What to do with leftover sack of bran?

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Swirlymurphy

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The pony had bad colic a couple of weeks ago, and having had several bran mashes and moved back onto normal feed, I am left with an enormous amount of bran which needs to be finished by end October.

Any suggestions???? And what may be a stupid question, I know it is equine bran but is it safe to cook with? I'm sure it is but thought it worth checking before I poisoned my entire family several times over...
 
I am not sure lol but before I finished even reading your post I thought 'bran muffins'
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Best check though in case they wake up neighing
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Or just keep feeding it to the pony? Mine love it, Jim had bran mashes in hospital & acquired such a taste for them that he kicks up merry hell if I put the kettle on! If you feed it with alfalfa then the calcium:phosphorus ratio should still be ok because alfalfa is high in calcium.
 
Doesn't a diet heavy in bran stop the absorption of another essential substance? Can't remember what - calcium or vits? Why not sprinkle it on your cereal until October then chuck the rest?
 
There seems to be a lot of pseudo science flying about concerning bran.On analysis bran has a relatively high phosphorous/calcium ratio.Another pet theory is that because bran has a high level of phytins(which can bind to mierals and make them unavailable for absorbtion)it can cause a calcium deficiency. It is also true that traditional bran contained a much higher percentage of flour ,than modern bran,and at one time was also fed for energy.This diet did sometimes cause a calcium deficiency,due to the overall lack of calcium in the flour.BUT NOBODY HAS MILLED BRAN LIKE THIS FOR SIXTY YEARS. when I studied animal nutrition,I was taught that most of the phosphorous in bran was already bound as Phytic phosphorous,and unavailable to the animal(And the phytins are bound to the phosphorous).All in all, bran is pretty neutral on the Calcium, Phosphorous , front.
 
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