What Is A Substitute For Grain For Horses?

Limit or eliminate grain when possible, and offer an alternative hi-calorie food source as a grain substitute, such as any of the following: Fat is a safe and concentrated energy source and is well digested by horses. Fat can be fed as vegetable oil, rice bran or is available in commercially formulated high-fat feed.

What can you feed horses instead of grain?

Many pleasure and trail horses don’t need grain: good-quality hay or pasture is sufficient. If hay isn’t enough, grain can be added, but the bulk of a horse’s calories should always come from roughage. Horses are meant to eat roughage, and their digestive system is designed to use the nutrition in grassy stalks.

Can horses go a day without grain?

Horses on high quality pasture for most of the day will not need extra grain. Good grass will provide most, if not all, the nutrients and calories they need. Horses evolved to be roughage eaters, so their bodies are naturally designed to subsist off of quality grasses.

Are oats better than grain for horses?

Because of their high fiber content and low energy value, whole oats have traditionally been a relatively safe feed for horses when compared to other cereal grains such as corn.

Are oats considered a grain for horses?

So if you are not already giving your horse oats, consider it because it is a wholesome grain that comes with many benefits for your horse.

What is grain free for horses?

What does it mean to have a grain-free diet for horses? While there is no official definition for this, grain free generally means that a product is free of whole grains that contain the starchy endosperm portion of the seed. You may still see parts of the original seed in a grain-free formula, such as hulls.

How can I put weight on my horse without grains?

If your horse is thin without any underlying health issues, and simply needs more calories, you can fix the problem by: Allowing 24/7 access to pasture or hay (or as much forage as possible). If increased amounts of hay aren’t enough, try offering a higher quality hay such as alfalfa or an immature grass hay.

What is the healthiest diet for a horse?

Horses are naturally grazers, they eat little and often. Their natural diet is mainly grass, which has high roughage content. Horses should be provided with a predominantly fibre-based diet, either grass, hay, haylage or a hay replacement in order to mimic their natural feeding pattern as closely as possible.

How many bales of hay should a horse have a day?

A horse can eat anywhere from 15-25 pounds of hay a day, which generally equates to a half of a 45/50-pound square bale of hay per day (~15-30 bales per month).

What should I feed my horse daily?

Roughage/Forage Roughage, found in hay or grass, is the bulk of the horse’s food. Grass or alfalfa hay, or a combination of the two, are good sources of roughage. Grass hay is generally higher in fiber and dry matter than alfalfa, but alfalfa may be higher in protein, energy, vitamins and calcium.

Is alfalfa or oats better for horses?

The alfalfa hay diet provides 151% of the lysine requirement while the oat hay diet provides only 34% of the lysine requirement. Lysine is the first limiting amino acid in most horse diets. Protein and calcium supplementation is needed for lactating mares fed oat hay based diets.

What is a good grain for horses?

The most common are oats, corn, and barley. Milo (sorghum) and wheat are other grains that are fed to horses as well. Grains such as oats, barley, and corn can be fed whole, though many are typically processed to increase digestibility.

Is corn or oats better for horses?

Oat starch is more digestible in the small intestine than corn starch, and this feature makes oats the safer feed choice when large amounts of cereal grain must be fed. Oat starch reduces the risk of hindgut acidosis, which is caused by starch entering the hindgut and undergoing rapid fermentation.

Can horses eat uncooked Quaker oats?

As it is a larger grain, horses are capable of chewing the grain enough to break its seed coat, removing the need for physical processing. Studies have also found that oat starch is far easier to digest than corn or barley starch in an uncooked form. So oats can be fed whole and uncooked.

Do working horses need grain?

Grains are a useful supplement that provides extra energy for working horses. Forages, such as grass and hay, are the foundation of all equine feeding programs, as this is the source of the horse’s essential nutrients. Most horse owners feed their animals grain at least once a day, whether the horse is working or not.

What grain puts weight on horses?

Alfalfa
Alfalfa is higher in calories and protein than grass hays, which makes it an excellent choice to help to add weight to a thin horse. If your horse tends to be wasteful with his hay, he may eat more when offered alfalfa hay cubes or pellets.

How often do horses need grain?

We seem to automatically assume that all horses have to eat grain. Let’s look at what your horse really needs to stay healthy! Many people believe that horses and grain go hand-in-hand. Most barns feed grain meals to their horses two to three times a day.

What happens if a horse eats a lot of grain?

Consumption of large quantities of high starch grain can have drastic consequences to a horse’s intestinal health, causing digestive upset, abdominal pain (colic), and diarrhea. The most notable consequence of this occurrence is the development of laminitis (founder), which might only become evident days later.

Why would a horse stop eating grain?

When horses do not eat as we expect they should, they may have an underlying health problem. Loss of appetite for grain is often seen in horses that have intestinal problems or systemic disease. This behavior is classically seen in horses with equine gastric ulcer syndrome, EGUS.

What puts weight on horses fast?

What is the fastest way to put weight on a horse? High fat, high protein grain combined with a rich alfalfa hay can quickly put weight on a horse, if there is not an underlying medical condition.

What food puts weight on horses?

Adding highly digestible fibre sources such as sugar beet is beneficial for promoting weight gain in horses. Dengie Alfa-Beet is an ideal feed for underweight horses as it combines alfalfa with unmolassed sugar beet. Studies have shown this also helps to improve the digestibility of other fibre sources in the diet.