Winter feeding with Mitavite
Article from RD1's 'Straight from the Horse's Mouth', May 2011.
Winter weather adds stresses that can compromise health. To maintain body temperature requires an increase in metabolic rate and energy requirements. For every 1ēC drop in temperature below 15ēC, energy requirements increase by about 5%. If the weather is wet and windy as well as, energy needs increase a further 40 - 50%. Having energy stored in the form of muscle and fat is important. Thin horses have a higher metabolic rate just to maintain body temperature because they lack insulation. A thick hair coat can mask thinness and weight loss, so it is important to run your hands over your horse regularly to pick up condition loss. Horses that are clipped begin to shiver when the temperature is some 10 - 15ēC higher than those that have a thick coat.
Feeding management in winter needs to be different to summer feeding, because advantage can be taken of the natural ability of the horse to convert feed into heat. Most body heat is generated by the digestion of food. Heat produced by digestion enables mammals to maintain steady body temperature in the face of changing environmental conditions. By increasing heat produced during digestion we can reduce the amount of shivering and hence the requirement for energy.
Because the digestible energy of winter pastures is low, horses must be given more feed or feed with a higher energy density if they are to maintain condition over winter. A balanced concentrate, based on grains, protein meals, vitamins and minerals will supply nutrients not present in hay, pasture or chaff. As the proportion of hay increases, concentrate intake may drop, so it is important to provide a highly digestible, energy-dense concentrate. The more digestible the concentrate, the lower the amount needed to meet energy requirements.
There are several ways to increase energy. Adding an extra dipper of oats or corn; adding oil or using a highly digestible feed. When adding extra grain, it is important to have the diet analysed, because high phosphorus and low minerals in grain could unbalance the diet and supplements may be required - especially for young, pregnant or working horses. Increasing the oil in the diet is a safe and effective way of increasing energy, because oils are high in energy and well digested.
Steam-extrusion allows inclusion of high levels of oils and improves protein, mineral, fibre and energy digestibility by up to 40% by releasing nutrients that were previously unavailable. The untangling of nutrients during steam-extrusion allows digestive enzymes in the small intestine to work up to 100 times faster, increasing digestibility and reducing the amount of feed necessary to meet requirements. Steam-extruded complete feeds, such as Mitavite Economix, Breeda, Promita and Gumnuts are readily softened to a warm mash and because they are balanced, require no supplements.
For more information on feeding your horse please talk to the team at your local RD 1 store - they will be happy to help.
Some products may not be available in all stores but can be ordered on request. Disclaimer: Any views and comments expressed in this article are not necessarily the opinions of RD1 Limited nor associated agencies. This content is copyright of RD1 Limited.
