Most of our horses are Lippitt based Morgans who are well know for living on air (part of the reason they were often used a cavalry mounts) … in the worst of times they get the 2% but usually it’s closer to 1% or less …and the miniatures, its in ounces.
so for entertainment these days they watch the goats next door trying to figure a way to get over the six foot fence
Also that only works if you actually weigh it and feed them 20 pounds a day.
My hay use varies drastically around the year depending on the grass. I didn’t start feeding my two mares any hay at all until mid-late December, my gelding starts eating hay around October, and the 2 dry lot horses get it year round. In summer I use less than a bale a day for 5 horses, this time of year it is more like three bales a day.
Your shavings consumption seems extremely high, OP.
Red line: what meager potions they’re getting now
Green line, ~200 lbs higher: what they SHOULD be eating
:lol: :lol: :lol:
You’ve had good advice on hay .
There are many different ways to bed stalls. For a 12x12 I start with 8 bales and do a semi-deep litter bedding. I keep the depth between 5 and 7" year round, taking poo out and leveling daily and taking the wet spot (which if the bedding is kept deep enough sinks to the bottom and doesn’t soil the bed for sleeping) out and adding bedding once a week. Using this method, my horse has a super cushy bed, lives like a queen, and only costs me 2 bags a week in summer when she is on full day turnout and 3 bags a week in winter when she is only outside 4-5 hours a day .
I fall into the category of people who like horses to have something in front of them, all the time. I have two geldings in one paddock who are complete opposites- one is an air fern; the other a tough keeper. So, I feed them their grain differently. Fatso gets some soaked BP, and ration balancer, and his buddy gets soaked BP and Cadence Ultra.
For hay, they get 2.5 40# bales of gorgeous alfalfa brome grass in their hay rack, which has small mesh netting inside of it. I fill it every other day, and, generally, they are just finishing the last wisps when I get there. They are very happy.
The donkey and the mare have their hay in the shed, in a small mesh net. The net is designed of a round bale, but I keep it full of small bales. They don’t go through as much as the boys- say 4 bales a week. Once again, the donk eats very little, and the mare is a tough keeper.
As for bedding, I think that you’ve gotten some good indicators on here. Simply put- start with the amount you want in there as far as feel, and absorbency goes. If you clean properly, and just bed back to that level, it is what it is. I can’t imagine using over 3 bales of shavings in a week- ever- for a stall. And pellets are your friend for the pee monsters wet spots :lol:
You can keep repeating this over and over and over again on multiple threads here, but that won’t make it true. It is a FACT of equine physiology that the digestive system is healthiest and most functional when forage is available at all times. Do many, many horses survive with no apparent ill effects in less than optimal situations? Of course. That doesn’t change their biological need to graze. This is not a new “school of thought” as you so condescendingly put it. It has been the recommendation of equine nutritionists for decades.
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