Difference between micronised linseed and linseed pellets, is there one?

[Nickles1973]

Hi,
This is possibly a daft question but I have been investigating many threads regarding transitioning and keeping horses barefoot lately and micronised linseed gets recommended frequently.

I am at the very early stages of what will hopefully be a successful (and touches wood furiously) smooth transition of my horse out of his shoes to a sounder life without them.

I already feed linseed pellets which a friend orders me from Bearts as I wanted to add a little extra shine for showing and also because of the reputed benefit to his joints but, is what I am feeding micronised? How would I know? And what is the difference or the benefit of one over another if infact there is any?
Sorry if this has been done before.
N. x

 

[TigerTail]

Linseed pellets are usually the bi product left when the linseed has been micronised or ground. Usually bound together with sugar so not great value nutrition wise.

Micronised linseed is what you want - most of us buy it from the link below

http://www.charnwood-milling.co.uk/mail-order/Horse_Food.html

 

[Nickles1973]

Ah right, thank's for that! Shame I've still got so much of the pellets left doh! Looks like I'll be feeding that to the yard goats then

 

[Mike007]

Sorry Tiger Tail, but that is wrong. The pellets are what is left after the linseed has been crushed to extract the oil.Micronised linseed on the other hand,is whole linseed with all its oil,that has been ground and microwaved to cook it.Also Linseed pellets are not bound with sugar,that is how they come out of the oil press.

 

[TigerTail]

Er no not wrong just worded it differently to you! As we both said its the bi product after the main seed and inner goodness ie the oil has been used for something else. Linseed lozenges are usually bound with molasses, linseed pellets were originally utilised for beef cattle so bound with molasses as thats fine for beef cattle and puts on bulk and sheen without laminitis worries.

 

[Nickles1973]

OK so now I'm confused :S
Mike007 if the pellets are just what is left after the oil is pressed out and not bound with sugar does that mean that I am ok to carry on feeding it (maybe in larger quantity) and use it up before buying a bag of micronised?
N.

 

[TigerTail]

Nickles easiest way to find out is to feed the ingredients on the back of the bag

 

[Nightmare before Christmas]

Micronised feeds is just a way of making it better for horses to digest and use. It is usually cooked and so more of the nutritional value is available to the horse. It was part of my equine nutrition this year. Micronised feeds are better for horses as they digest efficiently. Feeds that are hard to digest can pass into the hindgut where fermentation takes place and cause more problems.

 

[Mike007]

Er no not wrong just worded it differently to you! As we both said its the bi product after the main seed and inner goodness ie the oil has been used for something else. Linseed lozenges are usually bound with molasses, linseed pellets were originally utilised for beef cattle so bound with molasses as thats fine for beef cattle and puts on bulk and sheen without laminitis worries.

Linseed pellets have nothing to do with ground or micronised linseed ,They are a by product of crushing linseed for oil .and since the crushing is now generaly done with an extruder ,the by product comes out as an extruded pellet. No binder is needed. The OP may as well use up the bag of pellets and then buy micronised linseed.

 

[criso]

if the pellets are just what is left after the oil is pressed out and not bound with sugar does that mean that I am ok to carry on feeding it (maybe in larger quantity) and use it up before buying a bag of micronised?
N.

Depending on what the white label on back of the bag says, if it is just what's left after the oil has been pressed out it won't do any harm but you won't get the benefits of feeding the whole seed especially for joints.

If it does have molasses in them then you have to ask yourself if that's what you want to feed.

 

[tallyho!]

Mike007 is right tigertail. Micronising and grinding whole linseed does not have a by product. OP, you can use up the pellets which is the fibrous stuff alongside the wholegrain product i.e. micronised linseed if you want to. You can obviously buy the oil instead but it's expensive and goes off really quickly unless refridgerated and I have never seen feedstores keep them in cold storage so you never get a fresh product at pos.