Frequently Asked Questions about Natural Country Feeds

Why is it necessary to feed cubes to my horse?

Cubes are designed to be fed alongside a forage source. Forage alone, in many instances, is sufficient to provide the necessary nutrients for maintenance and light exercise. However the nutrient requirements from increasing exercise can outstrip those provided from the forage. Forage variability can mean it can be insufficient even at maintenance. Preservation techniques can reduce nutrients and affect their availability. Grazing should be the ideal situation but with the vagaries of weather and season, unsuitable grass management and soil mineral profiles no-one can guarantee a correct nutrient profile. Ranging horses will select a variety of food sources that, in effect, balances out this variation. Feeding a quality cube/mix not only does this but also provides essential vitamins, minerals and other key elements, as well as allowing an increase in energy intake for most activities.

Shouldn’t it be better if I fed a fibre source though, such as Speedi-Beet and Fibre-Beet?

Both Speedi-Beet and Fibre-Beet have a special place in horse nutrition and have proven qualities, increasing the flexibility of feeding. As "straight" feedingstuffs they are proven fibre and slow release energy providers. But they were not designed to totally replace hard feed.

Hard feed supplies a balanced profile of amino acids, essential oils, vitamins and minerals as well as energy in the form of slow and fast releasing. In the leisure market it is beneficial to have some fast releasing energy as increased activity may be sporadic (e.g. weekends and events) and the feeding of a hard feed allows a programmed delivery of energy to suit the lifestyle of the horse.

Fast release energy. Isn’t that bad?

No. There has been much talk of the need to provide slow release energy to avoid fizziness. However fizziness is a result of providing too much fast release energy over a period. Another argument is that starch, a fast release provider, causes hindgut fermentation problems, and should not be fed. Again this is due to providing too much, and in a form that is not easily digested. Fast release energy comes from the digestion and absorption of starch and sugar components (glucose, fructose, mannose etc.) and their metabolism. Excess glucose is stored in the muscles as glycogen and this can be rapidly mobilised on the onset of exercise. Both glucose and glycogen provide more energy per unit than the digested components of fibre breakdown. Providing sufficient, available, glucose in the diet maintains the musculature in prime condition for exercise and energy release. Glucose is also essential for brain function and to aid the transport of other nutrients (such as amino acids) across the gut membrane.

How can I make sure I’m not providing too much?

You need to choose a horse feed with a moderate starch level, and also a feed with a highly available starch source. Unless your horse undergoes extreme exercise on a regular basis a starch level 10-25% will suit most needs. As hard feed should only make up a proportion of the daily ration this level will be diluted. As to availability, only the use of micronized cereals as the starch source is advised. Micronizing is a process that gelatinises starch causing it to absorb water and swell. This makes it far more receptive to enzyme breakdown and so more is absorbed and little, if any, passes into the hindgut.

Masham Micronized Feeds, a sister company to British Horse Feeds, is Europe's leading manufacturer of micronized products, with vast experience and technical know how in the production of the right product for the right situation. MMF's micronized products are specifically designed for British Horse Feed diets.

So why should I use British Horse Feeds Natural Country Mix?

Being the manufacturers of Speedi-Beet & Fibre-Beet, micronized products for the horse feed market, and a principle player in livestock feed market for over 100 years, I'Anson Brothers, feed manufacturers run a State of the Art feed mill and have a team of professionals who source and process the correct raw materials for all types of animals, backed by a technical and nutritional team of great experience. Specialising in the equestrian market BHF further concentrate these skills specifically for providing ideal nutrition for your horse.

Why Natural Country Mix and not someone else’s?

BHF's Natural Country Mix has been created specifically to complement the nutrition of horses fed a wide variety of forages, with or without high fibre mixes. From the experience gained with Speedi-Beet and Fibre-Beet, interaction and responses with our customers and outlet sources, and by drawing on a large technical database, nutritional experience and innovative thinking we have put together a Horse and Pony Cube and Horse and Pony Mix we believe is second to none.

We have selected raw materials, not only for their major nutrients but also the individual profiles of those nutrients. We include micronized cereals, carefully cooked at our own plant, as well as our unique cooked linseed lozenge that has been shown to improve overall condition. We also include Speedi-Beet® to give you the very best fibre profile.

The Natural Country range is one of the first feeds to provide 100% of key minerals in a natural form. By working closely with Alltech, worldwide supplier of the Bioplex range of chelated minerals and Sel-Plex, we provide the optimum mineral nutrition for your horse in a form that is best suited to equine physiology.

Why are profiles important?

When you look at the label of a feed you will see a declaration of nutrients - protein, oil, fibre & ash. Each of these groups is made up of individual components. For example, proteins are made from a combination of 22 amino acids, whilst oil is characterised by the fatty acid make up of the glycerides (fatty acid chains most commonly have from 6 to 30 carbon atoms, and can have unsaturated bonds in one or several places). Fibre is a term covering a complex range and combination of Beta-linked polysaccharides having a diversity of physical and fermentative properties.

Forage tends to be limiting in the major amino acids methionine and lysine, and this leads to overeating to compensate, which can result in loss of condition. Oil profiles are mainly C16:0, C18:2 and C18:3 for grass and lacking in the longer chained fatty acids that are linked with "a healthy heart", a recent sound byte. Therefore, although the protein and oil level of grass may look good the profiles tell us far more.

By understanding the contribution of the major nutrients, and their profiles, from forage sources and high fibre feedstuffs and by sourcing the comprehensive scientific knowledge of nutrition and feeding, from a biochemical to practical level, we have developed diets that can provide more of what your horse needs to help maintain prime condition whether at rest or in work.

Why Micronized cereals?

As mentioned before, micronization is a physical process that enables the digestive enzymes in the horse's gut to breakdown starch more easily. It is therefore more efficiently absorbed, and less is passed down to the hindgut.

Micronization cooks a range of feedstuffs (grains, pulses etc.) by using infrared radiation to excite the water molecules inside cells, rapidly turning it to vapour. This vapour (steam) "cooks" starch causing it to swell and expose its glucose-glucose links to enzymes. The rapid expansion of the steam also disrupts the cell walls surrounding encapsulated nutrients allowing greater availability for digestion. More nutrients absorbed in the small intestine and less enter the hindgut. The hindgut has less non-fibrous material to interfere with its primary task of fermenting fibre. With a more consistent base there is less change in the microbial populations and less chance of digestive upsets.

You have included Speedi-Beet. Does this mean I have to soak?

No. When feeding Speedi-Beet as a separate feedstuff it should be soaked. This is due to the volume being fed, and also due to the benefits of a wet feeding system. Water within a feedstuff helps with the digestive process, from easier chewing and saliva release to a more even moisture content of the gut chyme. Speedi-Beet, fed dry, does not increase the chances of compaction colic. Unlike sugar beet pellets, Speedi-Beet will become soft in the presence of small amounts of water and chewing of dry product will be enough to soften it throughout. The danger of unprocessed sugar beet pellets is that the surface moistens but the centre remains hard, promoting clumping of a dense material.

However there are benefits from feeding a wet material. It aids breakdown through chewing and a more even chyme as well as maintaining water intake. Drinking separately from eating can sometimes cause minor gastric upsets and reduces the efficiency of absorption. Although not essential feeding dampened feed is always a good idea. Remember a horse is a grazer and grass and other plants are mainly water.

What are chelated minerals?

Minerals and trace elements do not exist in animals in their "free form". Minerals and trace elements are complexed with amino acids and peptides, often as essential enzymes or co-factors. Mineral availability from plants may be low as they can be complexed with fibre factions and become locked up. Alltech produce the Bioplex range in which minerals and trace elements are complexed with multiple amino acids. This is chelating. Because the mineral is held within the amino acid complex it is not affected by ionic charges existing at the mucosal layer of the gut, or interfered with by other minerals whose ionic charges may influence neighbouring minerals, whilst competing for absorption sites.

Bioplex minerals are actively transported across the gut lining, are not dependant on passive diffusion and have a greater availability. As they are already complexed they enter the biochemical systems more efficiently.

Why do I need chelated minerals?

As mentioned they are more efficient in being absorbed and entering biochemical systems than mineral salts, which are the more common form of presenting minerals. Trace elements (minerals that are required in minute quantities but are nonetheless essential) are critical for most biochemical pathways, being components, or influencing the activity, of enzymes. In more general terms inclusion of chelated minerals improve coat condition, hoof quality and the mineral status of milk for suckling foals. They are positively implicated in immunity and maintaining the antioxidative status of cells.

What other benefits can I get from Natural Country range?

The Range contains only natural, traditional, Non-GM materials. It contains no unethical products and has been formulated to provide the optimum spectrum of all nutrients. Special care has been taken to ensure the proportions of cellulose, hemicellulose and pectin are best for the horse, that the amino acid profile counters the limiting effects of forages and the oils contain Omega 3 and Omega 6 long chain fatty acids.

British Horse Feeds will supply your horse's nutritional needs and provide essential substrates to maintain coat, hoof and gut integrity, assist in maintaining the immune system and maintain cell function through its antioxidative capability.