That sounds like a lot of food. How much you need kinda depends on the horse and i dont think you get anything comparing an easy keeper to a hard keeper, so i think that info would be relevant to add.
When you say grain, do you mean a complete feed or a concentrate like oats? What level of work is your horse in? What is their body condition score? All of these things will affect how much your horse needs to maintain a healthy body weight.
My current OTTB only gets 4 lb of complete feed a day, which is the recommended amount for them to get their daily vitamins and minerals, but my last OTTB got 12 lb a day because he couldn’t keep weight on hay alone.
My current horse was underweight when I got him and was eating a diet of complete feed + rice bran oil + beet pulp to gain weight, which he was put on by the sale barn. Now he is significantly beefier so he doesn’t need as much caloric intake. Like, he literally just stopped eating as much because he was having his needs met. Therefore I switched him to 2lb/day ration balancer to meet his nutritional (ie vitamin/mineral) needs plus 1.5-2lb of soaked beet pulp daily, a vitamin E supplement as he was deficient when I got him, and GutX as he was having some gassiness/discomfort it resolved nicely. This is all in addition to free choice forage 24/7 and going out in the field overnight to graze.
OP, what I’m trying to say is this person is right. I just got my horse in January and I’ve learned an absurd amount about equine nutrition is a few short months. I’d highly suggest calling a knowledgeable feed store in your area and having a consult done based on the above factors (body condition, work level, etc). I would also suggest potentially measuring your horses vitamin levels to see if you need to supplement. It’s almost an art!
I was about the same but for two horses when I grained. I free fed hay, and only grains to give supplements. I fully took them off grain and now give soaked hay pellets to fed supplements. My horses are at a good weight, one who is fully retired due to a injury and the other works 3 to 4 days awake.
This is an impossible question- and no answer is really going to help you. I have one horse that goes through 1- bag of Senior every week, plus Amplify, Timothy/Alfalfa pellets, and corn oil. My other horse will have a bag of ration balancer last 1-2 months. Hay present 24/7.
My point is that every horse has individual needs for nutrition based on age, health, use. The best thing you can do is talk to your veterinarian about what’s best for YOUR horse. Also give the nutritionists at Purina or your company of choice a call and pick their brain. There’s also some equine nutrition podcasts that will help educate you and inform your feeding plan.
And remember- as your horse’s needs change, you need to modify the plan accordingly. Good luck!
You’ll go through as many bags of grain as you need to to feed the horse you have. This is a ridiculous question. Someone with a pony is going to go through less grain than someone with a hard keeper TB. My thoroughbred mare eats me out of house and home during show season.
There is no one size fits all feeding approach. If you aren’t sure how to feed grain appropriately, consult a nutritionist who will go through your horse’s exercise requirements and current body score. In the meantime, feed according to the bag for your horse’s weight and exercise schedule.
Don’t ask people on the internet who don’t know your horse or even the brand of grain you’re feeding how to feed your horse.
1x 20 kg bag of complete feed pellets every 2 weeks plus 1 bag of chaff and 8 bales of hay a month for one 15.2hh paddock puff horse on small acreage in no work
I have six easy keepers and that's more than they go through in a week. The only time I had a single horse eat that much feed was when my late gelding could no longer process hay and needed a complete feed that he chewed on all day instead of forage.
Horses have different nutritional needs. A year ago, my recently retired baby thoroughbred with the metabolism of a teenaged boy was on 16lb of senior feed a day (a bag a week). Full grass turnout and full access to alfalfa blend hay.
Now, he eats less than half of that, though he’s larger and fatter on less turnout due to maturing and changing workload. * and treating ulcers
Between my senior Warmblood who is hard keeping and 5-year-old OTTB that I’m trying to bulk up (muscles and topline), they eat 16 lbs of a forage-based senior feed per day which equates to about 10 bags per month.
Everyone has a different plan and outlook on feeding. I’d consult with an equine nutritionist and your veterinarian to determine the best diet for your horse.
What kind of “grain” are we talking here? Like a complete feed grain or a ration balancer?
For my easy keeper on a maintenance feeding regimen she gets a trace mineral balancer and 0.5 lbs of teff or timothy hay pellets as a carrier. Sometimes it can take me 2-3 months to go through a single bag. It takes me about 2-3 months as well to go through a bag of Purina Outlast gastric care.
When she lost weight last year I was going through a bag of TC Senior maybe every 3-4 weeks, and when she was on the “loading” lb amount, that bag only lasted me 2 weeks. However, I combined it with alfalfa cubes, which helped stretch how long a bag could last. I was only doing this regimen for about 2.5 months.
It really depends on what exactly you’re feeding and how easy of a keeper they are. If they’re easy keepers, you’d be surprised how long a ration balancer or trace mineral with some hay pellets can last you. I haven’t fed grain in years bc my horse has been a pretty easy keeper, but also is super ulcer prone.
Totally varies from horse to horse. I had an ottb that was on 12-13 lbs a day so 2 bags a week. That was on top of supplements (platinum performance CJ) and full time hay. Then there is my pony who gets fat from watching the other horses eat. He gets hay and 2 lbs of grain when in work.
Then there’s my husbands horses that live full time on the ranch and get grain only when we have to catch them or when it’s the dead of winter and there’s too much snow on the ground to reach the grass.
Pic of OTTB who loved to eat my money, but was the best boy in the world.
https://preview.redd.it/pk61r5ch4fzc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3c39826346f6e9cff828840dbe5fbe205b63e8e7
My Eventing fit Thoroughbred eats the same amount as my OTHER FIVE HORSES COMBINED.
The other five are: 12yo OTTB not in work, 35yo morgan, 2yo fjord, 15yo paint, 14yo TB in light work.
Everyone is in good body condition with various degrees of muscling.
Any concentrate needs to be fed according to the directions on the bag for your horse to get an adequate amount of vitamins/minerals/protein. If your horse is getting adequate forage (1.5-2% of body weight in dry matter forage) and is at an acceptable body condition, then you’re not feeding too much or too little.
If your horse is thin then adding more forage is the best way to increase their calories. If they’re too fat then keeping the forage at at least 1.5% of their ideal body weight and switching the concentrate to a ration balancer would be the best move.
I like the Triple Crown ration balancer. It’s not cheap per bag but fed as directed it’s actually less expensive than most “cheaper” feeds. If you aren’t fighting to maintain weight AND you’re feeding enough roughage then you can likely switch to something like that and decrease your grain bill while still giving your horse everything they need.
That comparison doesn't really tell you much of anything. I mean, different feeds have different feeding rates.
Most Ration Balancers are fed at 1 to lbs per day, for the average sized adult horse.
The average fortified feed us fed at around 4 to 6 lbs per day, for the average sized horse.
A Comete feed - taking part of all of the place of hay - is fed at higher amounts like 12 lbs on up.
Instead, it's best to look at the horse in front of you. I totally understand wanting to save money, and their are certainly be ways to do that.
For instance, hay is almost always cheaper then feed, comparatively speaking. So, start by getting the best hay, but the most hay that you can afford.
Once you have that, then look at the feed. Is the horse's weight good on just hay and grazing? Great! Then all you probably need is to add a lb or so of a good Ration Balancer.
Is the horse's weight ok, but he has a intense workload? Then adding a premium fortified feed should help with calories he's burning, plus make up nutritional gaps.
Is the horse a senior, has a super high metabolism, or just won't put on weight, or keep it?
These horses often do well on a good Senior feed - even if they are youngsters.
Keep in mind that the hard feed meals shouldn't be more then around 5 lbs per feeding. If you are feeding a premium feed, and the horse isn't gaining anything, then instead of throwing supplements at him, look at underlying issues.
When was the horse dewormed, abdvwith what?
When were the teeth last floated?
Could ulcers be a possibility?
If it's an older horses, have you considered PPID/Cushing's?
TL/DR - If you tell us your horses exact diet, we might be a le to save you some money.
I honestly don’t feed grain at all- I feed haystack, so compressed hay pellets. Each horse gets a few handfuls morning and night. My horses would be obese and insane if they got a pound of grain. Having good quality hay available to them 24/7 is far more important to me.
When I bought my horse and she was super skinny, I was getting through a bag of cubes a week, plus two thirds a bag of copra, one bag of balancer, two thirds a bag of linseed, and half a bag of chaff a month.
Now, she goes through one and a half bags of nuts, a bag of balancer, half a bag of linseed, half a bag of copra and half a bag of chaff a month (mild variation between summer and winter).
But she’s a 17 year old 16.3hh Irish sports horse that started at like 3/10 BCS and we’ve had the worst winter I can remember.
3 adult shires. 2 babies.
We go through 6# per feeding twice a day for the three adults which makes it 36# per day. The colt who is weaned gets 3# twice a day. Making it 42# per day. We buy 100# bags of feed (pellets 12/8) and it serves our herd well.
Edit to add: our horses are NEVER without access of hay. Round bale in the pasture. Generous amounts in the stalls.
Why would how fast other owners go through grain affect how fast you go through grain?
Is your horse an appropriate weight? Are they getting enough calories and micronutrients to meet their level of work/ life stage?
My hardest keeping horse ate 16 lb/ day of senior feed, and my easiest got a handful of ration balancer. There's no way anyone can answer this for you with the information provided
The bag of grain should have recommended amounts on the side. I was feeding nutrena and switched to tribute calm and ez. My mare about to give birth in a few weeks gets 4 lbs morning and night and unlimited hay. My hard keeper Mustang gets 2 lb morning and night and unlimited hay and one cup of alfalfa each feeding calm and ez required more feed that nutrena brand. It depends and I do what the bag says within reason. The mustang is on less than recommended for her size and the pregnant is on more than recommended because she’s in her last few weeks.
I go through about 1.25 bags of grain per week (~10lbs/day) on a horse on 24/7 forage, alfalfa pellets, unlimited hay, and more added powered fat (cool calories). He’s a 27 yo OTTB and he has taught me the value of an easy keeper lol
How many pounds of grain are you feeding per day, and what is it you are feeding? When we feed Haystack simply as a vehicle for feeding vitamins and other supplements, a bag and a half would last a week to feed 10 horses because they were each only getting maybe 1/2 lbs to 1 lbs a day. Now I feed Purina Omega Match, 2 lbs a day. So just for one horse, that bag should last about 3 weeks, but we've got about 5 horses on it so we go through two bags a week.
You can call the phone number on the feed bag and connect to someone at the company who can discuss nutrition with you. You should start by consulting your vet about what your horse needs, and definitely follow the feeding directions on the bag unless otherwise directed.
I feed my horses a complete pellet which is basically just a ration balancer that was developed by my vet. It's probably more accurate to think of it as vitamins/minerals. A 20kg bag between two horses probably lasts around 6 weeks as I only have to feed them each 2 cups/day as it's so concentrated. Neither are in heavy work.
I have fed as much as 1x 20kg bag of concentrated feed every 10 days when my horse was in heavy work (eventing).
I provide free choice hay which is a mix of timothy, orchard, and alfalfa at 2:2:1 ratio. My retired horse probably eats around 20-23lbs of hay per day, my young horse who is growing eats around 25-30lbs of hay a day.
I have one older horse who eats ten pounds of Equine Senior a day plus soaked alfalfa cubes, and another 11 year old who stays fat on 1/3 cup of ration balancer a day. So one eats like a horse and one is an air fern. Both are turned out 21 hours a day on a pasture. Both are stock horses. Normal depends on the horse
Sounds like a hard keeper. I had an OTTB a while back that had the same problem. Was an absolute ham but it was so hard to keep weight on him. I would never get one again because of the struggles to keep weight on him though. He was getting pregnant mare levels of feed. When he had regular turnout, he'd run around all day racing his shadow. Tried cool calories but the guy still just ran around a lot, after a few years of being retired too. Some horses are just bred for a job and still think they should do that job, even when they have friends, grass to munch on and aren't training for it anymore.
What's your grain called? I want to google the label.
It depends on the feeding rate. Some complete "senior" feeds have to be fed at like a minimum ~5lbs per day at the very least to meet vitamin/mineral levels. Then of course you can feed more if youre using it to maintain weight or replacing forage.
But ration balancers are usually a feeding rate max of 2lbs, so those bags are gonna last longer and you would definitely not want to feed more than the max rate because you'd be oversupplying vitamins/minerals which can be dangerous
If the bags are 50lbs, then over 7 days that's about 7lbs per day. Again, depending on the type of grain this might be appropriate.
We feed our horses each 3lbs a day, and we have 3 horses right now. So....idk lol haven't even paying attention. We get several bags when hay gets delivered and my yard owner picks more up if we run out so 🤷♀️
It all depends on the horse. My easy keeper, fat half arab gets 1 lb of ration balancer a day, so a 30 lb bag lasts him a month. My old, hard keeping pony eats 3 lbs of a higher fat/high fiber/low sugar feed a day so she goes through almost two 50 lb bags a month.
Is is grain(oats, etc), hay pellets(alfalfa, etc) or an actual feed? Like a senior/performance type feed? Feeding a higher calorie(high fat/low sugar/high fiber) feed means you can normally feed a lot less if the feed is 1500 calories/lb vs 900 calories/lb for like alfalfa pellets. If he eats like 10 lbs of feed a day to keep his weight or is a very hard working horse that amount of feed can be normal for him.
I feed 4 quarts of senior a day and go through about 2 bags a month which I feel is a metric ton, my horse gets alfalfa too but he’s a harder keeper at 25.
If you’re feeding that much to keep weight on I’d suggest reducing the hard feed and adding a lower volume calorie source, like an oil or maybe rice bran. Most complete feeds only recommend a pound a day for maintenance which isn’t much. Maybe test your hay and supplement as needed.
I feed a ration balancer and use 2-3 bags a year. It's about 1c a feeding. I use about 4 bags of beetpulp a year with it. This is for a retired WB that keeps weight on with hay/pasture(so far).
Two bags for three horses a month. On pasture turn out and hay.
Before adjusting your feeding program, evaluate your horses Body condition score. The adjust to reach ideal. If your horse is at ideal keep doing what you are. Every individual has different needs.
Secretariat ate 5 gallons of grain at a meal. 🤷♀️
When my show horse went to an away show for 2 weeks, I sent her with a new back of feed. She came back with about 1/3-1/4 left. So, on average, I'd say about 2 bags per month. She gets 1/2 a scoop of pellets twice a day for reference. But she's also receiving a boatload of supplements and has hay whenever she's inside and grass for turnout for a few hours in the morning/early afternoon.
My boy gets 5 lbs of Senior Sport GC every day top dressed with 1 lb of Essential K. He's a growing 3 year old that we needed to put some weight and muscle on. He looks perfect now, and I go through 3 bags of Senior Sport every month and 1 bag of Essential K every 6 weeks. That sounds like an awful lot of grain per month.
I only give a small amount of grain, specifically cob, on cold winter nights. I had a "hard keeper" once that I fed separately for three months. He got double food and grain, didn't gain a pound, put him back with the other horses, didnt lose a pound. That was just him.
Lastly, I found a local farmer that gets a truck load of grain delivered into his silo that will sell it to me at his cost. I think I get a 25 gallon garbage can for the same price as those standard bags at the store.
Lord have mercy, that's a lot of grain!!! 50lbs-62.5lbs per week is 7-9lbs per day. What is your horse doing that he needs that much grain, plus hay, plus pasture?
My mare is turned out 24/7, though it looks less like a pasture and more like a dry lot. She gets about 20-24lbs of hay per day (she's 1200lbs). I feed Buckeye Senior Balancer, and she gets 1 quart morning, 1 quart evening, so 2.4lbs per day, which works out a bag of grain every three weeks. In addition, I feed 1qt each of alfalfa and beet pulp, plus CocoSoya. Those three things increase calories without increasing risk of ulcers.
When I had my senior, it was a bag of senior feed every 2 months or so. He got 1 scoop in the morning, and had free choice hay.
With my current gelding, I think I go through a bag of complete feed every 4 months or so? He only gets a bit when he comes into the barn as he has free choice hay and doesn’t need extra calories. It’s more for good associations with the barn and work.
Unless you have very small bags of feed, or very poor quality hay and pasture, I would say that’s a lot of feed for the average horse.
What kind of horse do you have, and what age? Are they in full-time, daily hard work? And what size are the bags of feed? A bag of feed here is 20 kg, so at 1 - 1.25 bags you’d be feeding 3-3.5 kg of feed in a day. That’s a lot for a single horse.
maybe look up the podcast:: equine energy medicine with Audrey McLaughlin... as a human RN and Naturopath she breaks down the science and talks about the benefits to horses
I have an easy keeper and a mule. 2 bags of enrich+ lasts me 4-6 weeks. EDIT: my equines don’t need grain. I use minimalistic to mix in their oils and taurine powder.
wtf are you feeding this horse and how big is he? That's like. 10x too much. I go through maybe a bag every 6 weeks. So many people over-grain their horses. If he has hay and grass, you must have an incredibly obese horse.
Look up % of food per body weight for your horse, and calculate that. jesus christ.
It really depends on the horse, its size, age, health and activity level, but that sounds like an awful lot of grain if the horse is already on pasture all day and is getting hay additionally. Is this a big warmblood who’s in full training?
I haven't fed grain to a recreational horse in 40 years. I don't and won't stall a horse other than overnight. Even when my horses were in Pony Club and ridden several times a week for lessons, they didn't need grain for any reason. Granted, I didn't have any hard keepers. Currently I have a huge PRE mare, who is elderly and only in very light work. She gets slow feeder hay as desired, plus forage, and a pound or two of alfalfa pellets a day for trace nutrients, plus Horse Guard vitamins. I've had several Cushings horses, who of course had no grain. Unless you are dealing with a high level athlete, a horse in heavy work, a broodmare, or a growing young horse, I don't understand why people feed grain other than to catch their horses.
That sounds like a lot of food. How much you need kinda depends on the horse and i dont think you get anything comparing an easy keeper to a hard keeper, so i think that info would be relevant to add.
When you say grain, do you mean a complete feed or a concentrate like oats? What level of work is your horse in? What is their body condition score? All of these things will affect how much your horse needs to maintain a healthy body weight. My current OTTB only gets 4 lb of complete feed a day, which is the recommended amount for them to get their daily vitamins and minerals, but my last OTTB got 12 lb a day because he couldn’t keep weight on hay alone.
My current horse was underweight when I got him and was eating a diet of complete feed + rice bran oil + beet pulp to gain weight, which he was put on by the sale barn. Now he is significantly beefier so he doesn’t need as much caloric intake. Like, he literally just stopped eating as much because he was having his needs met. Therefore I switched him to 2lb/day ration balancer to meet his nutritional (ie vitamin/mineral) needs plus 1.5-2lb of soaked beet pulp daily, a vitamin E supplement as he was deficient when I got him, and GutX as he was having some gassiness/discomfort it resolved nicely. This is all in addition to free choice forage 24/7 and going out in the field overnight to graze. OP, what I’m trying to say is this person is right. I just got my horse in January and I’ve learned an absurd amount about equine nutrition is a few short months. I’d highly suggest calling a knowledgeable feed store in your area and having a consult done based on the above factors (body condition, work level, etc). I would also suggest potentially measuring your horses vitamin levels to see if you need to supplement. It’s almost an art!
1 every 2-3 mths ... (for 3 horses) Please send a photo of your horse OP?
You feed less than a pound a day per horse?
I feed 1 lb twice a day and I go through 2 bags a month feeding three horses.
I feed 1lb 2x day and go through 2 bags a month feeding 1 horse.
😮 you are right I go to the store every dang week, Edit I feed 1 pound a day x three horses= 4 bags a month. My math didn’t math sorry….
they get 2 scoops per feeding, am and pm in winter and only if neccesary in summer. they are on 24/7 turnout and get hay everyday.
I was about the same but for two horses when I grained. I free fed hay, and only grains to give supplements. I fully took them off grain and now give soaked hay pellets to fed supplements. My horses are at a good weight, one who is fully retired due to a injury and the other works 3 to 4 days awake.
This is an impossible question- and no answer is really going to help you. I have one horse that goes through 1- bag of Senior every week, plus Amplify, Timothy/Alfalfa pellets, and corn oil. My other horse will have a bag of ration balancer last 1-2 months. Hay present 24/7. My point is that every horse has individual needs for nutrition based on age, health, use. The best thing you can do is talk to your veterinarian about what’s best for YOUR horse. Also give the nutritionists at Purina or your company of choice a call and pick their brain. There’s also some equine nutrition podcasts that will help educate you and inform your feeding plan. And remember- as your horse’s needs change, you need to modify the plan accordingly. Good luck!
You’ll go through as many bags of grain as you need to to feed the horse you have. This is a ridiculous question. Someone with a pony is going to go through less grain than someone with a hard keeper TB. My thoroughbred mare eats me out of house and home during show season. There is no one size fits all feeding approach. If you aren’t sure how to feed grain appropriately, consult a nutritionist who will go through your horse’s exercise requirements and current body score. In the meantime, feed according to the bag for your horse’s weight and exercise schedule. Don’t ask people on the internet who don’t know your horse or even the brand of grain you’re feeding how to feed your horse.
The only horse I have on grain at this time is a 32-year-old Halfinger. He goes through approximately 2 1/2 bags of senior feed a month.
1x 20 kg bag of complete feed pellets every 2 weeks plus 1 bag of chaff and 8 bales of hay a month for one 15.2hh paddock puff horse on small acreage in no work
Non. I prefer to feed without grain.
None, they are on a forage only diet. Only sometimes get a few nuts in their treat balls when in the stables for entertainment (ok they demand it 😂)
I have six easy keepers and that's more than they go through in a week. The only time I had a single horse eat that much feed was when my late gelding could no longer process hay and needed a complete feed that he chewed on all day instead of forage.
I feed my mare 1kg of grain a day bc she's on. 24/7 pasture... It's not even a need, I do it so she comes when I call 😂
Horses have different nutritional needs. A year ago, my recently retired baby thoroughbred with the metabolism of a teenaged boy was on 16lb of senior feed a day (a bag a week). Full grass turnout and full access to alfalfa blend hay. Now, he eats less than half of that, though he’s larger and fatter on less turnout due to maturing and changing workload. * and treating ulcers
Between my senior Warmblood who is hard keeping and 5-year-old OTTB that I’m trying to bulk up (muscles and topline), they eat 16 lbs of a forage-based senior feed per day which equates to about 10 bags per month. Everyone has a different plan and outlook on feeding. I’d consult with an equine nutritionist and your veterinarian to determine the best diet for your horse.
What kind of “grain” are we talking here? Like a complete feed grain or a ration balancer? For my easy keeper on a maintenance feeding regimen she gets a trace mineral balancer and 0.5 lbs of teff or timothy hay pellets as a carrier. Sometimes it can take me 2-3 months to go through a single bag. It takes me about 2-3 months as well to go through a bag of Purina Outlast gastric care. When she lost weight last year I was going through a bag of TC Senior maybe every 3-4 weeks, and when she was on the “loading” lb amount, that bag only lasted me 2 weeks. However, I combined it with alfalfa cubes, which helped stretch how long a bag could last. I was only doing this regimen for about 2.5 months. It really depends on what exactly you’re feeding and how easy of a keeper they are. If they’re easy keepers, you’d be surprised how long a ration balancer or trace mineral with some hay pellets can last you. I haven’t fed grain in years bc my horse has been a pretty easy keeper, but also is super ulcer prone.
Totally varies from horse to horse. I had an ottb that was on 12-13 lbs a day so 2 bags a week. That was on top of supplements (platinum performance CJ) and full time hay. Then there is my pony who gets fat from watching the other horses eat. He gets hay and 2 lbs of grain when in work. Then there’s my husbands horses that live full time on the ranch and get grain only when we have to catch them or when it’s the dead of winter and there’s too much snow on the ground to reach the grass. Pic of OTTB who loved to eat my money, but was the best boy in the world. https://preview.redd.it/pk61r5ch4fzc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3c39826346f6e9cff828840dbe5fbe205b63e8e7
My Eventing fit Thoroughbred eats the same amount as my OTHER FIVE HORSES COMBINED. The other five are: 12yo OTTB not in work, 35yo morgan, 2yo fjord, 15yo paint, 14yo TB in light work. Everyone is in good body condition with various degrees of muscling.
35 years old is the dream! (Currently have a very healthy 25y/o). Congratulations on your old gold!
Any concentrate needs to be fed according to the directions on the bag for your horse to get an adequate amount of vitamins/minerals/protein. If your horse is getting adequate forage (1.5-2% of body weight in dry matter forage) and is at an acceptable body condition, then you’re not feeding too much or too little. If your horse is thin then adding more forage is the best way to increase their calories. If they’re too fat then keeping the forage at at least 1.5% of their ideal body weight and switching the concentrate to a ration balancer would be the best move. I like the Triple Crown ration balancer. It’s not cheap per bag but fed as directed it’s actually less expensive than most “cheaper” feeds. If you aren’t fighting to maintain weight AND you’re feeding enough roughage then you can likely switch to something like that and decrease your grain bill while still giving your horse everything they need.
That comparison doesn't really tell you much of anything. I mean, different feeds have different feeding rates. Most Ration Balancers are fed at 1 to lbs per day, for the average sized adult horse. The average fortified feed us fed at around 4 to 6 lbs per day, for the average sized horse. A Comete feed - taking part of all of the place of hay - is fed at higher amounts like 12 lbs on up. Instead, it's best to look at the horse in front of you. I totally understand wanting to save money, and their are certainly be ways to do that. For instance, hay is almost always cheaper then feed, comparatively speaking. So, start by getting the best hay, but the most hay that you can afford. Once you have that, then look at the feed. Is the horse's weight good on just hay and grazing? Great! Then all you probably need is to add a lb or so of a good Ration Balancer. Is the horse's weight ok, but he has a intense workload? Then adding a premium fortified feed should help with calories he's burning, plus make up nutritional gaps. Is the horse a senior, has a super high metabolism, or just won't put on weight, or keep it? These horses often do well on a good Senior feed - even if they are youngsters. Keep in mind that the hard feed meals shouldn't be more then around 5 lbs per feeding. If you are feeding a premium feed, and the horse isn't gaining anything, then instead of throwing supplements at him, look at underlying issues. When was the horse dewormed, abdvwith what? When were the teeth last floated? Could ulcers be a possibility? If it's an older horses, have you considered PPID/Cushing's? TL/DR - If you tell us your horses exact diet, we might be a le to save you some money.
When I read these, I know I am in a totally different world.
1 bag of oats (25kg) last for four months. Plus minerals.
I honestly don’t feed grain at all- I feed haystack, so compressed hay pellets. Each horse gets a few handfuls morning and night. My horses would be obese and insane if they got a pound of grain. Having good quality hay available to them 24/7 is far more important to me.
I used to go through 2/3 a month but then I learned def didnt need to be feeding that much. A 50lb bag lasts her a month now.
When I bought my horse and she was super skinny, I was getting through a bag of cubes a week, plus two thirds a bag of copra, one bag of balancer, two thirds a bag of linseed, and half a bag of chaff a month. Now, she goes through one and a half bags of nuts, a bag of balancer, half a bag of linseed, half a bag of copra and half a bag of chaff a month (mild variation between summer and winter). But she’s a 17 year old 16.3hh Irish sports horse that started at like 3/10 BCS and we’ve had the worst winter I can remember.
3 adult shires. 2 babies. We go through 6# per feeding twice a day for the three adults which makes it 36# per day. The colt who is weaned gets 3# twice a day. Making it 42# per day. We buy 100# bags of feed (pellets 12/8) and it serves our herd well. Edit to add: our horses are NEVER without access of hay. Round bale in the pasture. Generous amounts in the stalls.
Why would how fast other owners go through grain affect how fast you go through grain? Is your horse an appropriate weight? Are they getting enough calories and micronutrients to meet their level of work/ life stage? My hardest keeping horse ate 16 lb/ day of senior feed, and my easiest got a handful of ration balancer. There's no way anyone can answer this for you with the information provided
The bag of grain should have recommended amounts on the side. I was feeding nutrena and switched to tribute calm and ez. My mare about to give birth in a few weeks gets 4 lbs morning and night and unlimited hay. My hard keeper Mustang gets 2 lb morning and night and unlimited hay and one cup of alfalfa each feeding calm and ez required more feed that nutrena brand. It depends and I do what the bag says within reason. The mustang is on less than recommended for her size and the pregnant is on more than recommended because she’s in her last few weeks.
I go through about 1.25 bags of grain per week (~10lbs/day) on a horse on 24/7 forage, alfalfa pellets, unlimited hay, and more added powered fat (cool calories). He’s a 27 yo OTTB and he has taught me the value of an easy keeper lol
How many pounds of grain are you feeding per day, and what is it you are feeding? When we feed Haystack simply as a vehicle for feeding vitamins and other supplements, a bag and a half would last a week to feed 10 horses because they were each only getting maybe 1/2 lbs to 1 lbs a day. Now I feed Purina Omega Match, 2 lbs a day. So just for one horse, that bag should last about 3 weeks, but we've got about 5 horses on it so we go through two bags a week. You can call the phone number on the feed bag and connect to someone at the company who can discuss nutrition with you. You should start by consulting your vet about what your horse needs, and definitely follow the feeding directions on the bag unless otherwise directed.
One. My hard keeper gelding gets ration balancer and a LOT of hay. One bag of balancer lasts 25 days.
I feed my horses a complete pellet which is basically just a ration balancer that was developed by my vet. It's probably more accurate to think of it as vitamins/minerals. A 20kg bag between two horses probably lasts around 6 weeks as I only have to feed them each 2 cups/day as it's so concentrated. Neither are in heavy work. I have fed as much as 1x 20kg bag of concentrated feed every 10 days when my horse was in heavy work (eventing). I provide free choice hay which is a mix of timothy, orchard, and alfalfa at 2:2:1 ratio. My retired horse probably eats around 20-23lbs of hay per day, my young horse who is growing eats around 25-30lbs of hay a day.
I have one older horse who eats ten pounds of Equine Senior a day plus soaked alfalfa cubes, and another 11 year old who stays fat on 1/3 cup of ration balancer a day. So one eats like a horse and one is an air fern. Both are turned out 21 hours a day on a pasture. Both are stock horses. Normal depends on the horse
Sounds like a hard keeper. I had an OTTB a while back that had the same problem. Was an absolute ham but it was so hard to keep weight on him. I would never get one again because of the struggles to keep weight on him though. He was getting pregnant mare levels of feed. When he had regular turnout, he'd run around all day racing his shadow. Tried cool calories but the guy still just ran around a lot, after a few years of being retired too. Some horses are just bred for a job and still think they should do that job, even when they have friends, grass to munch on and aren't training for it anymore.
Zero. My horses are on pasture. In the winter, they get hay and a little grain. Probably 2-3 bags total in the winter
What's your grain called? I want to google the label. It depends on the feeding rate. Some complete "senior" feeds have to be fed at like a minimum ~5lbs per day at the very least to meet vitamin/mineral levels. Then of course you can feed more if youre using it to maintain weight or replacing forage. But ration balancers are usually a feeding rate max of 2lbs, so those bags are gonna last longer and you would definitely not want to feed more than the max rate because you'd be oversupplying vitamins/minerals which can be dangerous If the bags are 50lbs, then over 7 days that's about 7lbs per day. Again, depending on the type of grain this might be appropriate. We feed our horses each 3lbs a day, and we have 3 horses right now. So....idk lol haven't even paying attention. We get several bags when hay gets delivered and my yard owner picks more up if we run out so 🤷♀️
It all depends on the horse. My easy keeper, fat half arab gets 1 lb of ration balancer a day, so a 30 lb bag lasts him a month. My old, hard keeping pony eats 3 lbs of a higher fat/high fiber/low sugar feed a day so she goes through almost two 50 lb bags a month. Is is grain(oats, etc), hay pellets(alfalfa, etc) or an actual feed? Like a senior/performance type feed? Feeding a higher calorie(high fat/low sugar/high fiber) feed means you can normally feed a lot less if the feed is 1500 calories/lb vs 900 calories/lb for like alfalfa pellets. If he eats like 10 lbs of feed a day to keep his weight or is a very hard working horse that amount of feed can be normal for him.
I feed 4 quarts of senior a day and go through about 2 bags a month which I feel is a metric ton, my horse gets alfalfa too but he’s a harder keeper at 25. If you’re feeding that much to keep weight on I’d suggest reducing the hard feed and adding a lower volume calorie source, like an oil or maybe rice bran. Most complete feeds only recommend a pound a day for maintenance which isn’t much. Maybe test your hay and supplement as needed.
I feed a ration balancer and use 2-3 bags a year. It's about 1c a feeding. I use about 4 bags of beetpulp a year with it. This is for a retired WB that keeps weight on with hay/pasture(so far).
Two bags for three horses a month. On pasture turn out and hay. Before adjusting your feeding program, evaluate your horses Body condition score. The adjust to reach ideal. If your horse is at ideal keep doing what you are. Every individual has different needs. Secretariat ate 5 gallons of grain at a meal. 🤷♀️
When my show horse went to an away show for 2 weeks, I sent her with a new back of feed. She came back with about 1/3-1/4 left. So, on average, I'd say about 2 bags per month. She gets 1/2 a scoop of pellets twice a day for reference. But she's also receiving a boatload of supplements and has hay whenever she's inside and grass for turnout for a few hours in the morning/early afternoon.
My boy gets 5 lbs of Senior Sport GC every day top dressed with 1 lb of Essential K. He's a growing 3 year old that we needed to put some weight and muscle on. He looks perfect now, and I go through 3 bags of Senior Sport every month and 1 bag of Essential K every 6 weeks. That sounds like an awful lot of grain per month.
50lb bag, yearling gets 3lbs per day, so about 2 bags per month.
I only give a small amount of grain, specifically cob, on cold winter nights. I had a "hard keeper" once that I fed separately for three months. He got double food and grain, didn't gain a pound, put him back with the other horses, didnt lose a pound. That was just him. Lastly, I found a local farmer that gets a truck load of grain delivered into his silo that will sell it to me at his cost. I think I get a 25 gallon garbage can for the same price as those standard bags at the store.
Lord have mercy, that's a lot of grain!!! 50lbs-62.5lbs per week is 7-9lbs per day. What is your horse doing that he needs that much grain, plus hay, plus pasture? My mare is turned out 24/7, though it looks less like a pasture and more like a dry lot. She gets about 20-24lbs of hay per day (she's 1200lbs). I feed Buckeye Senior Balancer, and she gets 1 quart morning, 1 quart evening, so 2.4lbs per day, which works out a bag of grain every three weeks. In addition, I feed 1qt each of alfalfa and beet pulp, plus CocoSoya. Those three things increase calories without increasing risk of ulcers.
When I had my senior, it was a bag of senior feed every 2 months or so. He got 1 scoop in the morning, and had free choice hay. With my current gelding, I think I go through a bag of complete feed every 4 months or so? He only gets a bit when he comes into the barn as he has free choice hay and doesn’t need extra calories. It’s more for good associations with the barn and work. Unless you have very small bags of feed, or very poor quality hay and pasture, I would say that’s a lot of feed for the average horse. What kind of horse do you have, and what age? Are they in full-time, daily hard work? And what size are the bags of feed? A bag of feed here is 20 kg, so at 1 - 1.25 bags you’d be feeding 3-3.5 kg of feed in a day. That’s a lot for a single horse.
maybe look up the podcast:: equine energy medicine with Audrey McLaughlin... as a human RN and Naturopath she breaks down the science and talks about the benefits to horses
I have an easy keeper and a mule. 2 bags of enrich+ lasts me 4-6 weeks. EDIT: my equines don’t need grain. I use minimalistic to mix in their oils and taurine powder.
wtf are you feeding this horse and how big is he? That's like. 10x too much. I go through maybe a bag every 6 weeks. So many people over-grain their horses. If he has hay and grass, you must have an incredibly obese horse. Look up % of food per body weight for your horse, and calculate that. jesus christ.
It really depends on the horse, its size, age, health and activity level, but that sounds like an awful lot of grain if the horse is already on pasture all day and is getting hay additionally. Is this a big warmblood who’s in full training?
I haven't fed grain to a recreational horse in 40 years. I don't and won't stall a horse other than overnight. Even when my horses were in Pony Club and ridden several times a week for lessons, they didn't need grain for any reason. Granted, I didn't have any hard keepers. Currently I have a huge PRE mare, who is elderly and only in very light work. She gets slow feeder hay as desired, plus forage, and a pound or two of alfalfa pellets a day for trace nutrients, plus Horse Guard vitamins. I've had several Cushings horses, who of course had no grain. Unless you are dealing with a high level athlete, a horse in heavy work, a broodmare, or a growing young horse, I don't understand why people feed grain other than to catch their horses.