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Discussion on Question about current feeding regimen
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Member:
teddi
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Posted on Monday, Jul 14, 2008 - 12:17 pm:
After reading the article on forages, I have a couple of questions about my current feeding regimen. Here are my two horses:
25 year old retired QH gelding (approx 1,000 lbs) – Hard keeper, picky eater:
Hay – 12 lbs. 80/20 Alfalfa/Grass mix, 12 lbs. straight grass hay
2-1/2 lbs. Moorman’s SeniorGlo
CortaFlex
8 year old Andalusian gelding (approx. 1,250 lbs.) – light work – Extremely easy keeper:
Hay – 10 lbs. 80/20 Alfalfa/Grass mix, 10 lbs. straight grass hay
Handful of Moorman’s SeniorGlo
Cortaflex
Both horses have free choice plain salt block and Moorman’s GroStrong mineral block. They are on separate dry lot paddocks and the old guy gets to graze around the property (5 acres) a few hours a day.
From the charts on the forages article, I see that everything seems to be okay except for the Cal/Phos ratios. It looks like I am too high in Calcium? If I’m doing the math right, it looks like if I feed a ratio of 50% of the alfalfa/grass mix and 50% straight grass hay, I am coming in at:
Protein 15.5%, Ca .87%, Phos .29%. If I feed my old guy more of the alfalfa/grass mix (which seems to be about 80% Alfalfa), I am skewing the numbers even more. And I anticipate feeding my old guy more of the Alfalfa/Grass mix this winter since he seems to have a much harder time keeping weight on during our extremely cold, harsh winters. Should I supplement to make up for the deficiency in Phos?
BTW, the SeniorGlo appears to be within acceptable range at 14% Protein, Ca .70% and Phos .60%.
Thanks for your help!
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Tuesday, Jul 15, 2008 - 10:04 am:
Teddy the ratio you are worried about falls in at 3 to 1 (cal to phos) which is perfectly acceptable.
DrO
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Member:
teddi
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Posted on Tuesday, Jul 15, 2008 - 5:19 pm:
Thanks so much Dr. O for your quick reply! And thank goodness I don't have to worry about their hay being off balance. It was hard enough to just find hay this year! 
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