A working horse eats about 5 kg of grain and 7-8 kg of hay and drinks 30-50 litres of water a day, and oxen live on grass and hay with no grain, so feed and water decide how far and how long a convoy can travel. A team of 6 horses and 4 oxen drinks 340-540 litres a day, so 5 days of carried water would weigh 1,700-2,700 kg. Plan the route around water, graze where grass is good, and cache feed on regular routes.
Part of Logistics & Load Planning
What draft and pack animals need to eat and drink each day, and how those needs limit the range of a journey.
Animals Eat Their Own Payload And Drink More Than They Can Carry
The parent article makes two points. A working horse or mule needs about 5 kg of grain and 7-8 kg of hay per day, and so the animal eats its own payload: it cannot carry much more than a few days of its own feed. And a horse drinks 30-50 litres per day, which is more than any team can carry, so water must be found along the route. Oxen work on grass alone, with no grain, and are slower but have effectively unlimited range where grass is available.
The details are in Feed Requirements on the Move and Water Sources & Planning. Husbandry itself is covered in Draft Animal Care.
What You Need
- A count of animals by kind.
- Daily rations — grain, hay and water per animal.
- A route with grass and water. See Route Optimization.
- Caches of feed, where the route repeats.
Method: Budget The Journey
Step 1: Count animals and days Number of horses, oxen and mules, and the number of travel days.
Step 2: Multiply by the daily ration Grain, hay and water per animal per day.
Step 3: Subtract what the route supplies Grazing reduces the carried feed; streams reduce the carried water.
Step 4: Compare with what you can carry If the carried total is too heavy, shorten the leg, add a cache, or change the route.
Worked Example: 6 Horses And 4 Oxen For 5 Days
Inputs: horse ration 5 kg grain, 7-8 kg hay, 30-50 litres water a day (parent article). Oxen drink 40-60 litres a day (from Draft Animal Training) and eat grass and hay with no grain; no hay amount is given for oxen, so only the horses’ feed is counted.
- Horse grain: 6 × 5 days × 5 kg = 150 kg.
- Horse hay: 6 × 5 × 7 = 210 kg to 6 × 5 × 8 = 240 kg.
- Horse water: 6 × 30 = 180 to 6 × 50 = 300 litres a day.
- Ox water: 4 × 40 = 160 to 4 × 60 = 240 litres a day.
- Total water: 340 to 540 litres a day; for 5 days, 1,700 to 2,700 litres, which weighs 1,700-2,700 kg.
- In carts of 600-1,200 kg: 1,700 / 1,200 = 1.4, so 2 carts at best; 2,700 / 600 = 4.5, so 5 carts at worst. Carrying a week’s water is not realistic, so the route must pass water.
Other articles give different water needs for a working horse. Draft Animal Care gives 40-60 litres a day in cool weather and up to 80 in heat. Plan with the higher figure in hot weather.
Common Mistakes
- Counting only grain — hay is the larger weight.
- Planning to carry water — the sums are impossible beyond a day or two.
- Forgetting the oxen’s pace — they need no grain but travel slowly.
- Starting animals underfed — a well-fed animal travels further.
Safety
Feed changes and thirst
A sudden change to rich grain can cause colic in horses. Change feed gradually, offer water often on a hot day, and do not work an animal that is off its feed.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Feed Requirements on the Move — the range arithmetic
- Combine with: Water Sources & Planning — water along the route