Many of these things cannot be controlled by means of simple tests , and therefore trustworthiness is essential . No more is needed . If they are given what they need every day that is more than sufficient .”
-It is quite complicated to keep things right every day . Our farms vary a lot , taking into account the years and seasons . What advice would you give small breeders ( the case of most ), for them to be able to solve this situation in a practical way ? -I wish to be clear in that being ‘ small ’— unless their aims are different — is not a problem ; in fact it is less complicated in every way . It is important to underline that our main problem is how to take the utmost advantage from our climate , which provides us with grass throughout the year , and to find the way in which our foals may receive a daily menu that is as stable as possible despite the changes of season . There is a method which is fairly technical , but which I think adapts very well to our system of pasture breeding : a ) Determine the daily need ( energy , protein , minerals and vitamins ) for every particular situation that we wish to manage ( gestation ; lactation ; weaning ; post-weaning ). b ) Seek out the feed that contains what we need . c ) Calculate the amount of that feed that will cover 50 % of what we need in energy and proteins and 100 % of minerals and vitamins . It is to be hoped that the pasture will have what is needed to cover the remaining 50 %. In this way it will be necessary to see that in seasons when forage is weak , that we at least have enough pastureland to cover that 50 %. It is possible , and it guarantees a linear growth curve throughout the months , which is the most important factor in avoiding acquired conformational defects . Another advantage regarding this method is the amount it saves in forage consumption , which helps improve the duration of pastures as regards quality and quantity .
-What are the benefits of a suggestion as the one you ’ ve just mentioned ? -I shall point out a mistake that is quite frequent when thinking of a daily feed schedule : in order to favor rations management , one unconsciously limits the foals ’ access to good pastures a lot . It may be because one doesn ’ t want to go too far from the homestead where the pens and rations are , and grazing gets restricted to fields close by which are generally over-pastured . Another thing that happens is that the hours in which animals are closed in become longer and pasturing time shorter . No ration will be able to replace the fiber . As from a digestive system that is functional thanks to forage , we are then able to provide a good ration for the intakes needed .
What are the benefits of a proposal such as I ’ ve just described ? To name a few : As I said before , we ’ ll have saved a lot on pasture consumption . This is not a minor issue , taking into account the fact that the most difficult part of supplementing in equal parts is the forage , aside from which , it is the most expensive input and difficult to transport . Daily contact with all the population makes observation of conformation details , maintenance and health easier . Early detection of any deviation of any of these aspects will allow us to correct or see to and individual and “ save ” it in time from having to exit a batch of horses to be used for sport . The possibility of adjusting the parcel of forage access + supplement to the requirements at the different development stages , gives us the tools with which to achieve an even and linear growth curve over time . Of all the factors that have an impact on achieving foals that are suitable and fit , I am convinced that the failure to achieve linear growth is the only one that can drastically change the destination of a foal . When foals are under fed from the time they are weaned until they are 2 years old , if we were to draw the growth curve we would observe that it is linear , but so low that it would limit its final development and exclude it from the market of young horses . When the aim is better development , and horses are given access to better pastures and seasonal grasses without development control through adequate adjustments , the foals will “ copy ” the same lows and highs of the forage , causing a lowering
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