Feed, mixtures and additives should be fed based on body weight. Daily nutrient requirements are based on body weight and production levels, such as growth, gestation, lactation and activity. If you are feeding hay (or pasture) and balanced commercial feed to maintain your horse's body condition, you are on the right track. Even with the number of commercial feeds available today, there are still horse owners who mix their own ingredients to feed their horses. Simple examples of differences in measuring feed based on weight vs. The volume is given for comparison.
Measurement of grains/mixtures by weight or volume
The practice of carrying a small coffee can with each food weighing a pound most likely originated with the first coffee cans that held a pound of coffee. The original 16 oz can filled with oats also weighed 1 pound, so "the coffee can filled with any food must weigh one pound." It's wrong!
Feed has different densities, which means different weight per feed volume.click hereto see the weight of different horse feeds and hay pellets.
Table 1 shows the weight of one liter of various foods, the amount of energy per pound, and the total digestible energy for one liter of the given food. Keep in mind that a quart of oats weighs twice as much as a quart of wheat bran (1.0 lbs vs. 0.5 lbs). If you look at the far right column, you'll see that oats provide almost twice as much energy as an equivalent volume of wheat bran (1.3 versus 0.7 Mcal DE). Now compare the two feed pellets, A and B. A liter of pellet A has 23% more weight (1.6 versus 1.3 lbs) and 50% more energy (2.4 versus 1.6 Mcal DE) than pellet B. The message of this table comparison is that equal volumes are not equal weights or equal amounts of energy.
Table 1. Weight versus weight volume
| Feed things | Weight (lbs) of 1 liter | Energy in 1 pound (Mcal DE) | Total energy is 1 liter (Mcal DE) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Havre | 1,0 | 1,32 | 1.3 |
| Wheat bran | 0,5 | 1,33 | 0,7 |
| But | 1.7 | 1,54 | 2.6 |
| Pellet A | 1.6 | 1,52 | 2.4 |
| Pellet B | 1.3 | 1,25 | 1.6 |
* VAN= digestible energy
*Mcal= Megacalorie, a unit of energy; 1 Mcal = 1000 kcal
Hay comparison: flake vs. weight
The principle of comparing volume and weight also applies to feeding hay. The nutritional value of hay varies with square bales in terms of weight, hay type, number of flakes, hay maturity and chopping. For example, a bale of hay on the East Coast can weigh 45 to 60 pounds, compared to 90 to 130 pounds on the West Coast. If a 50-pound bale of hay on the East Coast averaged 13 flakes, each flake would weigh 3.8 pounds per flake. Compared to a 110 pound bale of West Coast grass hay with an average of 16 flakes per bale, each flake would weigh 6.9 lb. The west coat flake is about 80% heavier than the east coast flake.
From a more practical approach, let's compare a 90-pound bale of Bermuda hay to a 115-pound bale. Each bale contains 16 flakes. The difference is 5.6 versus 7.2 lbs. To ensure your horses are getting the right amount of hay, check the bale weight and the average number of flakes per bale. bale for each load of hay. Feeding with scoops or flakes works as long as you know the weight for the amount of food being fed.
