Re: Rice Bran

["Duncan Fletcher" <dfletche@gte.net>]

It isn't just a little bit of phosphorous and it can make a big difference.

Diet Example:

17 lb coastal bermudagrass
3.5 lb oats
DE: 19.0 Mcal
Ca/P: 1.26

Substitute 1 lb extruded rice bran for 1.5 lb oats:
DE: 19.2 Mcal
Ca/P: 0.92

For moderate calcium forages such as timothy, this will generally not be a problem, and certainly will not be a problem with high calcium forages like alfalfa. But with grasses like brome, canarygrass, fescue, bahiagrass and bermudagrass it can be a problem and with grasses like orchardgrass and bluegrass which start with an inverted Ca/P, almost any concentrate is a problem. I won't feed straight orchardgrass - only in combination with alfalfa. 

Duncan Fletcher
dfletche@gte.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Truman Prevatt <truman.prevatt@netsrq.com>
To: ridecamp@endurance.net <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Cc: suendavid@worldnet.att.net <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>
Date: Monday, June 15, 1998 12:14 PM
Subject: Re: Rice Bran


I was talking to the Senminole feeds nutritionist about this issue.  Senminole
makes an extruded rice brand supplement which is a) easy to feed and b) the horses
like it.  It doesn't have any added Ca to balance the P.  He told me that they
Senminole is working on a balanced version to be released in the near future. They
are trying to work out the problems with extruding the Calcium carboniate.

He also said that if one had otherwise a balanced diet, then the small total
amounts of extra P in the rice brand supplement fed would do very little to upset
this balance.  He went on to say that since grass and hay are the biggest (or
should be) portions of the horses's diet, that the balance of of the grass and hay
should be the main concern.  His bigger concern was the high concentration of P
and low concentration of Ca in the FL grasses.  He suggested year round free
choice Ca supplement for FL horses.

Susan, how does stack up to your experience?

I did try EquiJewel, which is a Ca balance rice bran, but the horse's just didn't
like it.


Susan Evans Garlinghouse wrote:

> It's that high phosphorus from the bran that messes up the calcium
> stores.  If the calcium-phosphorus ratio is inverted (more phosphorus
> than calcium), calcium gets mobilized from the bone (that "drawing from
> the bones" your vet mentioned)---if despite high phosphorus levels, the
> calcium-phosphorus ratio is still balanced, than it won't affect the
> calcium stores.  But then you still probably have an excess of both
> calcium AND phosphorus, which also isn't good.  And, as Tom says, the
> excess phosphorus will tie up the absorption of other nutrients (mostly
> minerals).
>
> Susan Garlinghouse


--
Truman Prevatt
Brooksville, FL

Mystic “The Horse from Hell” Storm
Rocket a.k.a. Mr. Misty
Jordy a.k.a. Bridger (when he is good)
Danson Flame