You do your best to provide your horse with everything he needs for a healthy life, and sound nutrition is integral to those efforts. The three basic necessities--good grass and/or hay, salt and ample fresh water--are enough for many pleasure horses, but youngsters, broodmares, seniors and hard-working horses require the extra energy that grains and concentrated feeds provide.
When you purchase a ready-mixed feed, you rely on the manufacturer to formulate a nutritionally sound, high-quality ration. Yet choosing the right product for your horse requires more than just grabbing a bag of "senior feed" for an older horse, for example. It's also important to balance what's in the bag with the rest of your horse's diet--such as the quantity and type of forage he eats and any supplements he might receive--as well as his activity level, special health issues, etc.
It's not hard to find information that can help you make the best decision. Every bag of commercial feed includes a label that lists the ingredients and the nutritional value of the contents. But unlike the Nutrition Facts identified on human foods, the information included on animal feeds varies somewhat. Federal regulations set the basic standards, but each state can also establish its own guidelines for more specific reporting. Nonetheless, all labels ought to follow the same general format established by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO).
Here's a look at the information you can expect to find on feed labels, how to interpret it, and how to use it to make the best choices for your horse.
Product Name, Purpose & Ingredients
The most basic information on any feedbag, after the product name, is the class of horses for which it is intended, such as lactating mares, growing foals, senior citizens or high-performance athletes. It's important to select the right type of feed for your horses so that you don't create imbalances or deficiencies. "Maintenance feed," for example, is formulated for the average mature horse in light work--it would not provide enough protein, calcium and other nutrients for growing foals.
Another important feature on the label is the ingredients list, which presents all of the constituents of a feed. The principal ingredients may be listed in one of two ways: by specific terms, such as rolled oats, rolled barley, soybean meal, etc., or by collective terms, such as "roughage products," which omit individual items within that category. Collective names are used to avoid having to reprint the label if ingredients change. For example, a feed that lists "roughage products" might contain varying amounts of barley hulls, dried beet pulp or peanut hulls, and "plant protein products" might include cottonseed meal, soybean meal or cultured yeast.
The principal ingredients may be listed in one of two ways: by specific terms, such as rolled oats, rolled barley, soybean meal, etc., or by collective terms, such as "roughage products," which omit individual items within that category. Collective names are used to avoid having to reprint the label if ingredients change. Manufacturers develop these feeds using a least-cost formulation--meaning that they will use whatever ingredients are available at that time to meet the constant guaranteed analysis. For example, a feed that lists "roughage products" might contain varying amounts of barley hulls, dried beet pulp or peanut hulls, and "plant protein products" might include cottonseed meal, soybean meal or cultured yeast.
Guaranteed Analysis
You are likely to find the greatest variation among products when you compare the guaranteed analysis section, which documents either percentages or quantities of various nutrients in a product.
Some manufacturers, for example, may include special ingredients, such as biotin or vitamin E, that are selling points for that particular blend. In addition, the Food and Drug Administration requires that the following basic nutrients be including on every feed label:
Crude protein:Proteins are chains of amino acids that support basic body functions such as muscle cell repair and the synthesis of enzymes and hormones. High levels of protein are especially important for young horses as they grow, as well as for broodmares and equine athletes.
As crucial as this nutrient is, however, I find that many horse owners place too much importance on the protein content of a feed, with little or no concern for other nutrients. A mature 1,200-pound horse in moderate work needs to consume about 1.5 to 1.75 pounds of protein each day to meet his needs. Crude protein ranges from 8 percent to 16 percent in most commercial horse feeds. To determine the amount of protein you are actually giving your horse, multiply the percentage crude protein by the number of pounds of the feed you offer. That is, 10 pounds of feed that is 14 percent protein contains 1.4 pounds of protein [10 pounds x 14 percent (.14) = 1.4 pounds].
