Re: More feed questions

[Susan Evans Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

BMcCrary27@aol.com wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 1/12/99 10:01:48 AM Pacific Standard Time,
> suendavid@worldnet.att.net writes:
> 
> << Try the old tried and true standby, corn, oats and barley.  45% whole
>  oats (preferably recleaned, but not crimped or rolled), 30% barley
>  (crimped or rolled) and 25% corn (also cracked or rolled). >>

> 
> What is the reason for your recommendation against crimped oats and rolled
> corn?  I'm interested.
> 

The digestibility of oats isn't improved by processing, but the rate of
oxidation (speed at which it goes rancid and nutrients are lost) does
increase, therefore oats are best fed whole to preserve the grain as an
intact package.  Barley and corn are harder grains and the digestibility
is increased by about 5% when processed.  However, if a horse has good
teeth, there's no problem with feeding those grains whole, either.

> << No alfalfa meal, no bran, certainly no
> rice bran.>>
> 
> And why no rice bran?  I had always heard it was such a great product for
> adding weight to a horse.  Please educate me.

Well, since you asked :-)...the short answer is that despite it's higher
cost, rice bran is actually lower in calories per pound than any other
of the cereal grains.  There are lots of other considerations as well,
but rather than re-writing a partial answer, let me provide total
overkill instead and put into another post a copy of an article I wrote
recently for HoofPrint, the publication for NATRC.  It should certainly
answer every question anybody ever had about rice bran, and then some!

Susan G