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[RC] Feed question - Eleanor Kellonso, the time has come where i seriously have to consider taking my horses off hay, and putting them on alfalfa cubes instead. hay is like 450 a ton here for timothy, and i can't get coastal less i want to pay like 8-9 dollars for 40 pound bales, which honestly, makes it more than timothy. right now my horses get ten pounds a day of timothy, and that runs me bout 90 at the price ive been getting it.
here's the question. i have them on a 14% protiene feed, i know cubes has about 16% percent protiene, which is higher than timothy, will i need to change them over to a lower protiene feed? these are trail horses, so theyre not worked hard. also, how many pounds per day should the average 1000 pound horse be getting in cubes?
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All horses should get a minimum of 1% of their body weight in forage per day, preferably free choice with grain or other concentrates only as needed to hold body weight.
You won't "have to" lower protein in the other feeds from a health standpoint, but they'll be getting all the protein they need from the 10 pounds of alfalfa in most cases. Excess protein has to be eliminated by the kidneys and will lead to increased urination, increased drinking and a strong ammonia odor from the manure as the urea in the urine gets converted to ammonia by bacteria in the environment. Alfalfa is also ungodly difficult to balance because of the high calcium, which also limits your choices of other feeds.
Any bermuda/alfalfa mix products available? Chopped hays? You could look into complete feeds as an alternative until hay supply improves too. The higher the recommended feeding rate, lower the fat and higher the fiber, the closer it is to hay.
Eleanor
-- Eleanor M. Kellon, V.M.D. Equine Nutritional Solutions 58 Maple Farm Road Ephrata, PA 17522
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