Feeding the boys, Part IV

This is the fourth in a series on how I'm determining what to feed my two horses. For Part III, visit here.

In the last installment, we'd figured how how much feed, in pounds, the boys were supposed to get. Here's the quick recap:

• Saga should get between 16.5 and 27.5 lbs of feed per day, with no more than 11 lbs of concentrates.
• Red should get between 13.5 and 22.5 lbs of feed per day, with no more than 9 lbs of concentrates.

The next step is to figure out how much the boys were actually getting. Since I didn't have a scale for the feed room, and my kitchen scale was too small (only goes up to 2 lbs), I dragged our bathroom scale out to the feed room. I weighed myself, then picked up whatever I was weighing, and weighed myself again. Here's what I figured out:

• A scoop of Purina Ultium weighs about 3 lbs.
• A scoop of Triple Crown Light or Nutrena Lite Balance weighs about 2 lbs.
• A decent-sized flake of Bermuda grass hay weighs about 3 lbs. However, small flakes can weigh as little as 1.5 lbs.
• A decent-sized flake of alfalfa weighs about 5 lbs. Alfalfa weight did vary widely - I had one densely-packed bale and one that was much less dense. You need to be careful if you're feeding by volume instead of weight.

So, at the time, Saga was getting:

• 1 flake Bermuda 2x daily, plus 3 flakes at bedtime (15 lbs Bermuda)
• 1.5 scoops of Ultium 2x daily (9 lbs concentrates)
• 2 scoops BOSS 2x daily (maybe 0.2 lbs)
  
• Daily Strongid wormer (negligible weight)
  
• 24/7 pasturage (but it's quite poor as we haven't had any rain)

Based on our math above, Saga was getting 15 lbs of forage and 9 lbs of concentrates, or a total of 24 lbs per day. That's well within the range of 16.5 and 27.5 lbs that he's supposed to get, but it's an awful lot of concentrates. Plus, he still looked ribby, and his feet seemed to be increasingly sore on the Ultium. What's a horse to do?

Red was getting:

• 1 flake of Bermuda 2x daily, plus 3 flakes at bedtime (15 lbs Bermuda)
• 1 cup of Nutrena Lite Balance 2x daily
• Daily Strongid wormer
  
• 24/7 pasturage (but it's quite poor as we haven't had any rain)

Based on this math, Red was getting 15 lbs of forage and perhaps 1/2 lb of concentrates daily. So he's well within the 13.5 to 22.5 lb range that we calculated for him, if a little on the low end. Red was in good weight, but he tied up. Possible mineral deficiency?

So, now we know exactly how much feed the boys were getting. How much is your horse getting? If you haven't already gone and weighted your feed and hay, you should do it now. In the next installment, we'll look a feed tags and do some math on vitamins and minerals. Grab your calculators!