How much hay cubes can to feed in (lbs) to a horse at one time? I do soak them into soup if that makes a differance. The horse has a history of G.I problems and I don’t want to overwhelm his system. I know there is a 2 pound grain limit but is it the same for hay cubes? I currently feed 1 pound/ feeding and 1/4 pound of a high fat grain. He gets that twice per day but needs some weight (~50 pounds)Would I be okay to up the hay cube amount? He is already on free choice hay.
The “grain” limit is about 5lb. You can easily feed that in hay cubes at a time.
As far as I know, hay cubes are hay, so can be fed “free choice” too. The one caveat, is if you are soaking them, I would only feed at any one time what he will finish, so they don’t rot at the bottom of his bucket and end up wasted.
The hay cubes we get here, don’t have a binder though. Not sure if hay cubes with a binder are equally safe to feed free choice.
Okay thank you. I was just concerned because the bucket is so heavy with just the pound soaked that I thought it would fill his stomach to much and end up undigested in the hind gut (something I desperately want to avoid!) I will go up to a pound a and a half and see how that goes.
It’s heavy because of the water.
Forage is SUPPOSED to be digested in the hind gut. It’s grains that should not get back there, because they tend to ferment instead of being digested, especially if too much is fed at once. The hind gut is where most of the digestion/fermentation takes place.
You can also get grain-free “grain” products, which are forage-based, either alfalfa or some other hay, or beet pulp, most often.
Would you restrict water intake while the horse was eating regular hay, or hay cubes? 
Some horses drink quite a bit while eating.
I soak my cubes if I’m feeding them for a meal. If I’m feeding them for a treat, it’s dry.
Hay cubes are hay that’s chopped to a certain length, then compressed in a machine called (tah dah) a “cuber”.
However, I bought some at tsc lately that are called “fortified” alfalfa and bermuda cubes–fortifed with corn, mollasses and other crap. I slapped myself to remind me to read the labels before I bought the bag.
[QUOTE=JB;8188087]
It’s heavy because of the water.
Forage is SUPPOSED to be digested in the hind gut. It’s grains that should not get back there, because they tend to ferment instead of being digested, especially if too much is fed at once. The hind gut is where most of the digestion/fermentation takes place.
You can also get grain-free “grain” products, which are forage-based, either alfalfa or some other hay, or beet pulp, most often.
Would you restrict water intake while the horse was eating regular hay, or hay cubes? Some horses drink quite a bit while eating.[/QUOTE]
Thank you. I was wondering if the hay cubes would carry the grain that was added into them through the hind gut or would it stay in the stomach?
You can feed as much as you want. It is grain that you can only feed about 5 lbs at a time.
What “grain” are you talking about?
Like I said, some commercial feed products don’t contain any actual grains at all, or very few. Some have a lot. I wouldn’t be feeding high grain feeds to any horse, much less the one you’re dealing with, so hopefully what you’re feeding has little to no actual grains in it. Assuming that’s the case, then you don’t need to worry about it.
[QUOTE=JB;8188432]
What “grain” are you talking about?
Like I said, some commercial feed products don’t contain any actual grains at all, or very few. Some have a lot. I wouldn’t be feeding high grain feeds to any horse, much less the one you’re dealing with, so hopefully what you’re feeding has little to no actual grains in it. Assuming that’s the case, then you don’t need to worry about it.[/QUOTE]
I have access to what the barn has and that is tribute k finish. They have others aswell but the k finish had the lowest NSC and could be fed in the lowest amounts.
K Finish is basically a fortified fat supplement. It’s lowest feeding rate is 1/2lb, but 1lb of the Essential K would be more nutritious
And neither of those are going to cause problems in the hind gut
