diff --git a/fs/btrfs/send.c b/fs/btrfs/send.c
index 112eb647b5cd..646369179697 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/send.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/send.c
@@ -124,6 +124,8 @@ struct send_ctx {
 	struct list_head name_cache_list;
 	int name_cache_size;
 
+	struct file_ra_state ra;
+
 	char *read_buf;
 
 	/*
@@ -4170,6 +4172,13 @@ static ssize_t fill_read_buf(struct send_ctx *sctx, u64 offset, u32 len)
 		goto out;
 
 	last_index = (offset + len - 1) >> PAGE_CACHE_SHIFT;
+
+	/* initial readahead */
+	memset(&sctx->ra, 0, sizeof(struct file_ra_state));
+	file_ra_state_init(&sctx->ra, inode->i_mapping);
+	btrfs_force_ra(inode->i_mapping, &sctx->ra, NULL, index,
+		       last_index - index + 1);
+
 	while (index <= last_index) {
 		unsigned cur_len = min_t(unsigned, len,
 					 PAGE_CACHE_SIZE - pg_offset);