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Discussion on Phosphorous and mares
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Member:
Jodeen
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Posted on Monday, Apr 5, 2004 - 9:36 am:
Hi,
We live in area where our water and ground is very low in phosphorous, we have been giving our pregnant mares a supliment called equivitaphos. All but one of the mares takes it fine in their nightly grain. We have one that just wont eat it. Is there any other form of this that I might be able to get her to take? Does Bran have enough in it to supliment her with that?
thanks for the help
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Tuesday, Apr 6, 2004 - 9:23 am:
Though low soil phosphorous makes it very hard to grow vegetation I do not think it results in a excessively low concentrations in the plant JoDeen. Have you had your foodstuffs analyzed to document a low phosphorous condition? Without knowing what you are feeding it is hard to judge whether you need phosphorous supplementation. We have more on these issues and more about bran see, Care for Horses » Nutrition » Calcium, Phosphorus in the Diet. If after reviewing the article you still have questions post what you are feeding and the amounts and we will see what we can do to help.
DrO
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Member:
Jodeen
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Posted on Tuesday, Apr 6, 2004 - 10:21 am:
Dr. O
HI,
I have not had the soils tested myself, I am going off from what my vet suggested. I have read an article about our water sourses being low, and my horses water from and irrigation ditch. they are on pasture which of course this time of year in wyoming is not much, i feed a afalfa/grass mix hay grown in northern wyoming. I am in south west.Thank You for the direction of the article, I will read it and go from there. It is so funny how all my life with horses growing up, good ole hay was always enough. We always had healthy colts and mares. Now i worry about everything, maybe too much. The mare in question is at day 357 and looks to foal anytime. I am sure the foal will be fine with or without the suppliment. LOL
thanks again
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Wednesday, Apr 7, 2004 - 6:42 am:
The drinking water should not be considered a source of phosphorous, when it is high in the water, it would be considered polluted. Unless proven otherwise your mixed alfalfa hay diet is probably fine. Phosphorous supplementation would be contraindicated with just grass hay. If you are feeding a lot of alfalfa, some might argue that phosphorous might be needed to balance the high calcium but this would be debatable. Yes bran is rich in P and can be used at a rate of about 1 lb bran for every 10 lbs alfalfa fed. Don't count the grass postion of the hay when doing the calculation.
DrO
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