A feeding program that efficiently and economically delivers optimum nutrition to every horse is a farm manager's ultimate goal. While achieving that goal starts with determining the nutritional needs of each horse, these needs must be juggled with the farm's budget, facilities, labor pool, and other resources to come up with a complete plan.

Some of these feeding-program elements are difficult to quantify objectively, but they must all be considered when developing a total nutritional program. A total feeding program involves:

• Calculating diets, on your own or with help;
• Choosing reliable suppliers;
• Determining the best place for feed storage;
• Designing an efficient feed delivery system;
• Developing an appropriate feeding schedule; and
• Anticipating changes to minimize their impact.

Calculating diets

Any feeding program begins with the horses. Depending on their ages and activity levels, different horses have very different nutrient needs. Calculating their individual diets takes some research into horse needs and the nutrients in individual feedstuffs (see "A nutritional library" on page 25), followed by a lot of calculations.

While many managers are capable of designing appropriate diets for their charges (Thoroughbred Times, September 9), some may not want to invest the necessary time or may want advice on specific nutritional issues. There is plenty of help available.

Equine nutritionists are specialists with advanced degrees who have made a career of conducting nutritional research, interpreting research for farm use, overseeing product development, and analyzing and customizing horse rations.

These experts provide their clients with cutting-edge nutritional research and often will design special diets for broodmares or youngsters to regulate growth, reformulate rations to balance nutrients, or conduct nutritional detective work to discover whether there is any dietary correlation with specific health problems.

They are able to tap into many different resources and can help farm managers interpret the results of feed and forage analyses. Ask colleagues for references or find an equine nutritionist through the Equine Nutrition and Physiology Society, whose international roster includes 250 nutritionists, exercise physiologists, and reproductive physiologists in the United States(see Resources, page 26).

Ask veterinarians

While veterinary school courses tend to give nutrition a cursory nod, practicing veterinarians have a wealth of practical field experience that farm managers can tap into. Their advice on the safety and efficacy of specific supplements or the supplement's applicability in resolving certain health problems can be particularly valuable. Your veterinarian also has access to professional journals and on-line resources that can be helpful in answering feeding questions. Veterinary schools with large equine departments can answer specialized questions. Find the nearest one by contacting the American Association of Equine Practitioners (see Resources).

Extension horse specialists, state horse specialists, and county extension agents are accessible resources paid for with your tax dollars. Find extension horse specialists by calling the animal science department at the closest state land-grant college. Find state horse specialists by calling your state department of agriculture.

Horse specialists, who typically hold a Ph.D. in animal science or a related field, can provide general nutritional guidance. More importantly, they can help you access other university resources, including engineers who can advise on automated feed-delivery systems or facilities design, soil specialists who can test pasture soils, and plant specialists who can help you select the best pasture grasses for your climate. Ask horse specialists for the names of laboratories where you can get feed and forages tested.

Use the telephone book to find local extension personnel. You may find them listed under state extension service, agricultural extension, county extension, or some other variant of those titles. They, too, can help with soil testing, pasture improvement, facilities, and other basic information.

Feed manufacturer's representatives and feed dealers channel nutrition-education materials and research information from feed manufacturers to consumers. Dealers and representatives can offer a good perspective on feeding, especially for farms that just want a solid, basic program and have no complex nutritional concerns to address.

Factor in their natural bias toward the products they are selling when weighing their advice. Most feed companies also have Ph.D. equine nutritionists on staff or under contract. Farm managers with specialized needs should not hesitate to ask for the advice of these professionals or even request a farm visit.

You can use testing laboratories to analyze samples of soil, water, forages, concentrates, and supplements to determine the actual nutrients in the feed program you design.

Testing is the only way to determine if the actual nutrient values in the feedstuffs are the same, higher, or lower than the values you used when designing the feed program. Forage testing can be particularly important because the nutrients in pasture and hay are often the biggest variables in the horse's diet.

The National Forage Testing Association's World Wide Web site (see Resources) lists more than 90 professional laboratories that have met specific quality standards. They also will fax you a list of laboratories that test hay and concentrates.

Access state soil laboratories through county extension agents or horse specialists. Many state universities with agriculture schools have free or subsidized soil and forage testing-a benefit that can help farm managers to control costs.

Choosing suppliers

Finding reliable suppliers of quality feeds and forages and establishing good, long-term relationships with them are essential to the success of any feeding program. Consistency is critical in feeding horses. You want a supplier who understands and dependably meets the quality standards you set.

A good hay middleman will be straightforward about prices, availability, and the origin of forages. Where the hay was grown can be particularly important if you are feeding alfalfa and are concerned about blister beetles. You may also want to buy hay from the same cutting, same farm, or the same area of the country to minimize fluctuations in nutrient content.

While there may be times when you want overmature hay to meet a specific horse's needs, most often you will be looking for prebloom or midbloom hay with good leaf content that has been properly harvested and dried to about 15% moisture. You want hay that is consistently free of dust, mold, weeds, or any animal debris.

If you are feeding whole grains, look for plump, dust-free, debris-free kernels. Kernels should be of uniform size and color with few broken, shriveled, or discolored kernels. Look for heavy kernels that have no more than 12% moisture to minimize mold.

Corn should be tested for fusarium molds. Look for uniform quality from delivery to delivery.

If you buy premixed commercial feeds, you will want fresh feed delivered. Check mixing dates on the bags. Ask your feed representative to help you translate the date code, which tells you when the feed was manufactured.

Remember that the guaranteed analysis listed on the bag or its attached feed tag only notes the levels of particular nutrients and not ingredients. Depending on the manufacturer's policy, specific ingredients can actually vary from batch to batch because some manufacturers change the mix to take advantage of market prices. Ask if the manufacturer's formula is fixed, meaning the company does not change the ingredients. Horses do not like change in their diets.

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