The Importance Of Different Horse Feeds For Different Needs

Crandell KM. 1999. The importance of different feeds for different needs. Equinews Vol. 2/1:5-9.]

In an ideal world all the horses on a farm, from broodmares to weanlings to horses in heavy work, could be fed the same feed out of the same bag. Unfortunately, the nutritional needs of horses in different life stages vary tremendously, and this makes it difficult to design a “one bag fits all” feed. The basis of any equine diet should be forage. Any concentrate (sweet feed, pellet or grain) should compensate for deficiencies in the forage. One forage may prove to be an acceptable complete diet for a maintenance horse while the same forage may have inadequate levels of protein necessary for a weanling or deficient levels of energy required by a sport horse.

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