4,777 answers about horses & farm animals
Horses and farm animals run on routine — feeding schedules, hoof and health care, safe fencing and calm handling, in all weather. This page gathers the horse and farm animal library of KinsLe Answers in one place, organized by topic from daily care to travel and senior animals. Every answer is original, written by KinsLe, and tied to a real KinsLe feature.
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409 answers in Feeding & Nutrition — page 10 of 18
A Belgian Draft Horse should eat mostly forage every day, with good grass hay or pasture forming the bulk of the ration and a ration balancer or modest concentrate added only when work, falling condition, or poor hay leaves a real gap. Many Belgians are steadier keepers than their enormous frame suggests, so weigh the…
A Yorkshire's daily feed depends more on stage than on the breed itself: a growing pig around one hundred pounds eats roughly four pounds a day, a finishing pig near two hundred pounds about six to seven, a pregnant sow four to five, and a nursing sow well over ten pounds, often offered freely. Feed a ration matched…
A Suffolk ewe needs about three to four pounds of total dry feed for every hundred pounds of body weight daily, and at one hundred and eighty to two hundred and fifty pounds that means roughly six to nine pounds of hay and pasture. Fast-growing Suffolk lambs are the flock's real concentrate consumers, while mature dry…
A Saanen doe in full milk is one of the hungriest goats in the dairy barn, needing roughly six to eight pounds of top-quality hay a day plus three to four pounds of grain divided between milkings, scaled to her high yield. A dry doe or buck drops back to forage alone at three to four pounds of dry feed for every…
A Nubian doe in milk needs about five to seven pounds of quality hay a day plus two to three pounds of grain split across milkings, adjusted to her yield and condition. Dry does and bucks manage on forage alone at the usual three to four pounds of dry feed for every hundred pounds of body weight, which for a…
A Nigerian Dwarf doe needs roughly two to three pounds of hay a day, since she may weigh only fifty to seventy-five pounds, with grain added in small measured amounts only while milking or in late pregnancy, often a half to one and a half pounds. The breed's small size makes overfeeding easy: a scoop that looks modest…
A Merino ewe needs about three to four pounds of total dry feed for every hundred pounds of body weight daily, so a one-hundred-and-fifty-pound ewe eats roughly four and a half to six pounds of hay and pasture. Wool growth is a constant protein demand on top of maintenance, so Merinos on mature, low-protein pasture…
A LaMancha doe in milk needs about five to seven pounds of good hay daily plus a grain portion at milking that commonly totals two to four pounds, scaled to how much milk she is giving. A dry doe or a mature buck eats noticeably less, mostly forage alone at roughly three to four pounds of dry feed for every hundred…
Most adult KuneKunes do well on roughly two to three pounds of a balanced pig feed per day, split into two meals, alongside grazing or hay, with the exact amount set by body condition rather than appetite. This slow-growing grazing breed gains weight eagerly, and a KuneKune will always act hungry enough for double, so…
A Katahdin ewe needs about three to four pounds of total dry feed for every hundred pounds of body weight a day, so a typical one-hundred-and-forty-pound ewe eats roughly four to five and a half pounds, mostly grass or hay. This breed is selected to perform on forage, and many Katahdin flocks finish lambs on good…
A Dorset ewe needs roughly three to four pounds of total dry feed for every hundred pounds of body weight daily, which puts a one-hundred-and-seventy-five-pound ewe at about five to seven pounds of hay and pasture. Because Dorsets commonly lamb out of season and nurse vigorous twins, many ewes spend much of the year…
A Dorper ewe needs total dry feed of roughly three to four pounds for every hundred pounds she weighs, so a one-hundred-and-forty-pound ewe eats about four to five and a half pounds a day, almost entirely pasture or hay. Dorpers flesh easily, so grain is reserved for late pregnancy, ewes nursing twins, and lambs still…
Plan on total daily feed roughly equal to three to four pounds of dry feed for every hundred pounds the Boer weighs, and expect most of it to be hay or browse rather than grain. A mature doe around two hundred pounds therefore eats about six to eight pounds of forage a day, with a measured grain portion added only for…
A Berkshire pig's daily feed depends mainly on age and job: a growing pig needs a protein-rich ration offered freely or in generous measured meals, while a mature, non-breeding Berkshire typically eats a modest measured amount, roughly a few pounds of pig feed a day, split into two meals. Breeding sows need…
No, Akhal-Tekes are generally the opposite of easy keepers: this lean, fine-coated desert breed tends toward a naturally slim build, and many individuals need consistent forage and enough feed to hold condition rather than restrictions. That said, any individual Akhal-Teke on rich pasture with little work can gain, so…
Grit and oyster shell solve two different problems: grit is insoluble crushed stone that a hen stores in her gizzard, where it works as the teeth she does not have, grinding whole grains, seeds, and fibrous scraps so the nutrients actually become available. Oyster shell is the opposite kind of stone: soluble calcium…
Goats need loose minerals because a block defeats their anatomy: a goat's tongue is soft and smooth compared with a cow's rough rasping tongue, so a goat physically cannot lick enough mineral off a hard block to meet its needs, however long it tries. Loose, free-choice minerals let each goat take in the amount its own…
The safest treats for a horse in training are small, dry, and low in sugar: carrot coins sliced thin, small apple pieces, and purpose-made low-sugar treats that break cleanly and are eaten in seconds. Size and speed are the real safety issues under saddle, because a large chunk invites gulping and choke, and a long…
The pasture plants that matter most are yew, wilted red maple and wild cherry leaves, ragwort, bracken fern, hemlock, foxglove, and black walnut, with oak acorns a risk in quantity. The trap is that several become more dangerous wilted or dried than standing fresh: fallen maple leaves in autumn and ragwort cut into…
Give hens a purpose-made layer feed once they reach the point of lay, around eighteen weeks old or when the first eggs appear, whichever comes first. Layer feed differs from grower feed mainly in calcium, which a laying hen needs in far greater quantity to build shells, and feeding it too early loads a young pullet's…
In general, hens handle plain, unsalted kitchen scraps well: leafy greens and vegetable trimmings, cooked vegetables, sweetcorn and peas, melon, berries and banana, and small amounts of cooked plain rice, pasta, or egg. The safe pattern is freshness and moderation: scraps should be a small garnish scattered on top of…
Never feed chickens raw or dried beans, avocado, chocolate, green potato peelings or raw potato, rhubarb leaves, or anything moldy, rotten, or heavily salted. Raw beans carry a toxin that cooking destroys, avocado contains a compound that damages birds' hearts, chocolate's theobromine is poisonous to them, and the…
A healthy Welsh Pony diet is deliberately plain: weighed grass hay as the mainstay, a small ration balancer for vitamins and minerals, plain salt, water, and little or no hard feed at all. Welsh Ponies are thrifty native types whose ancestors survived on sparse rough grazing, so rich pasture and generous grain push…
A healthy Thoroughbred diet layers calories on top of a generous forage base: all the good hay he will eat, at minimum one and a half to two percent of body weight daily, then concentrates sized to his workload for the energy hay alone cannot supply. Because big single grain meals strain a Thoroughbred's stomach,…
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