02/11/2024
🌟 Title: "Defining and Applying Cool Feeds" 🌟
🌱 Does the labelling ‘cool feed’ mean just that?
Horse feed manufacturers have developed a significant market for ‘cool’ horse products, designed for horses that are sensitive to a grain-based ration. However, it is essential to understand and examine what qualifies a product to be labelled as a cool feed, ensuring an informed decision so that the most appropriate feedstuff is purchased.
🌿 The Role of Starch in Energy
Starch is essentially glucose molecules bonded together in bundles, providing one of the primary energy sources for exercising horses. However, the gastrointestinal tract of the horse has evolved to primarily digest and utilise fibre, with limited ability to digest starch. The problems associated with a starch-based ration are twofold:
🌾 The enzymatic breakdown of starch produces glucose, which enters the bloodstream, providing stimulus for activity. Hyper-energetic behaviour is often seen when starch intake does not align with exercise intensity.
🌾 Further along the digestive tract, undigested starch may overflow into the hindgut, where fermentation can lead to hindgut acidosis, causing an imbalance in hindgut flora and instigating various health issues.
🍃 What Makes a ‘Cool Feed’ Cool?
In general, raw starch from unprocessed grains can increase the incidence of hyper-energetic behaviour, especially in horses predisposed to erratic behaviour. Processing methods such as micronisation and extrusion help disrupt starch molecules in grains, making glucose units more available for digestion and reducing the amount of raw starch in the digestive system.
⚠️ Careful monitoring of processed grain intake is advised, as feeding excessive amounts can be detrimental. Processed grain ferments at a faster rate than unprocessed grain in the hindgut, which can lead to digestive issues.
🌟 Why Do Horses Need Starch?
Starch is digested and absorbed as glucose molecules, and insulin release removes glucose from the bloodstream to store as muscle glycogen. High-intensity activities like galloping or sprinting depend on stored muscle glycogen. In growing horse rations, starch is also necessary to stimulate skeletal growth. However, excessive starch can negatively impact cartilage development and skeletal growth, leading to developmental orthopaedic disorders (DOD’s).
🔍 When examining a ‘cool feed’ product, pay close attention to the ingredients rather than the packaging design.
Key Ingredients in Cool Feeds
💧 Soybean and Lupin Hulls: Known as ‘super fibres,’ these contain approximately 90% of the energy of cereal grains with minimal or no starch (0-2%). Adding oil to soybean or lupin hull rations provides a low-starch option suitable for horses prone to metabolic syndromes like laminitis, ‘tying up,’ or diagnosed with Insulin Resistance (IR) or Equine Cushing’s Syndrome (ECS).
🌱 Beet Pulp: A by-product of the sugar beet industry, available shredded or pelleted. Composed of bran and pollard, millmix is a by-product of grain milling (wheat, triticale, or rye) for flour. Starch levels vary between 2-20% (average ~14%) due to processing. Since millmix is low in calcium, it’s crucial to ensure that the feed has adequate calcium fortification for an appropriate calcium-to-phosphorus ratio.
🥥 Copra Meal: A by-product of coconut oil production, made from the white part of a coconut after heat treatment and oil extraction, with very low starch levels (
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