There is a thread going on on another board about canine nutrition.
I was just wondering what is the
“norm” for feeding hounds.
Anybody?
Our hunt feeds a commercial dog food. Pedigree. I don’t think my hunt’s hounds have actually caught a fox for close to 10 years.
I was told under the previous huntsman they were feed raw meat. I believe mostly horsemeat.
One of the hunts Dad provided veterinary care for fed raw meat, mostly beef for the longest time. They had a huge issue with Rumensin poisoning though about 10 or 15 years ago now, and lost a number of hounds as a result, so switched to a commercially prepared kibble. I believe they have continued with kibble and supplement it with chicken parts from a butcher. Each huntsman that comes through that club has his own preferred way of feeding the hounds it seems.
Kibble. Some still supplement with flesh. Depends on the club.
Horsemeat, what a good idea. At least some credible and “natural” use for it!
Hounds don’t eat fox. Period. End of sentence.
However, I have seem them hastily chowing down on dead deer (if found during a hunt) before a whip can chastise them off. :lol:
In the kennel the Huntsman will feed either commercial dog food, and/or fresh meat (lame/old horses donated for that purpose). When my oldest pony started going downhill - he was close to 30, blind, deaf, and starting to colic once too often- was given to the hunt for the hounds. He got to graze 24/7 on a huge pasture (he was thrilled - no more founder pen!) before his turn came for the hounds, and when it came, it was a very quick exit. A very fitting ending for an old hunt pony.
Ok – before the entire board gets crazy (I know how COTH can be… ) the "eating foxes part was a JOKE!!! As in “ha-ha”.
Nope – just asking what sort of food the hounds are generally kept on. There is a discussion on another forum about canine nutrition and how “any moderately active” dog needs AT LEAST 30% protein…just wondering what these guys eat, since they are certainly active…
Horsemeat. Cattle. Kibble.
I knew it was a joke about eating a fox. When outsiders look askance at my when I say I foxhunt, I assure them we’re not actually catching the fox, just scarin’ him real good.
They sort of laugh.
And look away.
Confused.
I think it hysterical.
Our Hunt feeds kibble and meat from a butcher shop (things getting ready to go out of date). The kibble is high protein.
Anybody have any idea how high the protein content of the kibble is?
I’m sure everyone has a different way of doing things, but I know quite a few bear & cat hounds (we don’t have any foxes out here – the cougars & coyotes have eaten them all) who get nothing but a 20% protein dog kibble.
So – another question: on a “typical” run, how many miles would you say the average hound runs?
Some time back, we fed mostly flesh (horses or cattle), picking up dead animals or putting down horses brought to kennels was a good source of meat and helpful to the farmers. Also fed chicken necks and kibble.
Pretty much all of the hunts I visit these days feed kibble.
All the ones local to me feed mostly horse - or cow if there’re no horses. We have a very limited horse for human consumption market, so its quite usual to send your horse to the hunt - or they’ll come to you, put the horse down and take it away.
When I had hound puppies, I used to get large quantities of horse meat to feed them.
gothedistance -I beg to differ on your comment about hounds not eating foxes. When we were in Australia we hunted fox (only hares here in New Zealand as there are no foxes here) our hounds regularly consumed foxes after they’d killed them. Not every time, but quite often.
Our hounds here live on horse and beef - we have a very regular supply of both. They are fed the bellies and all. We often get large quantities of milk from a local dairy farmer and hounds get that as well. The only time they get dog biscuits is if we’re away hunting for a weekend and hounds stay in the truck overnight - then they are fed biscuits instead of meat as they make less mess on biscuits.
Many huntsmen in NZ source varying foodstuffs for their hounds - one gets boxes and boxes of broken biscuits from a local biscuit factory, as well as meat pies etc. Another has a supply of bread, all these things are fed in addition to meat.
jmho!
I’m pretty sure most of the local hunts feed kibble and chicken necks/parts. I only know of 4 that feed local cows/horses if available. That way, a cheaper dog kibble (in other words-grain based) can be fed also. The fresh meat also provides some fat which is really more important in endurance exercise like hounds experience. Fat provides a long term energy source. Hounds have to have fat to maintain condition in winter and with their longer hunts as the season goes on. Many hounds start the season a bit chubby but end up sleek, thinner and ribby by the end of the season. Just due to the increased exercise and not unlike our horses and even ourselves! Thats the ideal. Without the extra weight on them; they have more speed, stamina and less joint wear as the season goes on.
I just happened to go dog food hunting yesterday for my pet bassett. I noticed the food for “weight maintainance” were of lower protein (20% vs 25-29%in regular dogkibbles) and of course lower fats (10% vs. 15-17%) and were ironically more expensive by a coupla bucks a bag. Can’t imagine a hunt (even with a volume discount) would feed the lower protein feeds just because of their price. And a kibble only (grain based feeds) diet means double the poo volume in the kennel too btw. :eek: A fresh meat or supplemented meat in their diet radically changes the disposal volumes experienced in all large kennels. Just sayin’!! :winkgrin:
Hunts are experiencing other forces preventing them from feeding flesh as much as they may want to. It’s always available, always. But there sometimes local neighbor issues, smell issues, disposal issues, and lack of staff to do it or even knows how to do it or wants to do it!!! .
One hunt will only take horses/cows from within their own hunted territory. They are overwhelmed with offers for horses so they limit their volume by just servicing their own territory landowners/horseowners/farmers.
Another will only take animals live and charges you $100 to take them whether you deliver or not!
Another only takes them in the winter months for smell & aesthetics reasons.
I miss the time when most of the hunts did it. There is such a need for animal disposal of horses/cows and it’s great meat for the hounds.
Our huntsman before the current one told me that in the U.K. (back in the day) the kennels used to cook up big kettles of grain/oatmeal like stuff, dump it upsidedown and it would stay in a form and get crusted over. The crust would keep it for a week or so and that is what they fed the hounds. Probably not the only thing they fed.
Our current huntsman was lamenting the quality of dogfood is getting worse in an attempt by the manufacturers to keep costs down. I have seen a big, walk in refridgerator where meat is kept for the hounds as well.
The Southern States manager told me they feed the SS kibble to most of the N.VA Hunt Kennels. They have a working dog blend. But I also know they get fresh horse meat. Saw the horses heads lying in a pit one day while on a walk. That was pretty gross.
We have, at our kennels, a large coolroom and a huge shipping container which has been converted to a freezer, complete with meat rails all around it. This means we can store a heck of a lot of meat! Once hounds have eaten, the left-over bones are put in old horse feed bags and tied off, then put in a big dumper bin which gets collected once a month. We have no problems at all with smell etc.
Hunts in NZ don’t feed kibble/dog biscuits because of the cost, and the fact that flesh is so readily available. When we were in Aussie my partner used to shoot kangaroos for hounds if other flesh was in short supply - we didn’t have a freezer over there so couldn’t store excess meat for any length of time.
I remember my local hunt in the UK always accepting horses as sources of food for the hounds. It was sort of tradition,a s well for retired hunters to be plaited up, curried and washed, and trailered to the final resting place at the kennel door. Sort of a “dignified” end.
most of the mainstream brands of kibbles also sell a “performance” formula which is intended to be fed to working/hunting dogs and usually has around 30% protein/ 20% fat. So when the kennel says they feed “X brand” they may not be talking about the 22% protein version of X brand sold for pets in most pet stores.
And as mentioned, many people supplement their working/hunting dogs kibble with meat.
