Friday, October 25, 2013

Benefits And Shortcomings Of Feeding Alfalfa Cube

By Cornelia Reyes


A good alternative to feeding your horse long stem hay is feeding alfalfa cube to them. These are mainly forage made in cube form and they can be used as roughage to aid in your horses digestion. Important nutrients needed for the growth of your horse are usually concentrated in high quantities in the alfalfa cubes. They can be made specifically to the needs of your horse and what is more, you can feed it also to other stock that you have like pigs and guinea pigs.

One of the merits of alfalfa cubes has to be the reduction of horse feed that goes to wastage. When you feed your horse the alfalfa cube, you are assured that the horse will eat everything you have given it. This is very hard when it comes to feeding it long stem hay as the horse will simply decide on eating the leaves or stem then the rest ends up being a waste.

Another advantage is that the horse owner is able to regulate how much a horse eats by feeding it forage cube. Unlike the long-stem hay. You will be able to monitor exactly how the horse takes per day.

A merit that we should note is that the cubes have a certain ration of nutrients in it. This makes it easier for an owner of a horse to know the daily nutrient intake of said horse. Unlike in giving the horse long stem hay to eat.

The forage cubes have little to no dust on them. In fact, horse owners usually feed them to horses with respiratory tract problems or infections. This reduces greatly the horses exposure to dust or any mold that might otherwise be in existence in long stem hay.

The forage cubes are beneficial over long stem hay as you reduce your storage costs. This is as they are very easy to handle. They do not take up much in space if you decide to put it in your truck or store.

Like everything else, the alfalfa cubes have demerits. One of the main demerits is that the forage cubes are very expensive when you compare it to long stem hay. The processing and transportation costs involved in the forage cubes make them very uneconomical.

Another demerit is the fact that you can not store this cubes anyhow. Careful consideration has to be taken into account because as soon they come into contact with water, the cubes become spoilt and you have to throw them away. A special dry storage are therefore has to be constructed.

Another disadvantage to note is that feeding excessive feeds to the horse leads to addition of excessive weight and digestive problems which in turn greatly affects the health and performance of your horse. It is strongly advised that feeding alfalfa cube be monitored properly to avoid overfeeding. This is because the horse will tend to eat all the cubes unlike where, were it being fed the long-stem hay, it would leave the rest as soon as it is done.




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