Feeding bran

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Zuzzie

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I need to give my horse a bran mash everyday with a spoonful of sugarbeet and apple sauce in order to fool him into eating his medicine. However, I have read that bran depletes the body of calcium and therefore its a good idea to feed limestone flour to replace this loss. Does anyone know how much limestone flour should be given??
 
Zuzzie said:
I need to give my horse a bran mash everyday with a spoonful of sugarbeet and apple sauce in order to fool him into eating his medicine. However, I have read that bran depletes the body of calcium and therefore its a good idea to feed limestone flour to replace this loss. Does anyone know how much limestone flour should be given??
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Its a myth based on a misunderstanding . There is an "ideal ratio"of calcium to phosphorous,and on a simple analysis ,bran seems too high in phosphorous. However roughly 50 to 70% of the Phosphorous is unavailable and locked away (chelated) as phytic phosphorous.This is very difficult to mesure and so is usualy ignored.

Furthermore ,it is not so much a question of depleting calcium but wasting the phosporous. And anyway ,you would need to measure the dry weight of everything your horse eats and then analyse each ingredient to find its calcium and Phosphorous level and then do some complicated calculations before you can come up with an answer. For all you know ,he may be getting too much calcium . To sum up. There are a lot more important things to worry about than a few bran mashes. Generations of top racehorses got bran every day ,all their working lives with no ill efect.
 
That's a new argument for me to use when people raise their eyebrows about me feeding bran. Thanks Mike!
 
Mike007 said:
Its a myth based on a misunderstanding . There is an "ideal ratio"of calcium to phosphorous,and on a simple analysis ,bran seems too high in phosphorous. However roughly 50 to 70% of the Phosphorous is unavailable and locked away (chelated) as phytic phosphorous.This is very difficult to mesure and so is usualy ignored.

Furthermore ,it is not so much a question of depleting calcium but wasting the phosporous. And anyway ,you would need to measure the dry weight of everything your horse eats and then analyse each ingredient to find its calcium and Phosphorous level and then do some complicated calculations before you can come up with an answer. For all you know ,he may be getting too much calcium . To sum up. There are a lot more important things to worry about than a few bran mashes. Generations of top racehorses got bran every day ,all their working lives with no ill efect.
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Wow! thanks for this information - I shall stop worrying now. Cheers.:)
 
It is not a myth at all. Bran contains a high ratio of phosphorous:calcium and feeding it long term resluts in hyperparathyroidism causing the body to start to resorb calcium from bones in order to compensate for the high phosphorous levels. It is particularly a problem in young growing horses but is a very real and well doccumented disease. If feeding bran for a short period to get meds in is the best way I wouldn't worry at all but if you are ttalking for more than a month then you should check the calcium levels you are feeding. I suggest you contact a company like feedmark who will give you advise on how to supplement.

aeg123 - how do you know they suffer no problems? Have you checked there bone density?
OP if you you want to balance you horses diet properly you should really talk to someone who knows what they are talking about.
 
isnt that the reason for feeding sugarbeet with bran to balance the calcium to phospherus level ? tia been a few years since i studied feeds and now most feeds have it all done for you ? if you are confused just speak to a feed rep they can help you or just use a general purpose supplement to cover everything you may or may not be lacking in!! or even better put meds in a syringe mixed with youghurt or something and dont bother with the bran!! please excuse spleeling!!
 
Sam22 said:
It is not a myth at all. Bran contains a high ratio of phosphorous:calcium and feeding it long term resluts in hyperparathyroidism causing the body to start to resorb calcium from bones in order to compensate for the high phosphorous levels. It is particularly a problem in young growing horses but is a very real and well doccumented disease. If feeding bran for a short period to get meds in is the best way I wouldn't worry at all but if you are ttalking for more than a month then you should check the calcium levels you are feeding. I suggest you contact a company like feedmark who will give you advise on how to supplement.

aeg123 - how do you know they suffer no problems? Have you checked there bone density?
OP if you you want to balance you horses diet properly you should really talk to someone who knows what they are talking about.
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I have to disagree. While a serious excess of phosphorous can indeed leed to calcium resorbtion ,this is no reason to assume that bran fed in normal quantities will cause any problems. As I have pointed out, more than half the phosphorous is unavailable anyway. Considering that one is unlikely to feed more than a couple of pounds of it per day ,it makes such a small contribution to the total diet that there is absolutely no point in worrying about it. If one really wanted to calculate the total Calcium and Phosphate intake one would have to analyse the hay or haylage ,and the grass intake. The shear volume of these makes any contribution by Bran insignificant.It is far more likely that horses get an excess of Calcium anyway. So,yes I do believe it is a myth and frankly a scare tactic by feed compounders to discourage people from feeding straights.
 
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