Choosing the best horse feed

Choosing a horse feed depends on quite a few different criteria, mostly related to the horse itself :

• Body condition : it is assessed by estimating the horse’s body fat using the marking system for body condition and weight either by weighing or by measuring the thoracic perimeter with a measuring tape, and relating it to the height at the withers. Regularly monitoring these parameters, enables to adjust the ration to avoid the horse losing/ gaining weight.
• Age: Every age has different requirements and therefore a suitable horse feed (from the foal to the senior horse).
• Physiological state :  a mare in the first stages of gestation does not have the same requirements as a lactating mare with a newborn foal.
• Physical activity : from intense activity (racing, olympic disciplines…) to occasional hacking , leisure for amateurs, the feed should be suited to the nature, intensity and repetition of the physical activity.
• Breed : a pony, a thoroughbred, a riding horse, or a percheron have different feeding behaviour and food metabolisms (speed of ingestion, digestibility, and utilisation of the feed, variable depending on the hardiness of the breed ).

The horse is a herbivore. As such, forage should be the basis of the horse’s diet, whatever their breed, activity, age, or ohysiological state. Does my horse really need to be supplemented with a hard feed ? This is the first question to answer. In fact, depending on the nature and the nutritional qualities of the forage given, a hard feed may only be necessary when nutritional demands are high (growth, gestation, lactation, intense work).

Regulation (EC) n°767/2009 defines the rules for labelling feeds for animals. This regulation stipulates that the raw materials destined for animal consumption, when they are put onto the market, should be accompanied  by a document with at least the compulsary labelling requirements. The delivery note may be considered as the labelling document (reference :  letter Coop de France, N° r2017-02).
The compulsary labelling requirements :

• The words : « Raw material for animal feed »
• The name of the raw material
• Name and address of the farm operator
• Batch reference number
• Net quantity
• Compulsary declarations with regard to the name of the raw material
• Water content
• Ash content which is insoluble in hydrochloric acid if it is above 2,2 % for raw materials.

The label should not be mistaken for the « product » sheet, supplied with it. On the product sheet, the manufacturer can give the sales arguments and the advice for feeding that he wishes to emphasise for the feed.

Pellets are composed of :

• Forage (alfalfa, grass hay, straw….)
• Cereals (oats, barley, maize, wheat...)
• Legume seeds (field beans, lupin, peas)
• By products from oil plant seeds (soya, linseed, groundnut, sunflower, rapeseed, copra meal….)
• Coproducts from processing (brans, residual grain, clear flours, sharps, molasses, lactoserum powder...)
• Fats (linseed oil…)
• Fruit (carob, apple, pear, grape pomaces, fresh fruit pulp)
• Animal by-products (skimmed milk, lactose)
• Minerals, vitamins, trace elements and other additives.

Different presentations for manufactured hard feeds 

Horse feed manufacturers pellet the feed to combine the different ingredients (cereal flour, protein flour, minerals) and to obtain a uniform feed. It is often more palatable than some of the components, if they were fed on their own (soya for instance).

Pelleting consists in crushing the different elements in the composition into small particles, mixing them and heating with steam. Then they are pressed through templates to give the size and shape of the pellets. Heating causes the starch to become gelatinous, making it more sensitive to the digestive enzymes in the small intestine. The energy content is therefore more readily available for the horse ( extrusion and flaking processes...)

There are three major kinds of horse feed : forage supplement feeds, cereal supplement feeds, and mineral and vitamin supplement (MVS).

Forage supplement feeds

This type of horse feed corrects a basic ration composed mainly of forage

Cereal supplement feeds

When the basic ration is composed of forage and cereal, a protein, fat, calcium, trace-elements and vitamin enriched supplement can make up for the deficiencies, particularly in protein and minerals, that arise from feeding cereals.

Mineral and vitamin supplement

The mineral and vitamain supplement (MVS) is defined when the crude ash content is over 40 % (see the label on the supplement). This type of feed mainly supplies :

• Important minerals : Ca, P, Mg, Na
• Trace elements : Fe, Cu, Zn, Se
• Vitamins : Vit A, Vit D et Vit E

The MVS is essential to cover the horse’s requirements in minerals, trace-elements and vitamins, whatever the type of horse. For stud horses, it is to correct the possible lack of trace-elements (Cu, Zn, Se) which are those most lacking when the ration is composed mainly of grass or forage. For horses in work, a supplement to correct the Ca deficiency in cereals will be more suitable.

Energy

In France, the energy value of a feed is expressed in Unités Fourragères Cheval (UFC) (horse forage units)(référence Inra 2011).

Comparison of energy values when the UFC value is not mentioned

Answer : Feed 1, since it has a high fat content compared to feeds 2 and 3. The crude cellulose content (fiber content) is low, therefore it is likely that it will have a higher sugar and starch content than feeds 2 and 3.

Comparison of energy values when the UFC value is mentioned

Which raw materials supply energy ?

• Mainly cereals : starch
• Fats (oil, linseed….) : fatty acids
• Forage : volatile fatty acids

Protein

In France, the protein worth of a horse feed is given in quantities (in grams) of Matières Azotées Digestibles Cheval (MADC) (référence Inra 2011) (digestible nitrogen matter).

Which raw material provide protein ?

• Meal (soya, rapeseed….)
• Alfalfa
• Legume seeds (peas, field beans)
• Powdered milk

These ingredients will provide amino-acids as well as essential amino-acids (lysine, methionine….) which the horse cannot sythesize.

Mentioning the UFC and MADC values on the label is not compulsary. Most of the time, manufacturers will include this information either on the label or on the « product sheet ». The values are usually given for 1kg of gross feed. They should then be converted into dry matter kg when calculating a ration.

The ration : the main principle being well-balanced

What type of feed does my horse require ?

• A measure of standard pellets varies between 600 and 700g/L
• A measure of flaked feed can vary between 450 and 650 g/L

The choice of a horse feed also depends on the storage capacity for the feed (storage container, storeroom…) and on one’s budget. These two criteria are closely linked

A large storage capacity gives you the possibility of buying at lower prices, when the feed is delivered in big bags, or in bulk. The price will be higher when bought in smaller conditionned quantities.

To compare the prices between different feeds it is better to compare the price per UFC than the price per kilo. In the same way, for a « stud feed », it is better to compare price of a gram of MADC.

How to go about doing this ?

All you need to do is to divide the price of a feed (in €/kg) by the nutritional value considered (in UFC/ gross kg for energy, and in grams of MADC / gross kg for protein) :

• Price per gross kilo / quantity in UFC per gross kg  = €/UFC
• Price per gross kilo / quantity in grams of  MADC per gross kg = €/g MADC

Example : comparison between the prices of 2 feeds

The second feed may be more expensive than feed 1, but it also has a higher UFC value. Comparing the price per UFC shows that feed 2 is in fact less expensive.