Hay consumption (Horse vs Cattle)

[coolpop]

curious how much hay one horse will consume in comparision to ? ___ what number of cattle -- can anyone tell me??

 

[IluvABbeef]

A two year old horse has the same animal unit (AU) as a mature cow with/without an unweaned calf of 1.0

A horse three years and/or older has an AU similar to a mature, 2 yr old or older, bull of 1.5

So what I'm saying is that a horse eats as much as one cow, if the horse's a 2 y.o, and as much as a bull if the horse's 3 y.o and/or older.

 

[Canadian_Cowgirl]

A two year old horse has the same animal unit (AU) as a mature cow with/without an unweaned calf of 1.0

A horse three years and/or older has an AU similar to a mature, 2 yr old or older, bull of 1.5

So what I'm saying is that a horse eats as much as one cow, if the horse's a 2 y.o, and as much as a bull if the horse's 3 y.o and/or older.

Karin, is it over they same period of time to? Or is that just how much they eat?


Katy

 

[IluvABbeef]

A two year old horse has the same animal unit (AU) as a mature cow with/without an unweaned calf of 1.0

A horse three years and/or older has an AU similar to a mature, 2 yr old or older, bull of 1.5

So what I'm saying is that a horse eats as much as one cow, if the horse's a 2 y.o, and as much as a bull if the horse's 3 y.o and/or older.

Karin, is it over they same period of time to? Or is that just how much they eat?


Katy

THat's just based on how much they eat. See, one animal unit is considered to be one mature 450 kg (1000 lb) cow or the equivalent based upon average daily forage consumption of 11.8 kg (26 lb) of DM per day.

 

[farmwife]

In my experience, a horse will eat more. Our horse, a 6 year old gelding, will eat five rolls of hay versus our mature cows that eat just over 3 rolls (this during the winter feeding season, which runs approx mid-Oct through end of March).

 

[coolpop]

yep, that's been our experience this past winter - we ran 6 young heifers on a neighbors field with the neighbors 2 horses approx 20 & 30 yrs of age. The horses seemed to never leave the hay ring and consumed so much hay we had to buy hay before winter was out. With our drought and low hay yield, I'm trying to figure how much hay we need. All 6 heifer's are pregnant and should calve around Oct. I don't have any experience with horses, neighbors have no experience with cattle -- trying to be prepared for winter.

My guess was to every sqaure bale a heifer ate, one horse ate 2 or 3.

 

[Coweena]

Theres also a difference in that a horse will eat the grass down to the dirt and a cow usually wont. If you put cows in one pasture and horses in another , the cow pasture will stay in better shape, less weeds, looks better than the one with horses in it.JMO

 

[randiliana]

curious how much hay one horse will consume in comparision to ? ___ what number of cattle -- can anyone tell me??

A mature horse, depending on his size CAN eat as much as 50 lbs of feed per day. Give him one small square and he will eat most of it. That is why our horses are NOT on self-feed. They certainly don't need that much to eat. A horse will do just fine on about 25-35 lbs per day, depending on their size, unless they are under a pretty hard work load. Plus, it is healthier for them since they don't just pack on the pounds. Our horses get fed pretty much the same as we feed our cows. But if you have them on self-feed you can probably figure that the horses will eat at leas 1/3 more than the cows.

 

[IluvABbeef]

There I go, knowing less than I thought I did. :roll: Next time when something like this comes up I WON'T be the first to answer...so thanks to all you for correctin' me on this.

(sorry for hijacking coolpop)

 

[msscamp]

Theres also a difference in that a horse will eat the grass down to the dirt and a cow usually wont. If you put cows in one pasture and horses in another , the cow pasture will stay in better shape, less weeds, looks better than the one with horses in it.JMO

I agree with you on the condition of the pasture, but it has more to do with the horse will tromp out far more grass than he eats.

 

[msscamp]

The horses seemed to never leave the hay ring and consumed so much hay we had to buy hay before winter was out.

Stop feeding hay free choice. How old are your horses? Our horses weigh approx 1100 lbs each - one is apprx 25-27 years old, and she gets 3 cups of senior mix plus 4 flakes of alfalfa hay twice a day. Oops, typo - she gets the senior feed once a day - sorry about that. The other one is around 8 years old and she gets a mouthful or two of alfalfa, and 2 flakes of grass hay twice a day - no grain at all- they both maintain their weight on that, and stay healthy. Find out what your horse weighs, take into consideration their age, and any extenuating nutrition factors, and feed him/her enough to maintain his/her weight.

 

[coolpop]

there lies the problem - the horses are not ours, we run a few heifers on our friend/neighbor's property 30 acres. The neighbors are a little testy about me feeding the cattle in a corral area I set up because the horses get jealous and wild acting - so the alternative is to free choice feed in a hay ring - the horses will stand at the ring all day long keeping the cattle from eating. We have culled 4 animals from there and probably more, then will bring the remaining girls to our field for the winter as they will have calves by their sides this winter.

Thanks for everyones replies -- you've confirmed what I thought was happening last winter.

PS - the horses were huge this past winter - in the past when the neighbors were buying hay (we make hay on them and 2 other fields) they were not a free choice with the hay.

 

[msscamp]

Ahhhhh, I see. Did you know when you rented this pasture that your cattle would be competing with your neighbors/friends horses, or is this something that he/she has simply sprung on you?

 

[coolpop]

friendly agreement - and like I said, me no knowledge of horses didn't know what to expect. - but I'm sure we'll work it out - they are good people -- thanks for you input -- love these boards.
:lol:

 

[msscamp]

Good luck!

 

[TexasBred]

A horse not being ridden or worked hard normally needs nothing more than grazing and/or hay. (no grain) Many of us literally love our horses to death by overfeeding grain when it is not needed. And yes they will eat the grass to the ground. Cattle have enough sense to know when to stop eating.... horses do not. (this excludes mules)

 

[msscamp]

So what I'm saying is that a horse eats as much as one cow, if the horse's a 2 y.o, and as much as a bull if the horse's 3 y.o and/or older.

Deleted due to misunderstanding by poster.

 

[farmguy]

Same weight animals, a horse will eat at least twice as much as a cow. On TV one night a study was done on how a simple stomached animal, the zebra, could compete with ruminants in africa. Simple answer was they ate a lot more. I found this to be true too based on how long a bale will last.

 

[jfont]

If you notice, a cow will take a break, lay down and chew on their cud for hours. Not as much down time with a horse. They are some eating machines.
I also agree with the pastures. Horses are way harder on a piece of land than a cow. I try to rotate them as often as possible.

 

[ArrowHBrand]

Theres also a difference in that a horse will eat the grass down to the dirt and a cow usually wont. If you put cows in one pasture and horses in another , the cow pasture will stay in better shape, less weeds, looks better than the one with horses in it.JMO

I agree with you on the condition of the pasture, but it has more to do with the horse will tromp out far more grass than he eats.

This is because horses are "spot" grazers while cattle are "true" grazers. Horses will find one spot they like and eat it down until it's just dirt. Cattle however, will continually walk while they are eating covering a whole pasture several times a day. I would never free feed a horse, this only leads to gastro problems. Horses generate heat in their hind gut so in winter they will constantly eat if it's available to stay warm since digestion generates heat. Cattle are ruminants so they will eat, chew their cud, lay around some more than get back to eating. Horses will eat as much if not more during certain times of the year as a cow.