HORSE SENSE: Silage as a forage source for equines 09 October 2015 Premium

USE PAPER CODESIGN IN

09 October 2015

Irish Field Contributor on 09 Oct 2015

HORSE SENSE: Silage as a forage source for equines

Dr Vivian Gath, from the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine, talks us through the pros and cons of feeding silage to horses

Irish Field Contributor

9 October 2015

With silage there is less buffering of stomach acid, excess acid leads to gastric ulcers which occur in the majority of race horses in training. Therefore feeding of hay or haylage is preferred (photo: healyracing.ie)

The process of ensiling forage involves freshly cut grass packed tight and sealed with plastic to exclude air.

In countries such as Finland and Sweden, many yards feed silage to all types of horses such as brood mares, young horses and even performance horses.

FORAGE is the most important ingredient in equine nutrition and all equines need at least 1% of their body weight in forage dry matter per day.

This equates to an average 500kg horse eating at least 5kg of forage on a dry matter basis, i.e. excluding the moisture content.

RELATED STORIES

Irish Field Contributor

Not all bales are created equal

Winter is just around the corner and many horses will make a switch from pasture to hay or haylage, equine nutritionist Nikki Meggison shares advice on the fine art of feeding forage

Mark Costello

NEWS: Feed prices set to rise again

Importers, maufacturers and distributors say they have never seen such shortages and increases in costs. They are warning customers to expect price hikes

Helen Sharp

The future of equine science is bright

Equestrian innovation is in safe hands and the final year students at Limerick University's Department of Biological Sciences are leading the way

Helen Sharp

Could the Russia/Ukraine tensions impact your forage supplies?

Growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine have the potential to tighten both fertiliser and grain prices