There are two ways that I approach nutrition and recommendations around animal feeding programs. For most production livestock and working animals, our goal should be to provide nutrition that meets the known nutrient requirements of that species. We know that deficiencies in things like vitamins and minerals are common and have significant impacts on reproductive efficiency, daily gain, feed efficiency, and other production benchmarks, so we want to be sure that we are providing the best nutrition possible. On the other hand, our goal for pet or companion animals is usually to keep them fat (but not too fat!) and happy- we aren’t as worried about meeting production goals.
A client this week mentioned that her friend feeds plain oats to her horses and told her that she should feed oats too. Oats would certainly keep her horses in a good weight by adding calories and protein to the diet, but there are some downsides to them as a feedstuff. Oats are a highly digestible cereal grain that can provide calories in the form of fiber, starch, and sugar, as well as a fair amount of crude protein (13%) to animals. There are two major downfalls to feeding oats- the first is that they are low in lysine, which is an essential amino acid. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. When a protein is “high quality”, we typically mean that it provides the correct amounts and ratios of amino acids that the animal needs. Therefore, despite being 13% crude protein, oats do not have the best amino acid profile for horses. Does this matter for an average pet or companion horse? Probably not, but it might matter for horses that are working, growing or lactating. The second major problem with plain oats is that they have a backwards calcium to phosphorus ratio. In horses, there should be a minimum of 2:1 ratio between calcium and phosphorus. Plain oats are inverted, with high phosphorus and low calcium, which can cause big head disease, bone deformities, growth issues, and other problems. This is an issue for all horses regardless of their stage of life.
Do these downfalls mean horses should never eat oats? No, of course not! Many horses eat plain oats or oats in a commercial feed and do quite well. If you want to feed plain oats, however, it’s essential that you provide the protein, vitamins, and minerals to help balance the diet. It was here in the conversation where my client mentioned she offers a trace mineral block (you know them, red, 50lbs, from the feed store). These blocks are not usually effective mineral sources for horses for a few reasons. The first is that horses are not efficient licking animals and they will eat hugely variable amounts of these blocks. Estimates show some horses might eat 15 grams per day and others will eat over 50 grams per day or more. A second reason is that red trace mineral blocks use salt to control how much the animals eat, usually 96-98% of the block—and horses will eat enough to meet their salt needs but that’s about it. There are some mineral blocks that have better consumption instructions and regulators in them, if you want to use a tub or block form. The better option for most horses is to get a loose mineral mix that you can top dress, or put on top of their feed, or to feed a ration balancer. Ration balancers are designed to be fed at 1-2 pounds per day and provide the protein, vitamins, and minerals that horses on a primarily forage diet may lack. A loose mineral will typically not provide the amino acids and protein that a horse in heavier work might need.
The combination of a cereal grain like oats with a mineral supplement can be an appropriate diet for many horses. If you need help making a feeding decision for your animals, contact us at uge3181@uga.edu or 706-359-3233.
