Lewis Hollander wrote that it is almost impossible to acheive 12% of
the total diet in fat with corn oil....We all need to be specific
when talking percents. We can have a 12% FAT diet by weight (pounds
fat per pounds total feed - concentate plus roughage), or we can
express it as a percentage of calories (fat calories per total calories each day).
It can be hard to acheive 12% fat by weight of the total diet, but it
can be done with corn oil. A hard working horse weighing around 900
lbs needs about 27-30 Mcal of DE each day . 1 cup of corn oil weighs
1/2 lb, and supplies 2 Mcal of energy.Therefore, 2 cups of corn oil per day will
easily supply more than 12% of the total calories of the diet as fat. On a per
weight basis it is more difficult, but, the same horse, eating 2.5% of its bodyweight
(high estimate for hard working endurance types) in total feed per day
would require 23 lbs of feed, with 12% being 2.8 lbs. That adds up
to almost 6 cups of corn oil each day maximum (2 - 3 cups per
feeding) This can be accomplished by gradually mixing in the oil with
grain and some chopped hay, or a product like Dengie HiFi,making sure
the Vitamin E level is adequate. There is still discussion about how much
Vitamin E a fat-supplemented diet should have.
Research I conducted
with Arabians at Virginia Tech utilized 14% of the total diet weight
in fat, and we had no problems at all. We used high quality corn oil,
and never had a palatability problem (study length was almost 3
years). Remember that rice bran is only 20% fat, (corn oil is almost
100% fat) and it will be more
difficult to acheive a 12% (by wt) fat diet with this product. If my
math is correct, and it may not be.......A horse
consuming 23 lbs. of feed each day would require almost 15 lbs of
rice bran each day.( One pound fills up a sandwich bag) to get 2.8
lbs of fat. I am not familiar with Fat Pax 100, but riders must be
careful when feeding milk products to adult horses. I think oils are
the way to go, especially corn oil, with the down side now being
price. We had good results, however, with the fat-supplemented diet
stabilizing electrolytes, strong ion difference, and blood glucose,
even at a gallop with a heart rate of 210 beats per minute (articles in progress,
to be submitted to The Journal of Applied Physiology and The Journal
of Nutrition). Hope this long winded ramble helped....let me know!!!
Lynn Taylor, MS, PhD
Otterbein College
Westerville, OH