How to feed your Lactating Mare to ensure she and her foal have all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients’ so they both have the best chance to be healthy and strong.

Moms and babies. Mares and foals. It’s all the same isn’t it?

If you read the feeding stallions’ page I talk about rolling the dice and stacking the deck in your favor. As important as that may be with a stallion it’s critical with a Mare and her foal. After all, your dealing with 2 lives here.

If Mom doesn’t get the correct balanced diet her body she could never recover from the stress of carrying the baby.

If junior doesn’t get the correct balanced diet he may not make it or he could be starting life way behind the eight ball.

Ok, so I’ve just touched on some dangerous situations that could happen. How do we reduce the risk?

There are two different feeding programs for a lactating mare. 

These are:

• foaling to three months and
   
• three months to weanling. 

Lactation greatly increases the mares’ requirement for nutrients.

Energy needs are increased two fold, and the requirements for protein, calcium and phosphorus increase. A deficiency in any one of these nutrients decreases the amount of milk produced but has little or no effect on the concentration of these nutrients in the milk. 

A normal healthy 900 lb. to 1200 lb. mare when properly fed will produce from 25 lbs. to 30 lbs. of milk per day during the first three months of lactation. By five months of lactation the amount produced will decrease by only about 5 lbs. per day. 

Each mare should be fed as much as necessary to maintain proper weight and condition. A good indication of proper weight and condition is the amount of tissue covering the ribs. With a summer hair coat or a wet winter hair coat, the ribs should not be seen but should be easily felt without feeling any extra amount of fat between the ribs and the skin.

Nutrient Requirements for Foaling to Three Months for Lactation

• Digestible energy (DE) in Mcal/lb 1.20 Mcal
   
• Crude protein 13.2%
   
• Lysine.46%
   
• Calcium %.52%
   
• Phosphorus%.34%
   
• Magnesium.10%
   
• Potassium.42%
   
• Vitamin A1250 IU/lb
   
• Expected total feed eaten (lbs/100lbs body weight) 2.5% - 3%
   
• Hay to grain ratio of total feed daily50% hay & 50% grain

Nutrient Requirements for Three Months to Weanling for Lactation

• Digestible energy (DE) in Mcal/lb1.15 Mcal
   
• Crude protein 11%
   
• Lysine.37%
   
• Calcium %.36%
   
• Phosphorus%.22%
   
• Magnesium.09%
   
• Potassium.33%
   
• Vitamin A1370 IU/lb
   
• Expected total feed eaten (lbs/100lbs body weight) 2% - 2.5%
   
• Hay to grain ratio of total feed daily65% hay & 35% grain

Hay Types for Lactating Mares

There are two different kinds of hay that can be fed to lactating mares; legume hays (Lucerne) and grass hay.

Legume hay is almost always the preferred hay for young growing horses and lactating mares. This is because they have two to three times the protein and calcium of grass hays, as well as more soluble (non-fibrous) carbohydrates, beta-carotene and vitamin E.

Types of legumes are alfalfa, red clover, crimson clover, ladino clover, alsike clover, birdsfoot trefoil, lespedeza, cow peas and vetch.

Legumes are generally more costly, and in some parts of North America might be infested with poisonous blister beetles. Because of these two reasons some might feel safer feeding grass hays.

Grass hays are often less dusty than legume hay and their modest protein content makes them a better choice for mature horses not being used for breeding. If feeding grass hay to lactating mares a vitamin and mineral supplement should be added.

Types of grass hays are timothy, coastal bermuda, brome, orchard grass, blue grass, rye grass and canary grass. Timothy hay is the most widely grown hay in North America.

Alternative Hay Solutions

Hay can also be chopped, pressed into cubes and processed into pellets. Hay cubes and pellets come in a variety of sizes and textures, from soft and crumbly to quite hard. They can be all alfalfa; all grass hay, a mixture of the two, or even hay mixed with other products such as ground corn, oats, etc.

Grains for Lactating Mares

Grains should be fed at least two times a day. If the amount of grain fed at one time is more than 8 lbs. (3.5 kg), increase the frequency of feeding to three times per day at approximately eight hour intervals, but maintain the same total daily intake.

As most of us know, the intake of an excess quantity of any type of grain can result in dire consequences, including life threatening colic, laminitis and founder. Feeding grain to lactating mares is a good way of supplementing their nutrient demands beyond what their hay provides.

Oats is one of the safest grains, containing the lowest starch and highest fiber content of them all. Oats have 50% starch in dry matter and 2% sugar in dry matter.

Oats have a relatively soft kernel, which most horses have no difficulty chewing and digesting them. Oats can be fed clipped, crimped or whole.

Corn is a hull-less grain, however, it is very high in starch. Fiber makes up only 2.2% of its composition, and its digestible energy (DE) value is more than twice that of oats. This means it does not have the safety margin that oats have and it must be fed with caution and in relatively small quantities. Corn has 70% starch in dry matter and 2% sugar in dry matter.

In order for corn to be digested well by the horse, corn usually needs to be processed by cracking (breaking each kernel into pieces) or flaking (flattening kernels with a roller).

Remember no single grain will provide all the nutrients a horse needs, even when fed in combination with quality hay. So adding a good vitamin mineral supplement is essential for lactating mares.

Commercial grains come textured or pelleted. Textured feed is a mixture of grains with a touch of molasses. They are usually formulated with a mixture of grains (oats, corn, barley,etc), and generally supplemented with a mixture of vitamins and minerals appropriate to the type of horse it is designed for (performance horses, breeding stock or growing horses), a commercial grain provides what a single grain can’t.

Pelleted feeds can be all hay or pellets containing hay and grains, usually 10 to 25%. Pelleted feeds may be differentiated from each other by their crude fiber content, which is given on the feed tag. The lower the crude fiber content of the feed, the greater its energy content and the lower its roughage content. Pellets consisting entirely of roughage contain 27% or more crude fiber. Those containing primarily roughage with some cereal grain (oats, barley, and corn); contain 18% to 26% crude fiber. Grain by its self can contain less than 15% crude fiber.

Pelleted feeds consisting primarily or totally of hay may be fed without any additional hay.

Extruded feeds look like dry dog food and are made by the same process. Extruded feed is about half as dense as pelleted feeds or textured feeds made with the same ingredients. Because extruded feeds are less dense, you get less feed value per bag – often at the same price. 

You also have to be careful when switching your horse to extruded feed; because it is less dense you will feed more to maintain your horse’s weight. It is important to weigh your horses feed to get the correct amount to feed. Don’t rely on the coffee can method of measuring.

Balancing the Lactating Mares’ Diet

A horses’ daily diet needs to include many different nutrients in all the proper amounts of energy, protein, minerals, vitamins and amino acids.

Before you can balance your horses’ diet you need to know a few basic things:

• Is your Lactating mares’ condition good, too fat or too thin? 
  Not sure then see what condition your horse is in by looking at our equine conditioning chart.
   
• What feeds are available to you?
   
• What is your lactating mares’ body weight? 
  You can use a measuring tape sold at feed stores.

It’s worth knowing your young horses weight because you use it to determine how much feed your horse should be getting each day. The total weight of feed per day should be between 1.5% and 3.0% (look at section nutrient requirements and see what it says for expected total feed eaten % body weight/day) of your horses’ body weight. 

Using this rule, a 1,000 lb. thoroughbred (for example) would need between 15 lbs. and 30 lbs. of total feed (forage plus grain). This leeway allows some adjustability, for example, if our thoroughbred was overweight and only in light work, you would lean toward the lower end of the scale at 15 lbs a day. If on the other hand, he was in top physical condition and was competing in a high intensity sport like endurance racing or upper level combined driving he might require closer to 30 lbs. of feed a day to provide him with the energy he needs.

This rule does not apply to nursing foals that will only eat between .5% to .75% of their body weight in solid food while they are nursing.

Weanlings might consume up to 3.5% of their body weight per day.

In order use this rule effectively, you will have to weight your horses’ feed. Most people use the coffee can method of measuring grain (this horse gets half a scoop, this one a whole scoop). Weighing your horses’ feed does not have to be a daily routine. You can have different containers for each horse – weighing their feed so it fits a particular container or marking the container. You weigh the grain using a kitchen or bathroom scale. (Remember to subtract the weight of the empty container you use to scoop your grain into). To measure hay you can open a bale and on a bathroom scale weigh each flake of hay. Once you have all the weights you can get the average weight of a flake of hay. For example there are 12 flakes of hay in a bale and the weights are 3lbs, 3.5 lbs, 4 lbs, 5 lbs, 3 lbs, 3.5 lbs, 4 lbs, 5 lbs, 4.5 lbs, 5 lbs, 3.5 lbs, 4 lbs. = total weight of 48 lbs. To get average weight of one flake – 48 lbs divided by 12 flakes = 4 lbs. per flake.

Rules of Good Feeding

According to life stage and condition of horse.

• Feed according to body weight of horse.
   
• Feed for work done, not for the future.
  Make sure they have access to fresh clean water at all times.
   
• Feed work the horse is about to do.
   
• Feed plenty of roughage for healthy gut function. 
  Look at grain to hay ratio.
   
• Feed by weight not volume of feed; weigh grain and hay.
   
• Feed at the same time each day.
   
• Feed little and often so as not to overload the horses’ digestive system. 
  Keep grains to 4 lbs. – 5 lbs. per feeding.
   
• Use high quality feeds. Do not feed dusty or moldy feed.
   
• Make any changes to the diet gradually so as to reduce the risk of digestive upset like colic.
   
• Don’t exercise immediately after feeding. 
  Allow 2 to 3 hours after feeding before working the horse and do not feed until one hour after working.

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