[wyldterv]

Originally Posted by Sue B

...Thus, to meet it's daily need for dry matter, this horse will need to consume 17.6 Lbs. of dry matter, which converts to 88 lbs. of pasture as fed.

Did anyone have any idea that a horse was eating this much grass when out at pasture all the time?
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This info and other good stuff can be found at Equi-Analytical Laboratories - Profiling Feed for Better Nutrition

Well you figure you need a minimum of 1 acre per horse to sustain them at full time pasture grazing so I guess this does not surprise me that much... BUT on the flip side... not all horses will maintain healthy weight consuming that much field if they don't get a fair amount of exercise they tend to become HUGE and not a good kind of huge

[WildHorseSpirit]

"faints" Oh boy what alot to take in but thanks for the posts!
And Yep dead grass is NOT really dead only asleep so yep sugar is in there.

[Sue B]

But, if they are allowed to graze to that limit....it is no wonder they colic or get laminitis wehn the sugar levels are fluctuating.....if there is 10% sugar....that's like almost 9 lbs of sugar! But, how does dry matter percentages figure over into as fed?

[3WishesDun]

Originally Posted by Sue B

Thus, to meet it's daily need for dry matter, this horse will need to consume 17.6 Lbs. of dry matter, which converts to 88 lbs. of pasture as fed.

Did anyone have any idea that a horse was eating this much grass when out at pasture all the time?
--------------------------------------------------------
This info and other good stuff can be found at Equi-Analytical Laboratories - Profiling Feed for Better Nutrition

LOL.... And I have the holes in my pasture to prove it! Horses are basically eating machines.

[wyldterv]

Originally Posted by Sue B

But, if they are allowed to graze to that limit....it is no wonder they colic or get laminitis wehn the sugar levels are fluctuating.....if there is 10% sugar....that's like almost 9 lbs of sugar! But, how does dry matter percentages figure over into as fed?

UNCLE... All this thinking is giving me a headache ...I'm trying to figure out this last question (god I hated story problems in math when I was in school LOLOL, this is reminding me of those days )

How does dry matter percentages figure over into as fed????

I must be dense because I'm not 'getting' the question, sorry Sue...Can you try to explain it differently so my poor friend brain cells can 'get it'

[Sue B]

LOL Wyldterv....and I thought you were doing such a good job keeping up and adding to the thread!

So...let's see if this makes more sense....
IOW...I highly doubt that the horse is eating 9 lbs of sugar/day....if it is...no wonder they blow up and founder/colic. This would be using the percentage of sugar in grass figured as dry matter (not "as fed"). The 88 lbs of grass is the "as fed" amount....the amount of dry matter plus the moisture content. So, do we just discard the moisture content (only water...no nutrient value) and figure that the 10% sugar only on the dry matter...which is the lonly logical approach...and if so, then we are back to this gross amount not really meaning squat!

[3WishesDun]

Keep these points in the back of your mind when considering this topic.
Horses with metabolic conditions are the ones who will be most likely to have issues with grass/hay and fructan levels. The "average" horse does not have to be off pasture during the sunniest parts of the day, have the hay soaked...etc.

and perhaps more importantly...

Horses were designed to graze sparsely and often. The lush, emerald green rolling knee deep pastures that make beautiful backdrops for photos and that we all covet are not what horses were built to consume.

Just some food for thought..... (no idea what the fructan levels of those thoughts are...lolololol)

[Sue B]

They are probably pretty high coming from a "sap" like you!

[wyldterv]

OK... NOW I get 'it'... LOL... I think that the 3-4 hours of sleep per night for the past week is starting to catch up to my poor 'old' brain ..

I think that perhaps you're correct, you have to figure the sugar levels from a 'dry matter' stand point, so YES I suspect in the long run,gross amount consumed isn't the 'true picture' of nutrients, and NCS consumed.

I also think that one of the reasons feeding grass hay versus grazing on grass, seems to be a 'safer' method of feeding for lami/founder/colic prone individuals is because we can more control how much and when the horse is getting an opportunity to consume that hay. When on pasture, the horse controls how much and when... Which we would THINK would be the ideal for the horse since they're digestive system is designed to be most efficient with food constantly moving through their system....

BUT as April pointed out, MOST horses that live in a 'wild' state, don't do so in an area where the pastures are lush and plentiful 24/7.. Being grazing animals, they move constantly, but in captivity they can only move 'so far' with in an area, restricting what they are able to consume.

If grazing in a range situation, they are moving to different areas all of the time and consume different types of vegitation based off of what area they are grazing in at that moment.

I would BET (but haven't read one way or the other ever) that horses that are Ranch raised, such as the 6666 Ranch or KING Ranch, etc, where they have HUNDREDS of acres area in which to graze/migrate over, I bet those horses seldom colic,founder or have lami incidents when on range 24/7.

So I would think that the quality (or lack of quality) of grazing forage has more to do with triggering/(Or not triggering) incidents.

[Cyn]

I have no idea if this is what you mean but... My dad used to always tell us growing up that if your horse takes and hour to eat dry hay.. They only need two hours to consume enough pasture to make a meal...
That said.. as kids we would turm our horses out for a couple of hours 2x a day... I have no clue if this is proper or not, but the horses we had growing up were of healthy wieght...