A question about fats.

Jesster

Jesster

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I feed the following to my yard of competition horses;

Alfa A oil
Sugar beet
Micronised linseed
Brewers yeast
Topspec

and on competition days, naked oats and rice bran oil.


The Dengie rep said that I should just feed their product (Alfa A oil) and not bother with the micronised linseed as there is only a certain amount of oil that a horse can utilise on any given day. Is this true? If so, what is the ceiling amount that should be fed?

Also, could I save money by providing the horses with a vitamin and mineral salt lick in their mangers instead of a balancer? How do the two things compare to one another, in terms of providing everything the horse needs?

I have nearly forty horses to consider so it would mean a great deal to cut out things that I don't really need!

Thanks in advance.
 
Hi,

Oil should be fed at no more than 100ml per 100kg of bodyweight, eg 500ml for a 500kg horse, introduced slowly. Horses have no need of oil in their diet but it is added for energy / condition etc so as far as 'utilising' it goes, what they don't use up as energy for work they will store as calories/condition. Too much would, I'd have thought, upset the gut and cause digestive issues / poo problems?

You'd have to work out how much oil they were getting in the chaff quantity fed (Alfa A oil contains 12% oil). Your linseed is going to be approx 40% oil but of course has the added benefit over straight oil of good protein levels (about 20%) and fibre (14%) so work out how much you feed and calculate how much oil is in that and see whether or not you need the Alfa A oil over another chaff. Don't forget tho that the Alfa A Oil has added Vit E which is needed if feeding oil.

I like Topspec balancers and feed them to my own lot but many other products have come up on here as comparable - I think something called 365 compares well and is cheaper. Re the blocks; vit & min supplements are different to balancers so you'd have to compare the ingredients like for like. You could shop around and save some money, especially over 40 horses :eek:

Hope that helps, I'm new to all this technical feed stuff but do find it fascinating.
 
Hm, what is "Dengie Alfa A"? There is a brutal competition in the horse feed market and it is not really about horses & health, it is about turnover & money.

What ias Alfalfa?

Alfalfa is not a hay it is a leguminose. Allmost with a very bad ratio calcium - Phospor which can cause trouble. As well it is a great donor of goitrogens

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goitrogen

and as well phytic acid / phytate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytic_acid

which is not beneficial as well.

You can grow alfalfa at the same cost like hay, but the harvest is easier.

A ton of the most expensive canadian hay is about 500 Euro or 422 Pounds or even 42 Cent per KG.

Now you can buy bagged Alfalfa with a good marketing story for 692 Pound a Ton or 69.2 Cent a KG.

Cool.

And now if you ask yourself what is oatsfeed?

It is only recycling and rubbish, the left overs from the cleaning process of oats for human consumption.
Not even the goodness from the corn, but it sounds marvelous.

If you just buy beetpulp, soak it (it is dustfree as well) and add on some rapeseed oil or soyoil your feeding healthier and also cheaper.

And by the way, beetpulp is the best fiber, the so called superfiber.
 
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