Horses and Sweet Feed

[Carl Russell]

I looked around find the old thread, and wasn’t able to locate it, but I thought I remembered some discussion about how molasses feed can alter horses’ behavior.

I have never really noticed a problem, and have fed crimped oats and flake corn exclusively at times, and sweet feed at others. About a year ago I decided to go back to feeding oats and corn. A month ago the feed store stopped selling flaked corn, because I was probably the only one buying it by the bag, so I went back to feeding a sweet feed.

I feed Poulan’s Sprint 12%, as it is really the fat that I want to feed anyway. I think this is about 7% fat, I can’t recall, I have fed it in the past and didn’t reread the label before posting this. I don’t necessarily “want” to feed my horses molasses, but I can accept the “complete ration” concept. I do supplement with granulated salt and kelp anyway, but just the same I am not opposed to the mineral component.

Anyway, when I had to go back to feeding this I decided that I would try to pay attention to any distinct behavior differences as my animals adjusted to the change in feed. I feed about 7.5lbs per day/each, approximately .5lbs/100lbs of body weight. When work picks up I will feed as much as 9-10lbs.

In my opinion, there is no difference at all. My animals do really love the molasses, which I am not saying is a good thing, but they are much more interested in whether I am headed to the feed barrel.

But in the working situation, they have good energy, and are no more distracted than they have been at times when I fed only pasture and no grain at all.

Carl

[jac]

I agree Carl. Over the years we have tried many different feed combos. Havnt noticed much of a behaviour change.Tho I hear some of the show boys having their horses so fired up that they can hardly handle them but I dont think thats a mollasses issue… What I will say however is that the CPL in the Clydes SEEMS to get worse on a higher sugar ration. The foot stamping stopped within a week when we switched to a grass cube and bran mash mix with chopped hay..
John

[Joshua Kingsley]

The thing that I have noticed is that the large drafts I own are usually calm regardless of feed ration. The haflingers on the other hand go over the top when given grain. They appartently do not need the extra calories or energy and act like they want to jump out of thier hides when they are up on the grain. It could be just the breed differences.

Joshua

[Big Horses]

We switched to “naked oats” this year and I’m totally impressed!! We fed sweet for years and really had no problems from what we could tell. We’ve got some older horses and they just seem to do better and stay more filled out and have more energy on the naked oats, while feeding lots less volume. It works for us!
John

http://www.geertsonseedfarms.com/Pages/NakedOats.htm
http://www.wrtc.com/gartseed/nakedoats.htm

[Anonymous]

I think feeding and reaction depends on the horse not the breed. I dont care to feed sweet feed because of the molasses if you need to or cant get an all grain I like to thin it down a bit with dry grains. My reason for it is molasses is a sugar and if you eat sugar like candy every day even small amount it usually causes tooth problems I believe same with horses. If its energy your looking for try rice bran topped on crimped oats or calf manna powder or pellet on top both excellent sources of high energy.

[Carl Russell]

Thanks Jim, I’ll take those into consideration. I hadn’t really thought about tooth decay in horses. I have never experienced that, have you?

Carl

[mitchmaine]

carl, molasses was always the way to get cattle to eat poor hay, and they had great lusterous coats when they were on it, so i always leaned to molasses with our horses, but lately i was thinking the way you are and went to just oats, bran or pulp, and two or three fistfuls of black oil sunflower seeds. birdfood. pictures of birds right on the bag. full of fat. i think its working. they seem to be making weight. i may change my mind but thats the latest experiment.

[blue80]

I guess I am a sweet feed fan, because we’ve always fed it, and I am a creature of habit, new being bad…;). I asked my dad, a veterinarian of over 30 years, he believes the amount of molasses in sweet feed has little if any bearing on tooth decay issues. Proper forage fed at proper eatiing elevations have more of an influence on tooth decay according to him.

I have no problem buying a little love. Horses like sweet feed. I bring it to them, so they like me. I try to give them as a reward, not incentive, but at the end of the day, if they run to see me from the far end of the field I’ll take it!

I like letting kids and townies feed the horses a little by hand, it’s amazing to watch both parties. Molasses in the feed lets the feed clump in the little ones hands better and I figure not as much gets wasted….
Kevin

[OldKat]

@mitchmaine 17917 wrote:

carl, molasses was always the way to get cattle to eat poor hay, and they had great lusterous coats when they were on it, so i always leaned to molasses with our horses, but lately i was thinking the way you are and went to just oats, bran or pulp, and two or three fistfuls of black oil sunflower seeds. birdfood. pictures of birds right on the bag. full of fat. i think its working. they seem to be making weight. i may change my mind but thats the latest experiment.

That is interesting. Were the horses at all thin before you started feeding the sunflower seeds? I know that when our kids were in 4-H and showing rabbits some people fed the black sunflower seeds to improve their haircoat, though I never could tell that their rabbits had better fur than ours did so I didn’t pursue it.

[sanhestar]

Hello,

no experience in sunflower seeds for horses to gain weight but they are used in goats to give more energy but not more protein.

[mitchmaine]

hey oldkat, my near colt, dick, wintered hard, and i’ve been trying to get him back up. i tried the recipe first, but last week had them floated, and he broke a back tooth off and the opposing tooth erupted into it’s spot keeping the others from grinding as well as they could. it was quite a ways back and even tho i could find a few sharp edges the “dentist” found it and it took some grinding and may take another go at it. but he’s eatin’ better now. thanks, mitch

[tsigmon]

I have been told that the molasses in sweet feed is not the same as what we eat. It is a by product of the sugar industry and most of the ” sweet” has already be extracted out. I’m pretty sure the taste buds of aminals and humans are different so horses and other animals may detect a sweetness . If you get a chance to be at a feed mill that blends feed get them to let you taste the molasses before they add it, you may be surprised at the taste. I was always told the feed grade molasses was used to bind the fine particles of the grains together to keep it from being dusty. I have never heard or seen any info on nutritional value of feed grade molasses.

[near horse]

Plenty of energy and adequate protein should put weight on IF your horse: 1) can chew the feed sufficiently 2) doesn’t have a huge parasite load 3) is in “good health” (not carrying a disease or illness).

There’s nutritional info on feed molasses in most “feeds” books – from Ensmingers’ Feeds and Nutrition text – it’s about 60% carbs (sugars), 7-8% protein as fed. Primarily used as an energy feed. I think molasses not only keeps down the dust but does help w/ palatability.

Sunflower seeds (and other oilseeds) are also a good E source just have to watch the amount(S) or else it can reduce intake. Can also try adding corn oil to grain ration.

I agree that molasses is not the likely culprit in tooth decay in horses. In fact, there are often more issues with bits of plant fiber getting jammed btwn the tooth and gum and giving abcesses.

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