Winter presents a livestock owner with particular challenges and our response
From page 29 signal intentions to the horse. A gentle rub down, a pat on the shoulder, a vigorous massage in just the right place— these are all ways of saying,“ I ' m your friend” to a horse. Sometimes, if you ' re lucky, you ' ll get a similar tactile message in return. Horses are“ inter-pressure”. They respond to pressure so when you move into the horse, with your shoulder to its flank, for example, you will get reverse response. Horses respond to touch all over the body but especially around the head. Ears and eyes are especially sensitive areas. They don ' t like their ears pulled. The upper lip and muzzle are very sensitive to tactile stimulus, and are equivalent to our fingers. The whiskers that grow from the muzzle and around the eyes are like an insect ' s antennae. They are especially useful in low light conditions when the horse is nosing around. You should not cut them off! Horses have a“ point of balance” behind shoulder and in centre of head like cattle. ❑ Taste. Horses are attracted by sweetness, so sugar, molasses, water melon rind, peaches and even beer are relished. You can use molasses to entice horses to eat crushed medicine. After a period of time, however, don ' t be surprised if they wise up and refuse that medicine treat. We also use molasses to enhance the flavour and nutritional value of dry, poor quality hay. They( especially foals) reject salty, sour and bitter tastes at about the same level of acceptance as humans. should not be haphazard. Addressing the special nutritional, environmental and health needs of livestock in the winter will help ensure optimal animal welfare and performance. Preventing problems is more economical than is treating them so the concept of prevention will never grow cold. Our animals ' nutritional requirements increase significantly during cold weather. For most smallholder livestock, the predominant energy source during the winter months is veld grass. However, just when the animals ' energy needs are increasing, the quality of the grass is decreasing. Grass quality is considered low when the crude protein content drops below 7 %. As grass matures, the fibre content increases, while the
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Plant to beat poor quality fodder problems
HORSES leaves and protein content decrease. Grass also becomes unpalatable and at the same time, forage intake and subsequently total energy intake declines. During autumn and early winter months the protein content of veld and some summer grass pastures is nearly always inadequate to sustain healthy animal production. So one should
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