Tag: ingredients in horse feed

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Fiber Ingredients in Horse Feed

Imagine that perfect summer day. Your horse is out grazing on his pasture and taking in nutrition through the leafy green grass. You are confident that he is eating a high quality, consistent fiber source that is providing an excellent foundation for his diet. By using the high quality, consistent source of fiber that you value in your hay and pasture and putting it in your feed bag we are able to give your horse the benefits of his summer pasture all year long and in any situation.

Because fiber is such a huge part of your horse’s healthy diet (he should be eating no less than 1% of his bodyweight daily in hay or pasture) it is essential that it is present in nearly everything he consumes. With manufactured feed we are able to control the amount of fiber in the ration by using some specific ingredients.  Using alfalfa/legume products can  help to add protein, energy and calcium to the feed, while grass products can help add protein and fiber. Some of the most common sources of fiber in horse feeds are:Forage Products give the benefits of hay or pasture

  • Alfalfa Meal
  • Dehydrated Alfalfa
  • Suncured alfalfa
  • Coastal Bermuda Grass
  • Ground Grass
  • Ground Soybean Hay

It is important to always remember to read your feeding recommendations – just because a feed utilizes one or more of these forage products and has a high fiber content that does not mean that it can be fed as a sole ration.

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Grains in Horse Feeds

Grain is one of the most traditional meals fed to horses. For years people have fed oats to race horses, corn and barley to plow horses, and the good old “cob” (Corn-Oats-Barley mix) as a treat or as a staple of the diet.  With the research and studies that have been done in the past decade, we have discovered that feeding straight grain, especially in large amounts and without vitamin or mineral supplementation, is not a healthy choice for your horse. That said, grains are still very good ingredients in a horse feed when used to provide valuable sources of energy and fiber, but need to be combined with other products and adjusted to meet requirements for protein, vitamins and minerals, so that a balanced diet can be achieved.

When grains are used in horse feeds they are most commonly processed to help enhance digestion. Processing methods can include cracking, screen cracking, flaking, kibble, toasting or heat processing . The grains that  can be fed to horses include triticale, wheat, rye, rice and grain sorghum although these are much less common than “The Big Three” grains that are most typically used in horse diets:

  • Corn is added to feed as an energy source and provides a whopping 1.54 Mcal of digestible energy (DE) per pound. However, corn is also one of the grains that is highest in content of starch. Whole corn is not typically used in textured horse feeds unless it is processed (flaked , cracked, etc.), and fine ground corn should not be used in textured feed because it increases the risk of colic. While it has received a bit of a bad rap in recent years due to its higher starch content, it can be, and is, still a valuable piece of the formulation of a total feed, as long as the proper attention is given to the overall starch level of the finished feed.
  • Oats is one of the more common grains used under the heading of Grain Products

    Oats are probably the most traditional grain fed to horses. Oats provide a source of fiber but energy content is considered low for a cereal grain, and they have a moderate amount of starch when compared to other straight grain rations. Whole oats consist of clean, cultivated oat grains. Crimped oats have the hull of the oat broken while rolled oats have been steamed and rolled flat.

  • Barley is also an energy source, and has a fiber and starch content somewhere in between oats and corn. Whole barley consists of whole kernels of barley with the outer covering intact. Barley has a tougher hull than oats, so it is most commonly processed (crimped, rolled or steam flaked) when put into horse feeds. Whole barley is used in some instances, but is not ideal.

 

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Roughage Ingredients in Horse Feed

If you were to take your horse’s digestive tract and stretch it out, it would measure nearly 100 feet from end to end. That is a long trip for the nutrients in feed to make! We feed roughage to our horses to provide a source of bulk and fiber to the diet, and this roughage helps to carry nutrients through that long digestive tract. Roughage consists primarily of bulky, coarse plant parts with high fiber contents. Most sources of roughage are things like hulls, husks or pulp – this type of ingredient provides the fiber and bulk needed for proper digestion, and keeps the horse’s gut functioning as it should. Roughage sources can include things like rice hulls, dried citrus meal, rye mill run, etc., but some of the most common forms of roughage are listed and explained below:

  • Beet Pulp: this is a by-product of the sugar beet industry. It is the dried residue that has been extracted in the process of manufacturing sugar from sugar beets. Beet pulp has long been fed as a way to put weight on horses.
    • It is high in digestible fiber and digestible energy and is low in starch, which makes it fairly safe to feed.
    • Beet pulp pellets are usually soaked when fed; this can also help increase water intake.
    • However, beet pulp by itself is not a balanced product. It can fit very well into a feeding program, either as a supplement or as an ingredient in a commercial feed, but if fed by itself the horse will be missing essential minerals, amino acids and protein.
  • Soy Hulls: these are the outer covering of the soybean. These hulls are removed before soybeans are crushed for oil, and are an excellent ingredient that is mainly used in pelleted feeds.
    • They provide a good source of energy and are an easily digested fiber source.
  • Oat Hulls: these are the outer covering of the oat kernel.
    • They are high in fiber, low in energy, and low in protein.
    • Because of their high fiber content they make a good source of roughage.

These are a few of the most common sources of roughage. Depending on where you live, there may be other more prevelant sources of roughage available. No matter what the specific ingredient is, the main function of roughage in the diet is to provide bulky fiber that helps pull the contents of the digestive tract along and assist in keeping the gut functioning.

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Protein Ingredients in Horse Feed

Protein (and more specifically the amino acids that make up protein) is essential to a balanced diet. It is probably one of the most referenced nutrients in horse feed, and most horse owners will know the protein content of their feed. But how do we get the protein into the feed? Sources of protein for humans may come from a juicy steak, a nice salmon filet, or a tender pork chop. We derive most of our protein from meat sources which makes sense for us since we are carnivores. The horse, on the other hand, is an herbivore; many of the types of protein that we consume as humans do not come into play in our horse’s diet. However, we do know that the horse has a nutritional requirement for protein and so when we formulate feeds we can use certain plants that are high in this particular nutrient. Some of the most popular ingredients used to add protein to horse feed are:

Soybean Meal – This is the most common form of plant protein. Soybeans are readily available throughout the country and have the highest concentration of protein of any of our plant sources, with a typical level of 44-48%. Additionally, soybean meal contains a close match nutritionally to what horses require for amino acids. Especially important in this profile is the amino acid lysine, which is essential in young growing horses.

Canola Meal – Canola meal is the closest to meeting the nutritional profile of soybean meal and has a protein content of 35-44%. Canola meal is a by-product of oil removal from

canola and has slightly less lysine content than soybean meal, but still enough to meet the requirements of horses.

Linseed Meal – this is also a by-product and is derived from the processing of flaxseed. Linseed used to be commonly fed to show horses to add shine and bloom but its popularity has waned as ingredients like rice bran and vegetable oil have taken its place. Linseed meal has a typical protein level of 33 – 35% but it has significantly less lysine than either soybean or canola meal.

As you can see, we have several options to help us meet the requirements that our horses have for protein. By adding one or more of those options to our formulas we are able to provide a diet that is balanced, healthy, and nutritious!

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