How Much Hay Should I Feed My Horse?
Forage is essential to satisfy both the horse’s physical and psychological needs. The physical need for forage is to provide bulk and help to maintain a healthy digestive system, whilst the psychological need is that horses have a natural “drive” and need to chew as they are “trickle feeders”.
How do I work out how much forage to feed?
The chart shows the average weight for each breed type and can be used as a guide when working out your horses or ponies' daily forage intake. Horses and ponies should not receive less than 1.5% of their body weight on a dry matter basis as forage, this can come from grass, hay or short chop fibre.
The equation:
For a 500kg horse - (1.5 x 500kg)/100 = 7.5kg of forage to be fed on a daily basis
For a 250kg pony - (1.5 x 250kg)/100 = 3.75kg of forage to be fed on a daily basis
When feeding haylage it’s important to take into account the lower dry matter of haylage. You will need to feed around 30 – 40% more haylage compared to hay to ensure you are feeding 1.5% of their body weight on a dry matter basis.
If you have a good doer look at ways in which the forage being fed can be made to last longer, such as;
- Putting hay in a small holed haynet
- Putting different haynets around the stable/field to encourage browsing behaviour
- Giving the hay allowance spread throughout the day rather than one amount in the morning and one amount in the evening
- Soaking hay to reduce the soluble carbohydrate content.
If you have a poor doer you can increase the dry matter percentage to 2-2.5% of bodyweight depending on appetite. If they are fussy you can look at increasing the forage intake by offering:
- Super Fibre Cubes in an additional feed or nut ball
- Offering additional fibre buckets of chaff & beet pulp in a cafeteria style of feeding
- If you are staying away or travelling RE-COVERY Mash is a great way to increase fibre & water intake
If you are unsure of how much forage your horse or pony should consume on a daily basis please call our nutritional team on 01622 718487 or email nutrition@saracenhorsefeeds.co.uk
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Quick Feed Finder
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