Total Digestible
Daily pounds of Energy needed % calcium % phosphorous
Horse % protein needed
feed (in Mcal/lb. of needed needed
feed)
1000 lb mature
15-20 pounds 1.2 Mcal/lb 9.8% .3% .22%
horse, light work
700 lb yearling 13-16 pounds 1.25 Mcal/lb 12% .4% .22%
Feed Digestible Energy (Mcal/lb of feed) % Protein % Calcium %Phosphorous
Midbloom alfalfa hay .94 17 1.24 .22
Midbloom timothy grass hay .85 8 .43 .20
Oat hay .79 8.6 .29 .23
Barley 1.49 11.7 .05 .34
Corn 1.54 9.1 .05 .27
Oats 1.35 11.5 .07 .33
Dry beet pulp 1.06 8.9 .62 .09
vegetable oil 3.6 0 0 0
rice bran 3.35 15.5 .07 1.78
Molasses 1.8 0 .62 .07
To balance a ration for a mature, thousand pound horse, doing 1-2 hours of light work a day:
First: List the feeds being used (say, alfalfa hay and rolled oats),and the Mcal per pound, the percent protein, calcium and phosphorous in each.
Make a chart like the blue one, above, but with the feeds you are going to use. Second: List how many pounds per day you are feeding of each
(say, alfalfa: 14 pounds and oats: 2 pounds) and then figure from that the total Mcals, & pounds of protein, calcium and phosphorous in the daily
ration.
Feed pounds Mcal Pounds protein Pounds calcium Pounds phosphorus
14(1.06)= 14(8.9%)= 14(.62%)= 14(.09%)=
beet pulp 14 lbs
14.84 1.25 .09 .01
Third: List how many Mcals, & pounds of protein, calcium and phosphorous, the horse needs. Figure the Mcals by multiplying the pounds of feed
per day times the Mcal per pound of feed. Figure the pounds of protein etc by multiplying the percentage times the pounds of feed per day. You
will see in the chart there is a range given for pounds of feed needed. This is because it depends on whether the horse is thin or fat, and whether
the horse is an "easy keeper". For purposes of this exercise, choose a number within the range to work with.
1000 pound horse Mcal Pounds Protein Pounds calcium Pounds phosphorus
18(1.2) = 18(9.8%)= 18(.3%)=
needs: 18 pounds feed 18(.2%)=.04
21.6 1.8 pounds .05
Fourth: Subtract the totals from the third step from the totals from the second step. Where your answers are positive, the horse is getting more
than he needs of that nutrient. Where the answers are negative, the horse is getting less than he needs of that nutrient. In the example below, the
horse is getting more than enough calcium, but is lacking enough in all the other categories. This ration needs to be adjusted!
Pounds feed Megacalories pounds protein pounds calcium pounds phosphorus
given 14 14.84 1.25 .09 .01
needed -18 -21.6 -1.8 -.05 -.04
lacking or extra -4 -6.76 -.55 .04 -.03
Fifth: Be flexible about the total pounds fed if you need to add more of something(s) to get the horse enough nutrients. Figure out what to
add, take away or substitute to make all the answers come out close to zero. Now the ration is balanced for those nutrients!
Try it again, but this time create a balanced ration for a 700 pound yearling that is expected to mature to 1000 pounds.
There are many possible right ways to do this, but answers must be figured accurately. You must have the total calories come out very close to
right (not much too high OR too low) and the total protein come out at least as high as needed (not too low). You must have enough of both
calcium and phosphorus, AND the ration of calcium to phosphorus MUST be at least 1:1 for the adult horse, at least 1.5:1 for the yearling, and NO
HIGHER than 3:1 for either the adult horse or the yearling. (That means that for the adult horses, calcium and phosphorus can be equal, or there
can be up to three times as much calcium as phosphorus.)
A website that may be helpful (although the values are metric, so you would need to convert kilograms to pounds) is [Link]