Feeding Sunflower seed husks - experiences?

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Festive_Felicitations

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I was wondering if anyone has fed sunflowers seed husks (with a bit of mollasses) to there horses before and what you thought of them?

We bought some to feed as they are meant to be good for weight gain (not a good doer) and his coat becasue they are high in oil but non-heating as they don't contain the grain, but after a few days he started to eat them. He allready gets a high performance grain mix and crushed maize with chaff and hay. We were feeding rice-bran but becasue of the drought it is currently unavailble in Australia.

When we first started to feed them he didn't like them, pulled faces and left his feed. While he is looking good he has lost his general joire de vivre, and I was wondering if the original dislike was a sign that they perhaps make him feel unwell?

We have noticed that some of his poo's haven't been quite as firm as usual (but not sloppy), but then the spring grass is just coming through so it is a bit hard to pin-point the cause.

Basically any views / experiences apprciated!
 
Is it just husks and no hearts?

If it is, there's zero benefit at all in feeding them. They are a waste product of sunflower heart production for wild and caged bird feeds and frankly about as good for a horse as feeding him dust from the yard sweepings.

The oil content is in the seed hearts, and again there's no point in feeding those really as the oil can simply be bought as oil in the supermarket for far less money. You'd need to feed large quantities to get small amounts of oil out.

With poor doers, I try oils straight (in sugar beet usually) and if they don't like them add an oily compound and chop.
 
We fed sunflower seeds. not just husks though.
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I noticed a huge difference in coat condition!
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Would like to feed them to my TB but I'm worried to with his seemingly very sensitive tummy!
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The main feed value is in the hearts, not the husks. The hearts are high in oil, which is a non 'heating' source of energy anyway. it is these that need to be fed for condition, not the husks.

Maybe the added molasses and new grass on top of the grain mix and maize is starch and sugar overload, leading to loose droppings. Cereals and maize can cause excitability because of the starch, so if you are worried about that then you should cut down the cereals and find an alternative source of energy from fibre and oil. Rice bran does this but you obviously cant get any at the moment!
 
Thanks for the replys.
Perhaps 'husks' was not the best definition the actual feed is this stuff:
http://www.omegafeeds.com.au/no-grain-gold.html
and his coat does look great.

Teddyt - we are not worried about excitability, more the opposite! He has lost all his 'go'. We can't just up his grain as he is prone to tying-up, hence the mix of sunflower stuff & maize which dont seem to trigger it.

HazelB - we unfortunatly can't get sugar beat here, and he refuses to eat his feed if we put oil on it (picky bugger), hence the rice bran and sunflower stuff.
 
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HazelB - we unfortunatly can't get sugar beat here, and he refuses to eat his feed if we put oil on it (picky bugger), hence the rice bran and sunflower stuff.

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Ah, I see the problem.

Can I suggest the 'Hazell Method' for adding oil without them noticing? I found it by chance and it's worked well for us over the years. Do you get 'sharps' there? It's also known as wheatfeed here. It's the main ingredient in most pony nuts here and it's damned cheap yet very, very tasty according to every horse we've tried it on.

I add oil to the dry sharps (which looks like very dry breadcrumb) and stir it about until it's similar to wet breadcrumb. It soaks up masses of oil in about ten minutes.

I use that with whatever else I'm feeding and it counts as roughly a litre scoop is a litre of oil. Fattening, oily yet enjoyed by even my fussy pony who refused all things oily for years. Don't make up more than a day's worth though, as I think it becomes tangy if left out overnight.
 
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