How much hay to feed a horse on a dry lot?
I have an acre of well drained land that I'm temporarily keeping two horses on. We're currently building two other similar sized pasture areas to rotate the grass to save on hay costs, but I can only currently use the one. That being said, after two months of overgrazing it's basically a dry lot with a lot of dried up, trodden warm season grass that they rarely go after.
While I'm working on new pasture I want to make sure I am feeding them enough hay to keep their digestive systems working. They are a very healthy weight, shiny, and energetic in the pasture. It seems like I'm giving enough, but I am new to doing this completely on my own, so I'd like to get some constructive feedback.
The Horses Are: Iggy- 900 lbs suspected Quarter Horse/Morgan cross. maintains easily, without becoming overweight.
Jager- 1000 lbs Ahkal-Teke/WB cross. Has gained needed weight since he moved to my property and looks great now.
Here's my feeding routine:
Iggy gets 3/4 of a quart of grain* twice daily Jager gets 1 3/4 of a quart of grain* twice daily *we use a 12/6 generic textured feed from our local Sountern States
I simply fill 2-3 large slow feeder hay nets with a local fescue hay (not the most amazing quality here in central NC,) along with 2 flakes of higher quality timothy/orchard grass mixture from Northern Virginia twice daily. Their breakfast hay is finished by late afternoon and I feed around 7:30am. I then feed dinner around 6pm and that is usually gone the morning. It's been very cold for this region so they seem to be going through a lot, especially when temps drop at night.
I'm looking forward to having rotational grazing, but until then I just want to make sure they get everything they need. Any thoughts are helpful! More than happy to clarify or answer questions.
Submitted January 05, 2018 at 07:18PM by Nathaliealoise
via reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/Horses/comments/7ogcbc/how_much_hay_to_feed_a_horse_on_a_dry_lot/?utm_source=ifttt
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