Feeding Broodmares During Lactation
- Topics: Article, Mare Care, Mare Nutrition
Proper nutrition for the broodmare during lactation is essential to make certain that she produces adequate milk for the foal and also maintains her body condition so that she will conceive successfully and safely carry the next year’s foal.
The broodmare has substantial increases in requirements for digestible energy, protein, lysine, and minerals as she goes from the last month of gestation to the first month of lactation. For an 1,100-pound mare, the following changes occur:
- Her digestible energy requirement goes from 21.4 Mcal per day to 31.7 Mcal per day
- Her protein requirement goes from 630 grams to 1535 grams per day
- Her lysine requirement goes from 27.1 grams to 84.8 grams per day
- Her calcium requirement goes from 20 grams per day to 59.1 grams per day
- Similar increases occur in other amino acids and minerals, as well. They are documented in the Nutrient Requirements of Horses, Sixth Edition, pages 298-299.
If her feed intake is not increased to provide these nutrients, she will maintain milk production by using her body stores for energy, amino acids, and minerals, causing loss of weight and loss of body condition as well as mineral losses.
To meet her increased DE requirement, roughly 7.5 pounds of grain containing about 1,364 calories per pound will need to be added to her diet gradually post foaling. Fortunately, she also can consume more dry matter during lactation, so she is actually able to eat more forage and more feed. If she is fed a product suitable for lactating mares, the additional feed will provide the additional energy as well as the other important nutrients. She will also require unlimited access to water and free-choice salt along with good quality forage
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