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Discussion on Hay type comparison - how much to feed?
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New Member:
Baroqhrs
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Posted on Sunday, Aug 13, 2006 - 5:45 pm:
Hi,
I'm in N. Central TX and have always fed a good quality coastal bermuda. Because of the DrOught my usual supplier does not have any to sell.
My horses are on pasture (pretty much depleted now) and free choice round bales of coastal. Now I am considering buying an out of state truckload of alfalfa or timothy/orchard mix or a mix of the 2 0r 3 types. My question is, how much of these higher protein/richer hays should I feed in comparison to coastal. The coastal we've been feeding is very highly fertilized, weed free - I know they have it tested, but I don't remember what the protein content was.
Any suggestions?
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Member:
Hwood
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Posted on Sunday, Aug 13, 2006 - 6:13 pm:
Hi, Lori,
How heavy are the bales you will be getting?
I have fed out hay/alfalfa mix as well as hay and straight alfalfa.
I stick pretty much to two-three flakes per horse per feeding when the hay is mixed . . . depends upon the horse's condition and workload. When feeding out straight hay and straight alfalfa, one place I worked fed out two flakes of hay per horse in the a.m. and one flake of alfalfa per horse in the p.m. I feel better about feeding out one of each 2x a day. After three weeks, you should be able to assess whether or not the horses are gaining, maintaining, or losing . . . in which case, you will want to adjust. Don't know if this helps or not . . . a lot depends on the weight of the bales, weather conditions, and the condition and work of the horses.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Monday, Aug 14, 2006 - 7:09 am:
Hello Laurie,
The problem is we don't know the specific qualities of either your coastal or the new hay or if you are going to use this hay as the only feed or supplementing your coastal. Nor do we know the existing condition of your horses. These would all be factors in judging how this should be fed. But I do have some suggestions:
If you are looking to supplement your coastal, I would buy the straight alfalfa. If you are looking for a primary forage I would buy a grass alfalfa mix. The article Care for Horses » Nutrition » Equine Nutrition an Overview of Feeding Horses gives advice for matching up forages of different qualities with other feedstuffs, including stemmy grass hay. But always the golden rule of feeding horses, as defined in the nutrition articles applies.
DrO
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