RE: [RC] Flax seed meal - Susan E. Garlinghouse, D.V.M.
>Has anyone used a product called Flax
Seed Meal? I keep reading that flax seed should be fed whole or freshly >ground but I've seen a
product at the local hosemans supply that is a 35lb container of flax seed
meal. I'm >wondering
if it would stay fresh long enough to feed it to four equines. Any
thoughts? Right now I'm feeding flax >seed whole.
>
>Thanks, Patsy
Well, here’s my opinion,
Patsy. The specific component in flax seed that you’re after are
the omega-3 fatty acids in the oil portion of the seed, and those oxidize
(degrade) in a hurry when exposed to light, air or heat. The oils have a
really long shelf life when the seed is kept intact, but once the seed coat is
disrupted, you lose the majority of good stuff within a month or so unless
stabilized or kept in a freezer. So if you’re buying a flax seed
meal, my worry is that you don’t know how fresh the oils are, or how
degraded the fatty acids are before you even get it home. Take a look at
the bucket and see if they specify a stabilization process---stabilizing costs
money and if it was done, the manufacturer is going to say so. If not,
well…one or two hot days in a UPS truck and you’ve lost most of the
nutrients you really want, IMO.
Also, it used to be that when flax seed
was processed and the oils removed, the remaining meal was called linseed meal,
or sometimes linseed cake. It’s a fairly useful protein supplement
still fed to feedlot cattle, but again, the nutrient you’re after (the
fatty acids in the oil) are long gone. Even if there’s some
residual fats, the process involves heat and so the fatty acids have been
pretty well oxidized. Occasionally, you’ll still see linseed meal
being offered in feed stores, but it’s a far different animal than the
product you’re supplying by feeding a freshly ground flax seed with the
fatty acids intact. These days, I’ve been offered “flax seed
meal” and assumed it was ground flax seed with the oils still in the
meal---but, when I questioned the rep, it was really just plain old linseed
meal, being labeled as something with a more familiar and popular label.
That may not always be true, a lot of the flax seed meals out there may still
have flax oils included, but it still isn’t a guarantee that the fatty
acids aren’t rancid and oxidized and therefore useless.
Bottom line, yes, you can feed flax seed
meal as a substitute for freshly ground whole seed, but just remember it
probably is not providing the same quality of nutrient, and may not be
worthwhile cost-wise. In a pinch, it’ll do. I sort of liken
it to the factory, semi-stale, pale commercial eggs available by the flat from
Costco---is it an egg, yeah, I guess. Is it the same thing as the rich,
bright orange-yolked, still-warm-from-the-nest eggs I get from my backyard hens
running around eating fresh vegetation, bugs and the majority of the tomatoes
from my garden vines? Nope. Both are “eggs”, but there’s
a world of difference in the quality between the two. Same thing with the
flax seed meal. The stuff in the bucket is a Costco egg…the meal
you grind yourself is a backyard egg. Yum yum.
Hope this helps. J Think I’m
going to go see if my girls have left me enough for an omelet for lunch….
