|
|
Discussion on Feeding Oats
|
| Author |
Message |
New Member:
harlee94
|
Posted on Saturday, Jul 11, 2009 - 12:52 pm:
I started feeding my horses oats with a grain balancer (FRM Equailbalance), but was noticing my horses seemed to be having a lot of gas. Thought it might be from the oats. Both of my horses are about 1050 lbs. They get free pasture (which isn't real good, mostly Bahia grass) and free choice hay (Coastal Bermuda). How much oats should I be giving them? I was feeding them two meals a day, with approx. 5 lbs per meal. I thought this might be too much so I reduced them to 5lbs per day (2.5 per meal w/ half a lb of the supplement.) They are ridden 2 to 3 times per week for 2 to 4 hour trail rides. Also, can you tell me approx. how many calories are in 1 lb of oats?
|
Moderator:
DrO
|
Posted on Saturday, Jul 11, 2009 - 2:23 pm:
Hi Cathy,
The key here is "starting". A change in almost any kind of feed may cause various types of digestive upsets and when they occur it indicates you may be changing a little quick. As to the caloric content of the oats and most other feeds see Horse Care » Equine Nutrition, Horse Feeds, Feeding » Nutritional Content of Common Feedstuffs for Horses.
For more on feeding and changing concentrates including grains see the article associated with this discussion Horse Care » Equine Nutrition, Horse Feeds, Feeding » Grains and Concentrates for Horses, an Overview. It also will have the caloric content of oats and other concentrates.
DrO
|
New Member:
harlee94
|
Posted on Saturday, Jul 11, 2009 - 3:53 pm:
Well, I gradually over 2 weeks introduced them to the oats by adding them in with Souther States Show & Pleasure Feed. That was over 3 months ago. They have been on nothing but oats now for a while. After they were on it for about 2 months is when I noticed the Flatulence. It's really embarrassing as it's not so much the smell but the sound and it always seems to release when I'm on a trail ride with numerous other riders.
|
New Member:
harlee94
|
Posted on Saturday, Jul 11, 2009 - 3:57 pm:
I have also read the articles you mentioned, but not sure I under stand the numbers listed. I used a web site that stated a 1000 lb horse should consume around 1700 calories, if he is involved in light work. Problem is, I can't find out how many calories a lb of oats has to find out if I'm "over-feeding", and maybe that could be causing my problem.
|
Member:
scooter
|
Posted on Saturday, Jul 11, 2009 - 4:12 pm:
Cathy are you sure you don't mean 17,000 calories? I eat more then 1700 a day . I guess one thing I have never done with my horses is count calories which would be very hard!
Can you eliminate the oats for a few days and see if the problem resolves?
|
Member:
ekaufman
|
Posted on Sunday, Jul 12, 2009 - 11:42 am:
The Merck Veterinary manual has a nice reference table, though they emphasize that individuals vary in their calorie requirements. Note also that the energy requirements are stated in Mcal, not Kcal (what we use for humans):
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/htm/bc/tmgn32.htm
|
Moderator:
DrO
|
Posted on Sunday, Jul 12, 2009 - 8:07 pm:
What we have here is one of the most confusing aspects of understanding diet and nutrition and someone should be hung for this problem. The problem is the energy content of a foodstuff "calorie" is different than the dietary "Calorie". Note the difference in capitalization and let me explain.
Somewhere along the way dietitians decided they did not like all the zeros necessary to express the energy content of an animal's diet when the scientific calorie was used. The scientific calorie is the amount of energy required to raise a cubic centimeter of water one degree celsius.
So they decided that the dietary Calorie (capital C) would actually be a kilocalorie (1000 scientific calories). Ok, this is confusing enough but they were not happy with this level of confusion so they decided to add one more twist, the dietary Megacalorie or Mcal. Anyone familiar with metric prefixes and the definition of the dietary "Calorie" would think the dietary "Megacal" would be a million dietary Calories but this would be wrong.
The Mcal reverts back to making the scientific and dietary calorie the same. The Megacalorie is actually a 1000 Calories or 1,000,000 calories. It was as though they realized their mistake with the Calorie. If your head is swimming form all on this remember:
1 dietary Calorie = 1000 scientific calories (a kilocalorie)
1 dietary Mcal = 1,000,000 scientific calories (a megacalorie)
We try to use Mcals as much as possible for clarity. However the most important point to be made here is that Diane is exactly right: calculating calories based on average equine needs is a waste of time. This is explained carefully in the Concentrate and the Overview of Nutrition article under the energy subtopic.
DrO
|
Member:
scooter
|
Posted on Monday, Jul 13, 2009 - 7:39 am:
That was very confusing
|
Member:
lilo
|
Posted on Monday, Jul 13, 2009 - 11:17 am:
Thanks, DrO!!! The metric system is so simple, if you don't mess with it and confuse everyone in the process (as was done in this case).
Lilo
|
New Member:
harlee94
|
Posted on Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009 - 11:09 pm:
OK! I'M EVEN MORE CONFUSED THAN I WAS BEFORE!!!!I just want someone to tell me how many lbs of oats I should be feeding my horse. i don't want to have to do any calculating. I want a simple table like what's on the bags of commercial feed that says if I have a 1000 lb horse on light work, he should be feed X lbs of oats!!!!}
|
Member:
scooter
|
Posted on Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009 - 11:37 pm:
Cathy unfortunately nothing is that easy with horses, there is other things to consider, such as body condition, ect. They may not even need any oats.
Did you read the article Dr.O. suggested?
|
Moderator:
DrO
|
Posted on Wednesday, Jul 15, 2009 - 5:45 am:
Cathy,
You are confused because you don't yet understand the thrust of the Overview article and are still looking for something that does not exist. But let me emphasize:
1) THERE IS NO SPECIFIED WEIGHT OF OATS THAT WORKS FOR EVERY HORSE EVEN IF THEY ARE THE SAME SIZE.
2) THERE IS NO SPECIFIED WEIGHT OF OATS THAT WORKS FOR THE SAME HORSE ALL THE TIME.
That said, feeding horses is very easy and can be encapsulated in a single short paragraph and you will find that parapgraph in the Overview article referenced above. You will find it the single most simple yet accurate statement on feeding horses anywhere and requires no calculations at all. If you need help getting started be sure to pay attention to the "Practical Considerations" subtopic in that article as it spells out how to. If at first is does not sink in keep at it, this article has taught hundreds of equine studies students, and lord only knows how many thousands of online members, how to feed horses successfully.
If you are at a total loss of how much concentrate your horses should be getting simply return to the last level that was working well for you, defined as keeping your horses condition in your goals range, and start from there. Then use the articles principles and specific techniques to maintain that condition.
As to the flatulence, taking the amount of concentrate that you feed and spreading it over more meals may help but it should not determine the total amount of feed you give daily.
DrO
|
Member:
leslie1
|
Posted on Wednesday, Jul 15, 2009 - 2:49 pm:
hmmmm. how about no oats? and see how they do? if they dont lose weight and their coats/hooves look good then maybe they dont need any.
If they do lose condition then reintroduce slowly untill you get to a pound. stay at a pound for awhile, like a month see if that helps. if not go up to 1.25 pounds, stay at that for another month.
if they get gassy, maybe switch from oats to something else.
cheers
leslie
|
|
|
