Laminitis and molasses!

[TwoStroke]

True - but not as a whole feed for a 4 year old Arab

I dunno... bran, oats and linseed is all my 4yo gets. And calcium to balance the phosphorus. And magnesium to balance the calcium. And a spider to catch the fly.

It sounded a lot simpler in my head...

 

[Lotty]

To qualify for the 'approved by the laminitis trust' logo, a feed must only have a combined NSC (sugar and starch) of no more than 10%. Ingredients are not taken into account, and the product does not have to undergo any testing to prove its safe for laminitics.

The feed companies do have to pay for the privilege of displaying the logo, however.

Owners should be aware that just because a feed has the 'approved by the laminitis trust' logo - it does NOT necessarily mean the feed is safe for laminitics, sadly. Owners must do their own research, and make their own decision as to what's safe - don't rely on the blurb on a bag of feed to guide you!

I agree. I did loads of research into my horses dietary needs.

 

[Pale Rider]

This is no different to the human feed labelling and advertising. Corporations will always do whatever is closest to the law that they can get away with.

Ill informed is not the same as being stupid Pale Rider, most horse owners are ill informed about horse feeds, I would never call people stupid until they had been given correct information and then done nothing to change the way they do things.

There has been miles and miles of threads on here talking about what sugar and starch does to horses. So most people, who use this forum, should have stopped the crappy feed by now, except they haven't.

 

[Goldenstar]

There has been miles and miles of threads on here talking about what sugar and starch does to horses. So most people should have stopped the crappy feed by now, except they haven't.

Nasty shock for you PR but the whole of the horse world does not 'do' HHO.

 

[Pale Rider]

Nasty shock for you PR but the whole of the horse world does not 'do' HHO.

I have been reliably informed that they do!! Mind you it was someone on here,

 

[amandap]

People are also quite quick to reject feed if the horse doesn't eat it all up at once (mine can take a little while to get used to a new flavour and they are both greedy) so while I'm not defending feed companies I can see that the pressure to create something that is instantly palatable.

I agree and once horses have a taste for sweetened feeds I think of it a bit like an addiction and some take a while to be weaned off.

Some hays are also very high in sugars/carbs too but sadly for those of us with laminitics there is no way of knowing without testing so it's soaked hay all the way for me.

ps. I have small and variable hay deliveries.

 

[Pale Rider]

I agree and once horses have a taste for sweetened feeds I think of it a bit like an addiction and some take a while to be weaned off.

Some hays are also very high in sugars/carbs too but sadly for those of us with laminitics there is no way of knowing without testing so it's soaked hay all the way for me.

ps. I have small and variable hay deliveries.

Have to agree, quite a lot of folk I know have given up on unmolassed feeds as the horse won't eat it initially. Talk about sugarholics, I have to say that they do all come round, eventually, it can take a few weeks and a lot of wasted food. Worth it in the long run though.

 

[maccachic]

Molasses not only make it palatable and add calories but also preserve. Alfalfa will crumble if not coated so the options are molasses, oil or molglo (a mixture of the two generally used in anything that says lite). When I did feed Alfalfa I used the pellets as they have nothing added to them.

NZ goes thru 0000's of bags of plain lucerne/alfalfa chaff (chopped up hay) with nothing added, they do not need to add anything. What they are trying to do is "value add" essentially so you keep using their brand and not going down the road to the local farmer / chopping up your own.

 

[Slightlyconfused]

My lami has happy hoof it's the only way he will eat his metformin.

Its not just what you feed its the exersize horse needs too. A friend feeds Alfa oil, spillers completion nuts and haylegde to her eventer twice aday.....he is worked hard and kept on top form and fit, the moment he gets less work the feed is reduced.

 

[dominobrown]

Pale rider- Luckily I do check on the internet, or ask on here what is in feeds. The problem/ rant occurred when I was away for a fortnight and my mum was looking after the horses and one came down with apparently a foot abscess (believe that bit) and very mild laminitis (I personally don't think so). My mum rushed to a friend for advice who works for a feed merchant, who sold all the 'lami' specialist feeds which were ALL covered in molasses! NONE OF THE THINGS SHE BOUGHT HAD INGREDIENTS LISTS ON THEM!!!!
The horses originally on unmolassed chaff, speedi-beet and balancer.

 

[Wagtail]

I always feed Pure feeds now as they are mollasses free. They also list ingredients.

 

[criso]

NZ goes thru 0000's of bags of plain lucerne/alfalfa chaff (chopped up hay) with nothing added, they do not need to add anything. What they are trying to do is "value add" essentially so you keep using their brand and not going down the road to the local farmer / chopping up your own.

Reality in the UK is that Alfalfa is not a forage you go down the road to your local farmer and ask for, they will be more likely to have Meadow, Ryegrass or Timothy Hay. In fact Alfalfa used to be imported from US and Canada, now manufacturers like Dengie and Simple systems have their own growers but it's not a crop that the UK uses much as hay.

Not right or wrong, just that traditionally other types of hay are fed and Alfalfa exists here as a bagged preserved feed used as an addition to the diet not supplied by basic forage i.e. higher protein and calories.


With a manufacturer like Dengie (or all the Simple Systems stuff) there is the option to buy the pellets which have nothing added at all and are much cheaper than the chop but I suspect their sales of Alfa A and Hi Fi are much higher than the cheaper, purer option of pellets as something about a chop appeals to human tastes in a way a pellet doesn't.

 

[criso]

NONE OF THE THINGS SHE BOUGHT HAD INGREDIENTS LISTS ON THEM!!!!

There should have been a white label attached to the bag showing ingredients, alot of manufacturers don't print the ingredients on the bag but I think by law it has to be somewhere so they put it on a white label often on the string where it fastens so when you open them it will fall off and get lost.