Assurance Feed

11/30/2025

🐴 Use of Round Bales for Horses 🐴
By Kentucky Equine Research, formulators of Assurance Feeds

The unpredictable weather and barren pastures of winter complicate forage-feeding for horse owners. Because of this, many rely on round bales to provide necessary forage.

“Using round bales as part of a feeding system has advantages. They are economical compared to traditional square bales, which is important as hay is commonly the most expensive component in the diets of mature horses,” said Kathleen Crandell, Ph.D., a nutritionist for Kentucky Equine Research. “In addition, round bales are convenient to use, especially when forage must be transported through snowy and ice-covered paddocks in the dead of winter.”

However, round bales should be used appropriately to offset potential drawbacks, which include loss of nutrients, mold growth, negative effects on the respiratory system, and waste.
“Freeze-thaw cycles may have an effect on certain nutrients, particularly organic nutrients like proteins and fat-soluble vitamins,” explained Crandell. “Other nutrients, like minerals, appear to be fairly stable even if the hay is frozen, just as long as the hay stays dry.”

Once the hay gets wet, forage quality degrades rapidly. Further, when wet hay freezes and thaws, even more damage can occur to the protein found in the hay, particularly if it is a slow thaw.

If hay gets soaked through, there will be some leaching of nutrients and nonstructural carbohydrates, just like when hay is soaked for horses with certain metabolic conditions. Fat-soluble vitamins decline as hay ages, but soaking may intensify losses.
Because of the structure of the round bale, rain does not pe*****te into the inner layers. This is especially true if the bale has been tightly bound and laid on its side.

“Mold growth is another factor to consider when hay gets wet and does not dry. Mold not only affects nutrient loss but can also be toxic to the horse,” Crandell advised.
Because of the inevitable losses of nutrients, round bales exposed to the elements should be consumed in four to seven days.

Depending a bit on the size of the bale (they can vary greatly in weight), four horses can usually consume a bale in this time frame. Be cognizant of each horse’s body condition score when feeding herds, and remember that if there are too many horses trying to eat from one bale there may be a problem with competition.

“When using round bales, feeding a concentrate 🌟 may be necessary if the hay doesn’t provide sufficient calories for maintenance of body condition. For horses that can maintain weight with hay alone, use a ration balancer,” 🌟 advised Crandell.

Waste from large round bales can be reduced through the use of feeders. Various models are marketed to the horse industry, and dimensions of the feeders vary. Some have roofs to protect hay from precipitation. In one study that compared nine models of round-bale feeders, hay waste ranged from 5% to 33%, while waste when fed with no feeder was measured at 57%.

Assurance Feed Reference:
🌟 Assurance offers a complete line of feeds: Weanlings, breeding, growing, Performance, Hard keepers and Seniors.
🌟Assurance Ration Balancer Grass, only 1/2lb per day for 1000lb horse on maintenance

MESSAGE or Call us at: 1-800-645-5648
www.assurancefeed.com

11/29/2025

11/28/2025

There is nothing worse than running out of supplies in the middle of a winter storm! ❄️ ❄️ ❄️

Here are five tips to make sure your feed room and hayloft are ready for winter.

1. Clean out and organize your feed room to create more room for feed, hay, and supplements

2. Stockpile concentrates such as textured/multi-grain/sweet feed and pellets

3. Make sure your hayloft is filled full of good quality fiber to keep your horse warm in cold weather

4. Inventory your supplements— do you need to add or remove anything from your horse's diet since pasture and grasses are no longer available?

5. Read the label on your medications. Which ones are cold hardy and which ones do you need to bring inside to prevent them from freezing?

6. Remember, hay is not an adequate source of vitamin E. How will you ensure your horse's vitamin E levels are adequate this winter?

🖊️ KPP

11/27/2025

On this day of Thanksgiving we pause and take a moment to be grateful for all our blessings:
our clients, business partners and the community we value so greatly, the opportunity for growth and achievement, and the confidence and trust you have given to us.

Having such incredible customers is something for which we are especially grateful. 🧡

We wouldn't be where we are without you.

On behalf of all of us at Assurance Feed, we wish you and yours a very Happy, Healthy and Safe Thanksgiving!

May your blessings be multiplied this year!!!
🦃🥰🐴

11/24/2025

What did we do to deserve horses? 🥰 ❤️🐴

11/24/2025

Are you ready for snow and colder weather? Here are a few winter horse care reminders. ❄️🐴

🌾 Make sure your horse has adequate access to forage (e.g., hay). Energy needs for a horse at maintenance increase about 1% for each degree below 18°F. For example, if the temperature is 0°F, a 1,000 pound idle, adult horse would need approximately 2 additional pounds of forage daily. It is best to provide the extra energy as forage since heat is produced from the microbial fermentation of forage.

🏡 Horses must have access to shelter from wind and moisture. A horse’s hair coat acts as insulation by trapping air, but when wet, the insulating value is lost.

💧 Most adult horses require a minimum of 10 to 12 gallons of water each day. Horses should always have access to fresh, clean water. Check water sources often to ensure they have not froze. Also, have an alternative plan for providing water in case of power outages. Snow and ice are not appropriate water sources for horses.

💨 Blanketing a horse is necessary to reduce the effects of cold or inclement weather when there is no shelter available during turnout periods and the temperatures and/or wind chill drop below 5°F; there is a chance the horse will become wet; the horse is very young or very old; and/or the horse has a body condition score of 3 or less.

11/22/2025

ASSURANCE GI SOOTHE ~
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

My horse has a history of being ulcer prone. I heard about the GI Soothe from a couple people and I saw some testimonials on Facebook so decided to give it a try.
I put 2 of my barrel racing horses on it a little over 3 weeks ago and I have to say it has kept their GI Issues at bay.

They are feeling good, running their best times, cleaning up their feed and are not cinchy anymore.

I highly recommend! If you want to see an improvement in your horses's attitude, performance and overall well being you need to feed the Assurance GI SOOTHE!! ❣️

The BEST stuff ever and worth every penny.

~Denise Patterson

11/19/2025

With cases of equine herpesvirus appearing in other states, it’s natural to wonder which signs to watch for and what steps help prevent disease. Good biosecurity and early recognition are key to protecting your horse’s health. 🛡🐴

To learn more about equine herpesvirus visit: z.umn.edu/ehv

11/18/2025

Assurance Senior Feeds ( available in both pelleted and textured).
🌟BALANCED Nutrition to keep older horses Active and Healthy

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=682505599228182

11/16/2025

Analyzing Horse Hay: Low in Zinc and Copper?
🌾 🌾🌾🌾🌾🌾🌾🌾🌾🌾🌾

~ By Kentucky Equine Research 🔬 🐎
Formulators of Assurance Feed

Whether it’s fresh grass in a meadow or high-quality baled hay, forage is one of the most natural and nutritious feedstuffs available for horses. The best forage contains many of the vitamins and minerals needed for health and vigor, but not all.

“Many horsemen take the time to have hay analyzed, and this speaks volumes for their commitment to the nutrition of their horses. Occasionally, test results reveal that hay is low in zinc, copper, sodium, and possibly other minerals,” said Catherine Whitehouse, M.S., a nutritionist for Kentucky Equine Research (KER).

“Depending on where the hay is grown, it might also be low in selenium. Because testing for selenium is expensive, some horsemen choose not to have hay analyzed for that macromineral.
🔹Similarly, because it is well known that vitamin content decreases significantly after hay is cut and stored, supplementation of vitamins is warranted.”

While it is tempting to buy separate mineral supplements—such as zinc and copper—to make up for the nutritional shortfalls in hay, caution should be employed as too much of one or the other may throw off the balance between the two minerals.
✳️ The solution lies in something much simpler: a balancer pellet.

“If horses absolutely cannot withstand the calories provided by a well-fortified feed—and many easy keepers cannot—a balancer pellet works wonders to provide essential nutrients,” said Whitehouse. “The nutrients are concentrated so these feedstuffs have low feeding rates.

⭐️ASSURANCE SOLUTIONS ⭐️
Assurance Feed offers two types of balancer pellet that would be appropriate for this scenario.
Ration Balancer Grass and Ration Balancer Alfalfa.

👉💜 Assurance Ration Balancers provide ALL of the essential amino acids, such as lysine, required for pleasure, performance, breeding and growing horses.
🔹The PRECISE amount and balance of minerals is formulated for sound growth and peak performance.
🔹High levels of Vit and minerals improve immune response, reduce the effects of stress and improve muscle health and integrity.
🔹High nutrient density supports optium nutrition at a LOW feeding rate.
( ➡️ Assurance RB: Feed only 1/2 lb for Maintenance). Resulting in a LOWER COST than many supplements ***

Finally, forage is low in sodium, so horses should have access to loose salt or a salt block and fresh, clean water at all times.

11/12/2025

Resharing some good advice on
🐴 HORSES WITH WORN OUT TEETH 🦷
by FeedXL
*With some ASSURANCE Solutions

🐴💜🐴💜

💠 A PROBLEM TO SINK YOUR TEETH INTO~

Older horses often have worn out teeth, necessitating some changes in feeding. Quite often we are contacted by owners regarding old horses with very poor or no effective grinding teeth (molars) that are losing weight. The first concern is finding feeds that require little chewing and/or can be soaked to make it easier for your older horse to consume safely.

💠 MAKE SURE YOU’RE FEEDING ENOUGH
Upon looking at the diets for these horses, we often find that their owners have done a wonderful job of this in addition to forages in the form of hay cubes or chopped hay BUT they simply aren’t feeding enough of this forage. So, our tip is feed lots of forage.

✔️✔️ You should be aiming to feed 2% of an older horse’s ‘ideal bodyweight’ (the weight you would like them to be) in forage they can easily eat per day. This is equivalent to 2 lb for every 100 lb, or 22 lb/1100 lb horse.

Things like chaff (chopped hay) or soaked hay cubes are ideal. You can also use high energy fibres like beet pulp. But we recommend you feed at least half of your horse’s forage as chaff or hay cubes so that there is some indigestible fibre in the mix to keep your horse’s gut full and reduce the risk of colic.

💠A COMMON MISTAKE: MEASURE BY WEIGHT, NOT BY YOUR EYE
To avoid the trap of thinking you are feeding enough forage but actually are not, please weigh what you are feeding!!

What looks like a lot of chopped hay or cubes to the eye, may not be enough by weight!

🐴💜🐴💜
ASSURANCE Solutions:

✳️ Assurance Feed offers 4 types of PREMIUM, LOW NSC, Non GMO Hay cubes:
1) Alfalfa
2) 50/50 Alfalfa Timothy Cubes
3) Timothy mini cubes
4) Timothy Balance Cubes ( ultra low NSC, and may be fed to horses with PSSM, RER, ESPM, Cushing’s disease, EMS, Shivers and other metabolic disorders affected by sugars and carbohydrates)

✳️ Assurance Feed offers TWO Senior Blends with balanced nutrition to keep older horses active and healthy.

*Soaks quickly and easily to a mash if needed

Sr Blend pelleted
Sr Blend textured is a blend with added beet pulp ( highly digestible fiber) for the "picky horse"
Both forms provide highly digestible sources of fiber and protein, with THE PERFECT concentration of vitamins and minerals necessary for good health and fitness.

Also, Assurance Feed GOES THE EXTRA MILE...

Our Senior blends offer:
🐴NATURAL Vitamin E ( rather than synthetic. Natural is 180% more absorbable) for improved immune, body wide antioxidants and more
🐴Omega 3 fatty acids for decreased arthritis, decreased inflammation, better response to allergies and disease and more
🐴Chelated minerals for up to 200% better absorption