A Percentage of What?

I was thinking about who gets to control the standards, the terms, the customs. How do things start and take hold. Why do we refuse to accept some new ideas and are quick to incorporate others. My guess would be it all comes back to a comfort level, or following the lead of someone you believe to be smarter than yourself.

I ponder this whenever I think about feed and it’s terminology. In the horse world, we talk percents. What percent protein, what percent fat? Never heard anyone say a horse should take in 20% moisture. (that’s a fake figure folks, don’t get excited.)

Percents all have to relate to something and are useless by themselves.  Horses, by the way, have yet to figure out how to eat a percentage, they eat nutrients that weigh something. So do we. I need about 40 grams of protein a day. I can count it up by the grams of protein listed on all my foods. Sometimes they will tell me it is X% of my daily allotment of protein, but it always has the actual grams listed. The FDA requires it on the labels.

Feed manufactures have to list the protein content too, but they always do it as a percentage. Why did the “powers” decide to do it that way? It’s a pretty easy calculation to figure the grams per cup or pound of the feed. It would make it a lot easier to determine if you are giving a horse enough or too much of a nutrient.

So why and when did feed mills initiate the use of percentages? Did it start a thousand years ago when horses only ate oats – did every horse get the same amount of oats? Is that it? Did it work centuries ago and just never changed? Why do we still hold onto the concept? Why to we rate the value of the feed according to its protein percent? People say a higher protein makes a horse hot in spirit. But is that true? Is it the protein or the fact that the grain used for the higher protein also has more calories or sugar? It seems we are very focused on nutrition for our animals- a good thing- but still dealing with antiquated terms and ideas.

And while we are preening ourselves for our choice of protein percentage, do we really know anything about the quality of protein we are feeding. Not all proteins are equal, and different proteins are more important for different life cycles.

The protein amount on the feed label is determined by the amount of nitrogen produced in a standard test. Well, there are a lot of things that can produce nitrogen, including urea, which is really cheap and useless in the horse’s body and melamine, which is really cheap and tends to kill animals. Urea and melamine in a feed is a cheap way to produce a target protein percent on the label.

This brings me to another point of confusion. Why are we so focused on protein? No argument that bodies need it, but the body needs it for growth, reproduction and repair, not energy or bulk. So sick horses, mommies-to-be, nursing mommies, and growing foals need protein considerations. The rest of the horses are probably going to get enough protein out in the field or from their hay. Protein is not going to make them run faster, jump higher, pull harder, or slide longer. In fact if a horse has to use protein for fuel he’s at a real disadvantage; it takes longer to convert, gives less energy, and creates a lot more heat.

But let’s get back to relying on the protein percent on the feed label. If we want to do it right, we need to figure out how many ounces or grams of protein our horse needs to eat daily. I can hardly feed my guys anything without them blowing up like ticks.  I have to severely restrict the amount of food they eat. I need a feed with a really high percentage of protein, because I can’t feed them much, they are going to get a cup, not a quart. My neighbor runs 3-day events on Thoroughbred horses. They eat 12 quarts of grain a day and alfalfa. They can do with a lower percent of protein because they are eating more.

If a pound of horse feed is 10% protein then each pound has 1.6 ounces of protein in it. But we need that number in grams, which will be apparent in a moment. Every ounce is equal to 28.35 grams. So grams times ounces, that pound of 10% protein feed is giving my horse 45.36 grams of protein.

The very important part of the feed puzzle is the nutrient requirements of horses. The Bible on this is the National Research Council’s Nutrient Requirements of Horses, sixth edition. You can find their reference charts reprinted in feed books, or contact a mill like Purina or go to your library.

My 800-pound horse in moderate work needs 614 grams of crude protein a day. The NRC doesn’t tell us what percentage of the diet should be protein because it doesn’t know what or how much we are feeding our horses. They are respecting our intelligence, pocketbooks, and resources. I wonder if we are doing the same to ourselves.

So I have to figure out how much protein is in my horse’s grain, his hay, and do some hemming and hawing on the pasture to determine if he is getting enough or too much protein.  8% hay, okay that’s 8% of every pound or 1.28 ounces but he eats 4 pounds a day so that’s 5.12 ounces of protein per day – each ounce equals 28.35 grams so 5.12 times 28.35 equals 145.15 grams of protein from hay. Hmm, he’s an air fern. I can’t feed him a lot of grain, or much more hay, he can get too fat. This is when I see the value of a 32% protein pellet that is feed by the cups (ounces) not pounds. Well, I think you see where this is headed.

I think I may have answered my own question here. People really like things to be simple. It’s a lot simpler to say “give me a bag of that 10% protein feed,” then to consider all the other aspects of the protein puzzle.

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Washing away the protein

hot and tired in Iraq

On warm days a good nose can tell which stall the smell of ammonia is coming from. Today it’s in T-man’s and Moke’s. We’ve had spring-like pasture all summer and I just got a load of new hay. The combination tipped the scale on protein. For once my mind didn’t hang around grazing with the horses, instead it shot to the container of protein supplement I just sent my soldier son in Iraq. His unit is always working out and trying to build muscle so he bought out the store when he came home for his two weeks R & R.

His unit is stationed in the south of Iraq and has lived the summer in 120-130 degree heat. Add in 50 pounds of full battle-rattle and their socks are soaked with sweat running down their body before they walk out the door. Dehydration is a serious enemy where they are.

maxing out the thermometer

And do you know what your body does with most of the excess protein you eat? It gets rid of it, washes it right down the toilet.  So I’m concerned about my son taking a protein supplement in the heat and becoming dehydrated. I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to educate him about protein and heat and that brought me back to the horses.

Because they handle protein a lot like we do.

Some excess protein goes into fat, but most excess protein is broken down in the kidneys and excreted in the urine. One of the elements protein breaks into is ammonia. Anytime you get a strong ammonia smell in the barn, someone is most likely gobbling more protein than they need. It’s a pretty effective indicator.

Normally I don’t obsess about that. But thinking of my son made me realize I need to do a better job of regulating my horses’ protein through the hot summer months. The Army can and does mandate how much water my son needs to drink each day in the field. But I can’t do that with my horses. Unless I syringe the water into them, I am at the mercy of their thirst indicator and urinating doesn’t always trigger the idea to drink more water.

My guys lose buckets of water in sweat during the summer. Being Icelandics with thick skin and deeply embedded veins, there are weeks when they are drenched in sweat just standing still in the shade. I rinse them off, put them under fans, elect not to work them on “Bermuda High” days, ride in the cool of the day, ride in shady routes, and ride in the river. I do everything I can to cool their body–– yet I never think about the excess protein they are eating and how much liquid they are urinating because of it.

I’ll keep it simple. Just imagine their body as a big bag of water. If water is oozing out through microscopic pores AND through a small hole in the bag, the end result is less water in the bag at a faster rate. Now the bag needs a certain volume of water in it to make it function at its maximum. All that water loss compromises the bag’s function. Not even going to think about the way that changes the concentration of electrolytes and blood ph.

I don’t know of too many riders, aside from the endurance folk, who even think about dehydration as a contributing factor to a poor performance in the ring or on the trail. A number of riders add electrolytes when their horses are sweating. I sure do, and do you know how I add those electrolytes? I add them with a cup of high protein grain so the boys will eat it. I feel my head molding to the shape of Homer Simpson’s –– DOLT. I just gave them a supplement to help them keep and retain water in a supplement that will make them eliminate water.  ( for the science bent- I am well aware of the other functions of electrolytes- I’m just dealing with hydration at the moment.)

We are heading into our cold months here in Jersey. Indian Summer will keep the grass strong and growing for another 2-3 weeks and then the rich green will die off and the smell of ammonia will dissipate. I’ll have the whole winter to ponder the problem. A lot will depend on the climate. Another great growing season means I really have to do something. If the rains stop early and the sun dries up the grasses, I’ll be able to skate by. Whatever the outcome, I am putting “Hydration” on my list of suspects next time my guys just aren’t “right.” I hope my son does too.

Feeling worn out in Iraq

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