Feed and Supplement Correctly
Food Management
Correct feeding management is essential for the well-being and health of horses, in behavioral, digestive and metabolic terms.
Feed and Supplement Correctly
Food Management
Fiber? What are super fibers?
Pastures or fodder are, naturally, the first resource as a source of fiber in the horse's diet. However, are there foods that are also relevant sources of fiber and that have a higher energy density than forage, with a higher content of digestible fiber? these foods are called ?super fibres?.
The energy density of the ?super fibers? it is lower than the energy density of cereals (eg corn, barley and oats) and, given their fibrous nature, they do not present the risks associated with excessive starch intake, thus being considered a safe way to provide extra energy and promote intestinal health .
The "super fibers" are often constituents of complementary compound feeds (?feed?), providing fiber to this feed, and are particularly popular in commercial feeds claiming to be ?rich in fibre? or "cereal free". Since in the latter, in the absence of cereals, fat also plays a prominent role in energy supply.
They are also used in addition to fodder and the usual compound feed, being particularly useful:
- Complementing hays with low digestibilities.
- When we intend to provide more energy without increasing starch levels (when concentrate consumption is already significant or in horses particularly susceptible to it, as is the case with horses with Gastric Ulcers or predisposition to myopathies).
- In animals with dental problems, such as geriatric horses, given the difficulty they have in consuming adequate amounts of forage/pasture.
- In horses with difficulty maintaining an adequate body condition.
- Horses subjected to prolonged efforts (such as in endurance disciplines) benefit from this energy source, which additionally promotes water retention in the extravascular space, contributing to the intestine functioning as a water and electrolyte reservoir.
- Among other uses.
?Super fibers? most used
The "super fibers" most commonly used in equine nutrition are beet pulp and soybean hulls. Other less used types of super fiber are, for example, almond shells or citrus pulp, and despite having good digestibility fiber, they have reduced palatability when used in this species.
beet pulp
Beet pulp has a considerable digestible fiber content (about 85% of its fiber is digestible), is low in starch and is considered a food relatively low in sugar (about 10% of sugar). It has a variable protein content (varies between 8 and 12%), identical to a good grass forage, and the calcium content is relevant, although lower than what we find, for example, in lucerne.
Despite the advantages that this product presents, it is not advisable to use it as a substitute for forage, but rather as a complement, as it is rapidly fermentable, essentially contains digestible fiber and is relatively poor in other substances that forage provides (for example , vitamins and other minerals).
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soy hull
Soybean hulls are often incorporated into concentrated foods to provide fiber, with highly digestible fiber (about 75%). Its consumption as a complement to hay and concentrated feed is less common, its commercialization in granules for the final customer is less frequent and its palatability is lower.
Other foods used to provide fiber
wheat bran
Wheat bran is a common constituent of concentrate feeds. The fiber content of this raw material is not as high as is thought, with 10 to 12% of crude fiber (as opposed to around 20% in beet pulp) and its isolated use, in addition to concentrated feed and forage, has , some drawbacks that should be considered:
- It is a food rich in phosphorus and low in calcium, and this raw material has an inverted calcium/phosphorus ratio (the calcium/phosphorus ratio of a horse food should be 1.5 to 2 to 1). This ratio is corrected when the bran is incorporated into a concentrated feed, through the addition of calcium. When its use is isolated and made empirically by the owners, it can contribute to orthopedic problems in growing animals, nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism, among other problems.
- The starch content is not negligible, varying between 15 and 20%.
- Wheat bran that is not thermally processed is often a raw material that is not very ?clean? from a microbiological point of view.
Lucerne
Lucerne is also used as a source of good quality fibre. Although lucerne's digestible fiber content is variable, like any forage, this is a good option, with a significant protein and calcium content.
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to retain:
- Highly digestible sources of fiber with a higher energy density than forage are commonly referred to as "super fibres".
- The use of ?super fibers? it allows to complement low digestibility hays, increase energy intake without increasing starch, provide fiber to horses with dental problems, among other uses.
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Feed and Supplement Correctly
Food Management
Fiber? How important is it?
Whether we are talking about sport or breeding horses, the basis of good food management is based on choosing a good forage food, as well as providing that food in adequate amounts. This is because, as horses are herbivorous animals, they are prepared from an anatomophysiological point of view to supply a large part of their energy needs through the digestion of fibrous food.
Fibrous food digestion
With regard to the digestion of fibrous food, this occurs by microbial fermentation in the cecum and colon, with the support of a resident microflora consisting of bacteria, protozoa and yeasts. These fermentation processes result in volatile fatty acids (VFAs), which are absorbed into the bloodstream and converted into glucose for immediate use, or stored in the form of fat, constituting energy reserves for future use.
The forage source should therefore be seen as a fundamental energy resource, but it is not limited to this role alone. The availability of fodder food, in adequate quantity or ?ad libitum?, is beneficial from the behavioral, gastrointestinal and nutritional points of view.
- behavioral
Giving forage feed is an essential factor for the performance of the equine's physiological behavior, insofar as it allows the horse to reproduce its behavior in a natural environment, providing a continuous intake over time, reducing behavioral problems (known as "tantrums").
- Gastrointestinal
Providing forage feed contributes to adequate intestinal motility.
This food is necessary for the maintenance of an adequate resident intestinal flora, the relationship between the intestinal microbiota and the horse being symbiotic (both parties benefit). The horse needs this microbial flora (mainly composed of cellulolytic bacteria) to digest fiber. Fiber, in turn, is necessary for this microbiota to remain stable, preventing a growing development of lactic acid-producing bacteria that promote intestinal acidity, making the environment more favorable to the development of pathogenic bacteria such as coli and the Salmonella.
Continued chewing associated with fibrous food contributes to an increase in salivation, and saliva naturally contains bicarbonate that acts as a buffer, promoting an increase in gastric pH and contributing to the prevention of problems associated with gastric acidity, such as Down Syndrome. Equine Gastric Ulceration so prevalent in the athlete horse.
Fiber also contributes to the retention of water at the intestinal level, and the large intestine works as an important reservoir of water, available when the horse needs it, preventing dehydration and electrolyte depletion in prolonged efforts.
- nutritional
Fibrous feed, in addition to being an energy source, is also a source of minerals and vitamins that are important for the horse. It is also relevant as a fermentable substrate for the intestinal microbiota, which has the ability to produce some B vitamins.
to retain:
- Forage feed is essential from an energy point of view and for maintaining a healthy gastrointestinal tract, and in quantity it should correspond to about 1.5% of the horse's live weight and constitute about 60% of the total feed supplied (minimum 50%).
- Insufficient fiber intake contributes to the development of behavioral problems ("tantrums"), intestinal acidosis, intestinal dysbiosis, gastric ulcers, "colic", among other problems.
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Feed and Supplement Correctly
Food Management
What are the main components of food?
One of the main concerns to take into account when feeding horses is to know if they receive food with adequate nutritional characteristics for the type of effort required, that is, if the food is balanced in terms of energy, protein, vitamins and minerals. Another of the concerns is based on the choice of the compound feed supplied, in order to guarantee the use of quality raw materials and the suitability of its processing, if applicable.
pastures
With regard to pastures, legumes are important because they have a higher concentration of calcium and digestible protein than grasses, which increases the nutritional value of the grass consumed. Legumes also improve soil fertility, since grasses are the most resistant to grazing, so a suitable pasture for horses should contain a mixture of both, with 20 to 30% of legumes.
Hay and hay-silage
Hay and hay silage are methods for harvesting and preserving forage, which entail variable losses in the nutritive value of foods in view of their green content. The optimum height for cutting in grasses is at the beginning of heading and that of legumes at the beginning of flowering.
Cereal straw (wheat, barley, oats, etc.) is characterized by low digestibility and residual nutritional value. It is a food poor in energy, protein and mineral macroelements, and also has a lower voluntary intake compared to hay, so its use should be limited to situations of shortage of fodder.
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Compound foods
Compound feed for horses should be complementary to fodder. The main raw materials used in the manufacture of compound feed are subdivided into: energetic, protein and fibrous raw materials. In addition to the raw materials, compound feeds usually also contain a pre-mix of additives that balance the feed from a mineral and vitamin point of view.
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Feed and Supplement Correctly
Food Management
Understanding horse feeding behavior
The horse's diet is associated with its feeding behavior and the specific gastrointestinal characteristics that they present. Thus, adequate food management is essential, influencing the horse's health in behavioral, digestive and metabolic terms.
digestive physiology
The horse is a monogastric herbivore animal with a digestive system consisting of a small stomach and well-developed small and large intestines. Thus, the type of digestion has characteristics that combine the advantages of enzymatic digestion with the advantages of microbial digestion.
The digestive physiology of horses is characterized by rapid and intense enzymatic digestion in the small intestine and a long and intense process of microbial fermentation in the large intestine.
food intake
The horse has a high ability to ingest forage, in part due to the microbial population of the large intestine, which is able to take advantage of fiber-rich foods and recycle nitrogen. Throughout its evolution, the horse acquired the ability to consume high amounts of forage, in order to guarantee the coverage of its energy needs, given the low digestibility of this type of feed.
mares and foals
Normally after calving, both mares and foals are placed on the pasture as soon as possible, so the grass, together with the preserved forage, represents 60 to 80% of the feeding of these animals. Keeping animals on pasture has advantages in terms of nutrition, exercise and expression of natural behavior.
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sport horses
The feeding management of the sport horse will vary depending on the type and intensity of the effort required of the horse. Physical activity enhances musculoskeletal work, intensifies blood circulation and respiratory function. The confinement of the animal in a box and the absence of grazing also causes changes in food management.
However, these changes must respect the general principle that the diet should essentially consist of quality forage feed and be supplemented by compound feed.