Feeding Concentrates to Horses in Australia and New Zealand

Australians have traditionally fed more straight grains rather than premixed textured or pelleted feeds, although this pattern is changing with the development of better quality feed mill products. Oats are by far the most common grain fed to horses based on safety, price, and the fact that there is no need for further processing. Corn or maize is higher priced than oats and cannot compete on a cost-per-energy basis, but it is often necessary to increase the energy density of the ration. It is usually fed in amounts of less than 1 kg. Barley is perceived by many to be a nonheating feed and is fed either steam-rolled or boiled, but again it is usually fed in small amounts. Sorghum is an economical grain but is not widely used.

Bran has been a popular ingredient, particularly for combination in a wet feed (bran mash) with various supplements, but its use is now declining. Pollard is popular with people wanting to put condition on horses without feeding extra grain. Rice pollard is also used by some owners for conditioning, due to its high fat content.

Feed mills produce both pelleted and textured feeds, but there is still a substantial prejudice against pellets by horsemen. Up until recently, many processed feeds have been inappropriately formulated. In addition, the mineral and vitamin premixes added to the feeds have usually been inadequate for use in high performance horses or fast-growing horses without extra supplementation. Many of these feeds are not used according to instructions, but are diluted with other grains which further diminishes the value of the vitamin and mineral premixes in the feeds. Rice-based pellets have been popular for a number of years. These are high-energy pellets purported to offer “cool conditioning.” Some low-energy textured feeds contain lucerne (alfalfa) or oaten chaff as a source of fiber. These are popular with riders of horses in light work. Recently, some feeds for performance and growing horses have been produced containing high levels of fat.

In New Zealand, a limited amount of commercially prepared feed is fed to both Thoroughbred and Standardbred racehorses with tradition and skepticism being the main reasons for this. Sixty percent of trainers might feed about 2 kg of a balanced concentrate, the rest being basic oats and chaff feeders with various additives. The price of grain in New Zealand is significantly higher than in Australia and this may explain why 90% of the oats in New Zealand are crushed and crimped as opposed to the reverse in Australia.

In racing horses, protein supplementation is usually provided by the feeding of lupins, sunflower seeds, tick beans, soybean meal, and peas. These also have a higher energy content than traditional grains. Linseed meal and cottonseed meal used to be commonly used but these have declined in popularity recently. Lupins are becoming increasingly popular as they represent good value, and they are a palatable energy and protein source with high digestible fiber content. However, lupins have low levels of methionine and tryptophan. The contention that linseed meal or sunflower seeds make horses “look better” is likely to be due to the high oil content, as both provide relatively poor-quality protein. On the breeding farms, the value of soybean meal is increasingly being recognized and it is fed as soybean meal or full-fat soybean meal. However, some breeders still use protein supplements with low-quality protein such as sunflower seeds or cottonseed meal.

Where horses have access to 12 hours or more of good pasture in New Zealand, protein supplementation is not the major limiting factor. For example, the foal ration of a major feed company supplying the total hard feed in a fully prepared ration was 14.5% protein.

Good pastures fluctuate between 16% and 28% protein. Protein supplements to racehorses are mainly full-fat soya and sunflower even though sunflower seeds are very expensive.

Australian horse trainers are major users of supplements as most people do not use prepared feeds, or use them as only part of the concentrate intake. There are many brands and types of feed supplements marketed for horses and these promise a variety of benefits for the horses. There is a strict registration process, but despite this many products provide spurious claims or contain inadequate supplementary minerals or vitamins. It is common for a product to contain a particular ingredient, but not contain enough to make a meaningful contribution to balancing the horse’s diet.

Overuse of supplements is common and many horses are fed five or six supplement products including several sources of the same nutrient. Iron supplements are still common despite the fact that all diets contain adequate iron intakes from natural sources. Most owners have little concept of the mineral and vitamin needs of their horses and labels are often difficult to understand, hence the choice of supplements becomes difficult. Most supplements are powders although liquid electrolytes, vitamins, buffers, and iron supplements are available. Some products are presented in a pelleted form to enhance intake of the supplement. Many of these products contain protein supplements in addition to minerals and vitamins.