What is considered a “complete feed”?

[cyanskies]

My understanding is that a complete feed is a hard feed/concentrate that can provide all the nutritional requirements for a horse by itself.

But looking at the feed bag tag, how can you tell if a particular feed is “complete”? I know you’d want to see high fiber, low starch, but what else should one look for?

Any examples you may have available would be great.

[joiedevie99]

Yes, complete feeds are designed for horses who can’t consume other roughage (hay/grass), although other horses can benefit from them too. They contain everything you’d expect in a fortified feed, but with a higher fiber content.

That said, the exact amount varies a lot. Triple Crown Complete is
Crude Fiber (max.) 15.00%
ADF (max.) 16.00%
NDF (max.) 30.00%

Nutrena Triumph Complete is:
|Crude Fiber, maximum|25.0%|
|ADF, maximum|29.0%|
|NDF, maximum|44.0%|

Because they are bulkier, you should expect higher feeding rates per lb.

[JB]

@joiedevie99

Triple Crown Complete

There’s no real standard, though the fiber should at least be in the mid-upper teens. But just having high fiber doesn’t make it a complete feed - Purina Senior Active is 18% fiber (so higher than both TC Complete and TC Sr, both of which are complete feeds), but is definitely not a complete feed.

Mostly you need to look at the feeding directions. If there are none that say how much to feed if hay/grass is limited to none, don’t feed more than the max on the label.

Starch has nothing to do with it either, so while you WANT lower starch, that’s not a requirement for a complete feed.

Tribute Kalm N Ez pelleted is another non-Sr feed that can also be used as a complete feed

They don’t necessarily have higher feeding rates for a normal horse using it on top of hay/grass. TC Sr for example is 5-6lb min for an average 1100lb horse, and plenty of non-complete feeds have a lower end rate of around .5lb/100lb.

ADF and NDF aren’t meaningful for horse feeds, that’s some holdover from livestock requirements.

[JBCool]

I wish they had named Triumph Complete anything else. It replaced the Reliance Hay Stretcher, so is definitely NOT a complete feed. More of a slightly fortified hay pellet.