The Importance of Weighing Feed: How many times have you had to describe your horse’s ration and found yourself saying, “He gets a scoop of this and a scoop of that”? Most horse owners describe diets this way. However, there are many disadvantages to measuring your horse’s feed amounts in “scoops” rather than weight.

Why Weigh?

To determine dietary requirements, horse characteristics are first considered. These include age, breed, workload, metabolism, and weight. For example, for optimum digestive health each horse requires at least 1% of its body weight in forage every day. That would be at least 5 kg (11 lb) for a 500-kg (1,100-lb) horse. Do you have a horse that is restricted from pasture or has access to very little pasture? It is important to know how much hay he is receiving. Establish if he is receiving adequate forage. This is especially true if you are looking to substitute hay as a forage source

Experienced nutritionists have formulated these in accordance with characteristics of certain classes of horses, including their weight. When looking at fortified feeds. They then recommend a minimum amount of the feed that each type of horse requires to meet its specific nutrient requirements. Based on the formulations.

Therefore, by weighing feeds you know exactly how much your horse is getting daily. In addition, if your horse is receiving a balanced diet and meeting requirements for forage and the nutrients that are important for achieving optimum health, development, and performance.

Weighing feed leads to peace of mind that your horse is meeting its nutrient requirements. Feed costs can be cut often. Determine how much of each feed is required. The need for expensive vitamin and mineral supplements is decreased when a fortified feed is fed at the correct amount daily.

Weight vs. Volume

In any given feed room, you are likely to come across a wide variety of measuring utensils. Open scoops, dippers, ice cream containers, tins, jars, and bowls are commonly used to convey feed to the trough. Each may hold a different volume of feed.

Equine nutrition consultants often hear from horse owners that they use a 1-kg (2.2-lb) scoop. Due to different feeds having different densities, this is hardly accurate. A scoop of chaff has the same volume as the same scoop of pellets or muesli (textured feed). However, the varying densities of these feeds means that they weigh very different amounts. A 2-litre (1/2-gallon) scoop of a pelleted feed may weigh up to 1.5 kg (3 lb), whereas that same 2-litre scoop of lucerne (alfalfa) chaff will weigh much less.

Method of Weighing

Accurately and conveniently feeds may be weighed. Use common types of scales. A hook scale, like those used for weighing fish or luggage, is easily used to weigh hay or haylage. By hanging the haynet or hay bag off the scale. If you’re not using a net or bag, then a bundle of hay may be tied up with twine then hung from the scale.

Feeds may be weighed in a similar manner. Do so by using an empty pail or bag as a receptacle to hang from the scale. Simply fill your scoop with feed or grain and then empty it into the bag before hanging the bag on the scale. In this manner, you can determine the weight of all feedstuffs in each of the scoops you normally use. Be sure to take into account the weight of the bag or net. This is achieved by weighing that first and subtracting this amount from the final reading.

If a flat platform scale is your available weighing device, then weighing feeds and cereals may be accomplished by using the scoop or a pail as a receptacle. First, weigh your scoop or pail and note the weight of the container or press “tare” on the scales if they are electronic. Then, fill the scoop with feed. Weigh again or empty into the pail already on the scale to weigh the contents. The weight displayed should be the weight of only the feed contained within the scoop or pail. For electronic scales with a tare function.

Other Scales:

For other scales, you may have to manually subtract the weight of the container from the total amount of feed and container combined. In order to weigh hay on a platform scale, you may need a larger platform. A piece of rigid cardboard or wood may work well for this. Be sure to zero the scale or note the weight of the platform before placing the hay atop it. Then, simply balance the portion of hay or haylage you wish to measure on the platform and note the weight displayed. Again, this depends on whether or not the scale is electronic. The amount displayed will be the weight of the forage or the forage and platform combined.

Hay and feed shouldn’t require weighing each time you feed your horse. You can simply estimate how many sections of hay your horse requires daily by determining the average weight of a section of each batch of hay you get. Feed amounts can be determined by knowing approximately how much a scoop of each foodstuff in your horse’s diet weighs.

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Article brought to you by KER.

Alfalfa and a Healthy Gastric Environment in Horses: Experts suggest that feeding alfalfa (lucerne) reduces the incidence and severity of gastric ulcers in the upper region of the stomach, known also as equine squamous gastric disease. Alfalfa hay has a well documented buffering capacity. However, new research shows that horses in heavy work need more than alfalfa to maintain a healthy gastric environment.

About Gastric Health:

In certain circumstances, the pH of the stomach can dip as low as 1 or 2, on the pH scale of 0 to 14. This is more acidic than grapefruit or tomato juice. The lower or glandular region of the stomach produces mucus to protect the lining. The upper or squamous region, however, is far more sensitive to sloshing acid, making it prone to ulceration. All horses are at risk of developing gastric ulcers. For horses involved in training and competition, this condition is particularly prevalent.

Recognizing the widespread welfare and economic effects of equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS), Kentucky Equine Research developed several products to support stomach health. “Some of these products contain ingredients that neutralize excessive gastric acid, protecting the stomach lining by reducing acidity and providing a physical barrier due to coating properties,” said Catherine Whitehouse, M.S., a nutritionist for Kentucky Equine Research.

Altering the diet may also minimize EGUS. Nutritionists suggest:

• Feeding diets high in fiber (at least 1.5% body weight in forage);
• Offering stabilized rice bran or vegetable oil rather than high-starch feedstuffs for supplemental energy;
• Feeding several meals per day when possible; and
• Using small-hole haynets and slow feeders to make forage last through the night until breakfast.
• Nutritionists sometimes recommend feeding alfalfa hay to help ward off EGUS. High levels of certain nutrients, including protein and calcium, reportedly help neutralize acid in the stomach.

According to Whitehouse, “The amount of calcium in alfalfa hay is often greater than 1% with a calcium-to-phosphorus ratio ranging from 3:1-6:1, whereas calcium in grass hay hovers around half that with a much tighter calcium-to-phosphorus ratio.”

Horses with high nutritional needs normally receive pure alfalfa hay. It would oversupply energy, protein, and minerals for many horses. “We typically recommend including only a portion of alfalfa in the diet and combining it with a high-quality grass hay,” advised Whitehouse.

According to a recent study:

Alfalfa pellets do not appear to buffer the stomach in heavily exercised horses as effectively as alfalfa hay might. France performed the study. It included 80 trotters from four training centers randomly divided into two groups. Horses in the control group were fed their usual diet of free-choice grass hay and pelleted concentrate. This provided 4.5 ± 1.5 g of starch per kilogram body weight per day. In the alfalfa group, the diet was the same. However, dehydrated alfalfa pellets replaced half of the pelleted concentrate. Thus providing only 2.3 ± 0.7 g of starch per kilogram body weight per day.

All horses were examined via gastroscopy. In order to to directly visualize the lining of the stomach. Ulcer scores were assigned on days 0, 21, and 42 based on a scale of 0 to 4, with 4 denoting severe ulceration. Throughout the study period no other changes in management or training were made.

At baseline (day 0), 49 of the 80 (61%) horses had either no lesions or mild ulcerations, equivalent to an EGUS score of 0, 1, or 2. The remaining 31 horses (39%) had severe EGUS with scores of 3 and 4. No significant effect of the diet on either healing or prevention of EGUS was detected at days 21 and 42.

In Conclusion:

Researchers theorized that alfalfa pellets did not provide a protective layer on top of the gastric contents as alfalfa hay or chaff does. Chaff is believed to prevent splashing of acidic gastric contents on the sensitive squamous lining of the stomach. Giving some alfalfa hay or chaff before exercise will help buffer the acid and prevent damaging acid splash in the squamous part of the stomach. Additional protection may be provided. For example, by adding a research-proven gastric buffer, such as Triacton, to a small meal 30 minutes before work.

Do you have a question about Alfalfa and a Healthy Gastric Environment in Horses? Visit J & J Hay Farms for more information!

Article Source: Kentucky Equine Research

*Julliand, S., M. Buttet, T. Hermange, and V. Julliand. 2021. Effect of replacing part of concentrates with pelleted alfalfa on squamous gastric ulcers in exercised trotters. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 10:103556.