Question

What's the best feed for a five-year-old Quarter Horse mare in her fifth month of pregnancy? I'm giving her hay (half alfalfa, half grass), flaxseed, and a commercial product containing primarily rice bran, flaxseed, and coconut oil. Is this adequate?

Answer

Without knowing more specific information about your mare’s diet, including amount of hay and feed (pounds or kilograms per day) as well as the nutrient content of the commercial product, we can only provide general nutritional recommendations to support pregnant mares. Typically, if the mare is an easy keeper and maintains appropriate body weight and condition on forage alone, we would recommend a ration balancer to fortify her forage-based diet. If the mare needs more calories than provided by the forage, we would suggest a fortified feed to add more calories as well as balanced nutrition. Included are some general feeding guidelines for your consideration, but keep in mind that your mare might have more specific requirements.

In addition to at least 1.5-2% of her body weight in forage (hay and/or pasture), many broodmares do quite well on a ration balancer (e.g., All-Phase) for most of their pregnancy, especially if they are classified as easy keepers when not in foal. A ration balancer adds high-quality quality protein, vitamins, and minerals without too many calories as a mare’s nutritional needs generally do not increase until the third trimester. By adding a ration balancer to her ration, you know her diet will be appropriately fortified.

In the third trimester, energy, protein, and mineral requirements increase, but you’ll want to make sure not to provide too much energy as negative consequences may occur if mares become excessively overweight. Bumping up those nutrients can be accomplished by either increasing the amount of ration balancer or using a fortified concentrate designed for broodmares. Be sure to become familiar with body condition scoring if you are not already, as it is important to ensure that your mare maintains appropriate body condition to support a healthy pregnancy as well as energy stores to fuel lactation. Working one-on-one with a nutritionist can help determine what is best for your mare.

Some supplements are beneficial to broodmares, specifically targeted supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) and antioxidants (vitamin E). The long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids EPA and DHA in EO-3 are great for broodmares, especially in the last trimester, to improve the reproductive health of the mare and health of the developing foal. For broodmares, EO-3 supports maintenance of pregnancy, colostrum quality, and passive transfer of antibodies to foals. Vitamin E plays an important role in immunity, and supplementation may help boost immunoglobulins in colostrum. Most powdered vitamin E supplements are synthetic or natural acetate, which require digestive enzymes for absorption. Nano-E uses advanced technology to nano-encapsulate fat-soluble vitamin E in a liposome, a preferred mode of absorption by the body. As such, we consider Nano-E to be superior to other sources of vitamin E. We generally recommend 2,000-3,000 IU/day of Nano-E for pregnant mares.

Learn more:

Six Steps to Feeding a Pregnant Mare

Feeding Broodmares in Early Pregnancy

Feeding Broodmares in Late Pregnancy

Nutrition of Mares in Late Pregnancy

Feeding to Prevent Developmental Orthopedic Disease