Question

We are moving our four horses and one mammoth donkey to Kentucky from Ohio. The pelleted feed I have been using—a 12% protein, 6% fat—is not available in Kentucky. Should I purchase feed in Kentucky and transition my horses while they are still in Ohio, then move to Kentucky; or haul my current feed to Kentucky and transition once I get there? I hope I can haul some of our hay to get them started in the new place as well, but that brings me to the forage question. They are have been turned out all summer on five acres, but by now there is not much left to graze on and they are on heavy hay feeding. The new farm has acres and acres of green grass and that is making me worry. Should l transition them in turnout sessions of 15 or 20 minutes over 10 or 15 days to the new grass? Or transition in some other manner? Grazing muzzles perhaps?

Answer

I understand your concerns with the changes in diet. Let me address the two issues separately.

(1) There is no need to try to get the Kentucky feed to your horses while they are in Ohio. The simplest way is to bring a few bags of their Ohio feed with you and do the switch after they have moved to Kentucky. We usually recommend the following seven-day plan for the switch:

Day 1 and 2: 1/4 new feed, 3/4 old feed

Day 3 and 4: 1/2 new feed, 1/2 old feed

Day 5 and 6: 3/4 new feed, 1/4 old feed

Day 7 and beyond: all new feed

If it is not possible to bring any feed with you, the other option is to not feed additional grain the first week or two upon arrival at their new location and then introduce the new feed, starting with small amounts and working up to the desired amount of feed.

(2) There is not much difference in the types of pasture grasses in Ohio and Kentucky, so that is not much of a concern. Your biggest concern is the quantity of available grass. If none of your horses (or mule) are obese or have a history of laminitis, the swap from little grass to overabundance should be easier. If you have the ability to confine the animals off the pasture for a portion of the day, then you could transition them easily by only turning out on the grass for two hours at a time for the first two days and then increase turnout on grass by one hour every other day until you reach eight hours of turnout. After that it should not matter how long they are out, even if is 24-hour turnout, because there will be enough of the fresh grass in their digestive tracts to have acclimated the microbial population to the change.

If there is abundant grass in the pastures, you may not need to be feeding much additional feed. Look at the recommended feeding rates on the new feed you choose and if the minimum will cause them to gain too much weight, you may want to feed them a ration balancer instead.

Learn more about ration balancers here.

An example of a ration balancer is All-Phase, which is available in central Kentucky. Learn more about All-Phase.