Feeding of complete, extruded feed to mares

Abstract

Eighteen mares were used in a 92-day feeding trial to evaluate a complete, extruded feed for free choice feeding horses. The mares were assigned at random to one of three treatments as follows: Group A—Control—bahiagrass pasture+complete mineral free choice; Group B—Dry lot —Extruded feed + salt free choice; Group C—Stalled—Extruded feed + salt free choice. The pastured mares were on pasture 24 hours per day and had access to a complete mineral in a fiberglass mineral feeder. The mares fed in dry lot were fed only the extruded feed and salt, both of which were available to them 24 hours per day. The stalled mares were provided access to the extruded feed and salt for 22 hours per day. The other two hours they were turned out into a dry lot paddock for exercise. Fecal samples were collected from each of the mares on the extruded feed for estimation of feed digestibility. The pastured mares gained weight on pasture but lost girth, croup fat and condition score. Feed consumption by the dry lot fed mares peaked at three weeks at about 15.9 kg/animal/d and remained constant for the remainder of the trial. Feed consumption by the stalled mares peaked at 19.1 kg/animal/d but decreased to about 15.9 kg/animal/d during the second month and remained constant for the duration of the trial. Most of the stalled mares experienced some edema of the lower extremities which decreased during the last month of the experiment, probably due to increased activity when they were turned out. One of the stalled mares experienced multiple episodes of colic and was removed from the experiment. At the time of removal, the animal was consuming 22.7 kg of the extruded feed daily. The mares consuming the extruded diet gained more weight, heart girth, croup fat and condition score (P<0.05) than the pastured horses. The mares kept in stalls gained more weight and condition score than the mares fed in dry lot (P <0.05). Average daily mineral intake by groups A, B, and C were 80.2.4.7, and 11.4 g/d, respectively. Digestibilities by the two groups receiving the extruded feed were not different.