they require. Horses require fiber in their diet for the gut to function normally It is recommended that the diet contain no less than 1 percent of body weight of roughage such as hay, pasture, etc. Horses can normally eat 1.5-2% of their body weight in hay, which equates to 18-24 lbs. For variety in the diet, I found timothy and orchard grass pellets, and then a few pounds of alfalfa pellets for protein.