# What do you feed your horses?



## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

In addition to timothy hay, with a bit of red clover and birdsfoot trefoil, I feed a grain mix. Half oats and half cracked corn. Plus the Vit and Min shown here. Then plenty of molassas to hold the Vit and Min to the grain so it won't settle. 
I grow my own oats and have them cleanrd at the feed mill. They seperate the heavier oats for my seeding mext year and the rest of the oats goes into horse feed. 
The A-Micro 5 is increased for active horses and cut back when they are idle. 
I prefer my oats rolled, but they seem to be digesting them just fine.


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## Johnny Dolittle (Nov 25, 2007)

Have you ever fed Spelt ?


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

Good grass hay. They get 1/2 cup of BOSS and 1/2 cup alfalfa pellets at night for a treat. Loose minerals and clean fresh water always available


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## commonsense (Jun 1, 2008)

Mostly first cutting grass/alfalfa mix hay. Sometimes some second cutting, but we try to reserve the first for the horses, or they gain too much weight.


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

Johnny Dolittle said:


> Have you ever fed Spelt ?


I have. In fact I have a field of it under a foot of snow. Not very common this far north, but it is a good fit for this climate. Often times the snow takes so long to melt off and the spring rains make the heavy soil too wet to get oats planted. If you wait too long to get the oats in, then harvest ends up being in the rainy part of September. But, if i get spelt in before Labor Day, it is normally dry enough. Then in August, it is also dry. 
However, hundreds of Canada Geese and crows spent a lot of time going after the seed they could scratch up. Once it greened up, the Geese were back and they brought their deer friends.

I like to leave the spelt seed's husk on for horse feed. Lots of protein in it, unlike wheat or oats.

Here is a photo of an Amish Spelt field, where I bought my seed.

Just happened to be dry this past spring, so I planted oats.


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## lamoncha lover (Mar 1, 2009)

that looks like some weird stuff. Never seenit or heard of it before.


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

We just feed grass hay, nothing else.


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## offthegrid (Aug 11, 2009)

Timothy hay; Triple Crown Senior + TC 30% Supplement for the ones that don't need the calories of a full ration of Senior. They get just enough Senior to mix up the texture of the 30%.


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

The older TB mare gets 4 quarts of Blue Seal Vintage Victory split into two feedings. It's a wonderful high fat low protein feed. Plus free choice mixed grass hay. This is winter feeding, summer is pasture only.

The Warmblood mare gets a small handful of grain twice a day along with mixed grass hay. She gets no grain in the summer and has to wear a grazing muzzle from May until at least November.

Neither of them need legumes of any kind even when they were working broodmares.


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

lamoncha lover said:


> that looks like some weird stuff. Never seenit or heard of it before.


Wheat and oats look like that when put in shocks. Before combines, all grain was put up this way. The machine in the picture cuts the crop near the ground and puts it into a bundle with a bit of binder twine tied around it. It is called a grain binder.When dry enough, the bundles are tossed into the threasher and the grain is seperated from the straw.
Spelt can grow 3 to 5 feet tall, fall planted, like Winter wheat. You can buy Spelt Flour in many places, Health Food Stores, too.
It has been around a long time, even mentioned in the Bible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelt


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

Joshie said:


> We just feed grass hay, nothing else.


 No minerals?


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

offthegrid said:


> Timothy hay; Triple Crown Senior + TC 30% Supplement for the ones that don't need the calories of a full ration of Senior. They get just enough Senior to mix up the texture of the 30%.


 What is in it?


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

Here is my field of oats. This field had not been in production for several years
It was mostly weeds. In 2011, I rototilled it and sprayed the weeds that came up. In the spring of 2012, I sprayed the weeds again. Then I ran a disc around and got a nice seedbed. Then I planted oats, clover and timothy with a seed drill. I have a cultipacker that I pull behind to pack down the freshly planted seeds. It rained shortly after planting and then was a fairly dry summer. After harvesting the oats, I baled the straw. It is about a 20 acre field.


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## shanzone2001 (Dec 3, 2009)

Joshie said:


> We just feed grass hay, nothing else.


We keep it simple, too. We feed a triple mix hay 2x/day and give stable mix at night.


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

haypoint said:


> No minerals?


They have a block. I guess I didn't consider that to be food.  



shanzone2001 said:


> We keep it simple, too. We feed a triple mix hay 2x/day and give stable mix at night.



What are triple mix and stable mix hays? We have ten acres in grass hay and just use that. I really, really hope this summer is better than last. The hay we got last year is so much stemmier than we've ever grown before. I couldn't even bring myself to try to sell the extra.The horses like it just fine and are fat and sassy but it doesn't look as good as I wish.


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## shanzone2001 (Dec 3, 2009)

We buy ours at the feed store. Oat, barley, alfalfa. We also have a mineral block that I didn't consider food, either.


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## levi1739 (Jul 25, 2003)

Timothy hay, small amount of crimped oats (1/3 cup), progressive grass plus mineral balancer, and access to a salt block. We also have had a couple of bad years for hay but the horses just pick out the stems and eat the good.

I'm not familiar with spelt but notice the cattle people around me are baling up the corn stalks for some reason. I reckon a cow will eat about anything, lol.

Have fun, be safe

Jack


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## starjj (May 2, 2005)

Grass hay, I also have some alfalfa hay not too rich but I feed it less. I feed her oats/mixed with cracked corn but mainly as a treat not everyday (about every other day). She gets way more treeats then she needs. She also has a mineral block and a salt block. Being a mule and coming from where she ate pretty much what she could find pasture wise she probably feels like she is in mule heaven.


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## CaliannG (Apr 29, 2005)

10 acres of pasture/browse that they share with the goats, bermuda grass hay, and 2 quarts each All Stock every night.

Plus all of the non-food items to keep up their health, such as loose minerals, wormers, etc.


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## Oakshire_Farm (Dec 4, 2008)

Free choice of haylage (grass hay, bailed after a day of drying and wrapped in plastic wrap, them left to ferment) a mineral supplement that is made locally with added selenium, and salt blocks


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## Johnny Dolittle (Nov 25, 2007)

Oakshire_Farm said:


> Free choice of haylage (grass hay, bailed after a day of drying and wrapped in plastic wrap, them left to ferment) a mineral supplement that is made locally with added selenium, and salt blocks


Huh? you feed horses haylage ! Sounds too much like feeding moldy hay to horses ?


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

Oakshire_Farm said:


> Free choice of haylage (grass hay, bailed after a day of drying and wrapped in plastic wrap, them left to ferment) a mineral supplement that is made locally with added selenium, and salt blocks


Why do you let hay ferment?


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## opportunity (Mar 31, 2012)

I feed wild grass hay or a grass alfalfa mix depends what the cows got that day and if the hroses can eat the bale if they can they get the left over cow food if not they get grass


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

Feed Orchard grass hay here, in this area of VA.... it is sooo spendy and very hard to find non moldy hay.... 
Place I found finally found via a friend... is 1 1/2 hours away and it cost $750. + tax, time and trailer rental to get 100 bales of hay. Bales run about 30/35lbs each. 
Have spent a lot of $$$$$ since I arrive from Oregon in hay.

I had to start stretching the hay with timothy mini cubes. 

The older mare get senior feed because she needs it.
The others just get vitamins.

I do not have pasture here... yet... still have to finish the fencing. Maybe next year it will be done I hope. All but one of the animals will be able to go out on it.
So it will make my feed bill a lot cheaper!

Makes me miss my old farm in Oregon, and haying it. Only cost me $1.65 a bale to produce and I was running 65/75lb bales. And only needed 86 bales to get me through the year.
Hay is super good quality in Oregon. Here, not so much.


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## 6e (Sep 10, 2005)

Brome hay here. Not a lot of choices in hay. 

Then the expectant mare gets Nutrena Mare & Foal and soaked beet pulp and soaked alfalfa cubes twice a day 
Our show pony gets Purina Mini, soaked beet pulp and soaked alfalfa cubes twice a day.
Access to a salt block also.

In the summer they have pasture.


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## Oakshire_Farm (Dec 4, 2008)

It is the same as feeding silage, but it is not chopped. We have been feeding it for about 6 years. The horses do GREAT on it! It is getting to be a very common feed for horses in our area. 

It was about 10 years ago people started feeding it in our area. I was very hesitant to start feeding it, but I sure am glad we did!


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

levi1739 said:


> Timothy hay, small amount of crimped oats (1/3 cup), progressive grass plus mineral balancer, and access to a salt block. We also have had a couple of bad years for hay but the horses just pick out the stems and eat the good.
> 
> I'm not familiar with spelt but notice the cattle people around me are baling up the corn stalks for some reason. I reckon a cow will eat about anything, lol.
> 
> ...


Yes, cows can dijest stuff horses would starve on. I've even seen corn stalks used as bedding.


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

starjj said:


> Grass hay, I also have some alfalfa hay not too rich but I feed it less. I feed her oats/mixed with cracked corn but mainly as a treat not everyday (about every other day). She gets way more treeats then she needs. She also has a mineral block and a salt block. Being a mule and coming from where she ate pretty much what she could find pasture wise she probably feels like she is in mule heaven.[/Q
> 
> Since most mineral blocks have salt, I'd suggest you stop buying the plain salt block. Often it tastes better and horses miss out on the minerals from the mineral block, IMHO


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

Oakshire_Farm said:


> It is the same as feeding silage, but it is not chopped. We have been feeding it for about 6 years. The horses do GREAT on it! It is getting to be a very common feed for horses in our area.
> 
> It was about 10 years ago people started feeding it in our area. I was very hesitant to start feeding it, but I sure am glad we did!


Haylage is not commonly fed in my area but I do know of a few people feeding it- including a Vet. From what I've heard he inoculates for botulism tho.


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