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Hi Melody,

Saw your post on Ridecamp and thought I'd leave lurker-ville for a little while...  :)

Copra meal (aka "Cool Fuel') has been available here in Australia for quite a while.  Its made by grinding up the thick, fibrous husk that surrounds a coconut,  it contains coconut oil but isn't made from it - clear as mud right? :) 

I used copra as a central part of my feed regime for approx. 7 and a half years with good results.  I would probably still be using it if the company importing/packaging & marketing it hadn't decided about 3 yrs ago (mid-drought) to jack their wholesale price over 100% in a 12 - 18 month period ... in short it went from being (IMO) an economical alternate feed to not being cost effective.  I should probably say that I was one of the first in this state to use Copra and as I ordered about 1 ton per month (more than both local retail feed outlets together) I purchased it direct from Organic Prods at the wholesale rate.

That said it IS a good feed source with a few provisos ... 

It is a high protein feed (around 23% from memory) so you will need to be mindful of that when putting together your feed plan.  There are as many differing opinions regarding what total  % protein a horse's feed ration should contain  - I'm not wanting to open THAT can of worms, sufficeth to say my feed recipes seldom total above 14% and I always 'diluted' the Copra with other lower protein feeds such as chaff.

Organic Prods used to say on the bag that it was fine to feed Copra dry (ie undamped down/unexpanded).  Having tried it both ways I would always suggest it be mixed with the other rations and then dampened down.  .. not wet and sloppy but with sufficient water added for the copra meal to soak up the water and have finished expanding before feeding it out. (use warm water & it expands faster)

My horses are all turned out (not stabled) on pasture &/or with free access to good quality pasture hay.  If your horse doesn't have daily access to pasture and you intend to use Copra long term as the base of your feed plan you should also look at adding a vitamin/mineral supplement if you don't already do so.

Copra is a good product, high in 'good' fats/oils, is readily digestible, contains biotin (great for hooves and coat) and stored in dry, vermin proof containers will keep well. 

If you have any further questions Melody feel free to drop me a line off-list.  :)

regards,

 

Jo Horton

Plenty Valley Arabians

 

 

 

---

From: "Melody Wong" <wrecksduke@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
CC: <So_Cal_Endurance@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [RC] New Supplement: "Cool Fuel"??
Date: Sat, 6 May 2006 22:47:57 -0700

Just started hearing about this coconut oil based product.  Is this the newest ?it? endurance supplement/feed??

 

1. Has anyone actually tried it yet?
2. What do the nutrition ?experts? think?

 

Here?s a link:

http://www.organicproducts.com.au/op/default.asp?Region=AUS&CategoryID=1&SubCategoryID=1&MenuID=1

 

http://www.organicproducts.com.au/op/default.asp?Region=AUS&CategoryID=1&SubCategoryID=1&MenuID=1&SubMenuID=43

 

Melody

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