Interview with Bernhard Sieverding, horse breeder in Germany

Like his father and grandfather before him, Bernhard Sieverding is a horse breeder. He currently keeps 25 breeding mares of the finest stock on his 60 hectares, traditional stud farm in Twistringen in Germany. In general, each of these breeding mares gives birth to one foal every year. The established breeder generally purchases five to ten exceptionally good foals from other farms to raise roughly 30 foals per year. At the moment, Mr. Sieverding is particularly proud of his racing stallion Weltino, who is extremely successful with his rider Ludwig Zierer. Also well-known horses such as Flashdancer and Goldfinger, who successfully participated in a number of Olympic Games and World Championships with rider Anna Mehrfeld, originate from his stud farm.

The nutrition of his breeding mares and particularly their foals is especially important to the quality-conscious breeder. "In the first months, we build a foundation for the stable and lasting health of the growing horses," he explains. In addition to the typical stable feed, he likes to feed his horses with haylage that he obtains from a farmer he has befriended in the region.

To date, Sieverding has had positive experiences with feeding haylage. But he also notes that the correct use of material and careful processing represent important prerequisites for the quality of the haylage. When this is the case, it offers many advantages: "Haylage is not only easy to handle, it contains high nutritional values as well as all the most important contents that we always want to feed the horses with roughage. In addition, we don't need to worry about the quality, because it remains consistent throughout the entire year."

Moreover, haylage for him is very obvious natural forage. "Roughage has always belonged to the horse. Volume and movement is extremely important for the horses' gastrointestinal tract. In former times, when horses grazed in the prairie, they ate nothing but roughage - so this nutrition is as natural as the horse itself is. When it comes to dust allergy, haylage also provides a very advisable solution."

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