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Post by Debbie on May 16, 2008 1:55:09 GMT -1
What percentages do you feel dales ponies do best on for protein in their hay??
I'm just off the phone with my hay farmer and he's all kinds of excited about a new timothy mix, but the protein is like 17%. To me that seems off the charts, especially for a dales pony.
What do you think? What do the excess protein levels do to them?
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Post by harveydales on May 16, 2008 5:18:59 GMT -1
17% sounds very high for a grass hay. I imagine your farmer is growing a Timothy/alfalfa mix to get these protein levels? Ask him what is in his mix other than Timothy.
Excess protein isn't usually a problem for horses as they will break the extra down and excrete the nitrogen part and the rest gets converted to carbohydrates for energy or fat. I guess the high protein would mean you could cut back on any other bucket feed you might give and also reduce the need for supplements? Why don't you get a full analysis of this hay? It is true, out Dales Ponies live on fresh air and the last thing you want to do is overfeed, plus I think the alfalfa you grow over there is different to the type we feed in the UK.
It s the % sugars you need to be more worried about and Timothy hay is said to be one fo the safest from this point of view. I'm feeding Quest "High Fi Senior" which is a mixture of chopped Timothy and alf alfa as I've been told this is safer and better for him than a straw/grass chop and also straight hay (although I o feed him old grass hay).
Normal hay over here is usually 6-12% protein but last year was a very bad year and most hay crops had very low protein levels. I was told I need to supplement Quest's diet because of this.
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Post by olivia on May 16, 2008 9:13:29 GMT -1
Excess protien can be an issue for some ponies - Tilly gets "barley bumps" - little raised swellings all over her body if she gets too much protien. However that was when she was getting a more high energy mix when we were doing lots of schooling/competing. It had quite a lot of barley in there, but I don't know what % protien that was.
Olivia
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Post by knight on May 16, 2008 22:54:45 GMT -1
I think you're right to be concerned Debbie, as over here 17% protein usually goes along with a nurtition overload type grass that was designed to fatten cattle. Pam's right though, without a full analysis it's hard to know if the rest of the nutritional analysis would be fine. Sound's like the farmer may have had the hay analized so maybe he could share the whole analysis with you? Or maybe the local AG Extension agent could refer you to a lab that could do an analysis. Might be just the thing for Galahad. Just what you need huh, two typs of feed and two types of hay. What we don't do for our ponies!
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Post by Debbie on May 18, 2008 13:21:43 GMT -1
I was actually thinking that Nancy. I'll end up with two ponies in their own space with two completely different requirements  I think I'll ask him if he's had the sugars analysed, or the whole thing done. I'm really put off by that much protein though. The breeds that it was researched on were hunter/jumpers, reining horses, supposedly weekend warrior pleasure horses. I asked if they'd any draft horses in the mix, the only thing remotely close to a dales pony in profile over here. Nope. I bet it did work grand for those hunter/jumpers. Probably put a big leap on them. |
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