If you follow my blog you know I am always talking about this. Vets use it, nutritionists use it, animal welfare organizations use it, because a BCS is a universal way of determining the current condition of your horse. Specifically, what is the score on a ratings scale from 1 to 9 of your horse’s current weight.
Category Archives: General Nutrition
The ABCs of Equine Nutrition; The Letter B
Wow! There are a lot of topics in horse nutrition that begin with the letter “B“. And those topics have a LOT of information! Before we get into nutrients, toxins or any other nutrition topic, I would like to begin with a tool for you to use in determining your horse’s health. A way to help you see if your nutrition program is on the right track. With that in mind we will start the letter B with Body Condition Scoring.
What is Acid Detergent Fiber (ADF) in Horse Hay?
Having your hay analyzed is a great idea. It is the only way to determine the actual nutrient content of your hay. It is important to know this so that you can be sure your horse is consuming an adequate diet. You may or may not need to feed grain depending on the quality of your hay. The better the quality of the hay you feed, the less grain you will need to feed. This can be a significant savings.
When discussing hay quality or looking at your hay sample analysis results the acronym ADF is often heard or seen. ADF stands for Acid Detergent Fiber and is the percentage of the plant material in the forage that is difficult for your horse to digest. This indigestible part contains cellulose, lignin, and silica.
Alfalfa in The Equine Diet….. The Pros & Cons:
Horse hay comes in two forms: grass and legumes. Common grass hay includes orchard grass, timothy and coastal Bermuda, less common are bromegrass and fescue. Commonly fed legume hays are Alfalfa and clover. The most productive and popular legume hay is Alfalfa as it is a highly nutritious and a high yield crop.
Alfalfa and the alfalfa–grass mixed hay is thought to be the most important hay in the U.S. horse industry. Not only is it the most nutritious hay for horses, Alfalfa is also considered ideal horse hay because of its availability. In fact it is the only forage that is produced and sold in every state in the country.
Analyzing Your Horse’s Feedstuff
Analyzing your feedstuff is an important part of knowing what is in your horse’s ration. The foundation of the ration should be based on the science of Analysis. The mission of feed or hay Analysis is to provide you with facts about your feedstuff to scientifically balance your ration. Once the foundation ration is established, then experience can come into play to provide your horse with a well formulated, practical diet.
Analysis results and rations can be evaluated on either an “as sampled” or “dry matter basis”. When all feeds offered are of a similar dry matter “as sampled” results may be used. For example, hay and grain generally average about ~90% dry matter. If they are the only feeds in the diet the ration can be balanced on an “as sampled” basis.
The Equine Nutrition Nerd 
You must be logged in to post a comment.