04/06/2024
๐ Tuesday Topic - Mashed based feeds๐
Anyone who knows me or has used my consultation services, knows Iโm a huge fan of mashed based feeds! They are suitable for all and work really well as a base feed to add your additional products into.
Some of the many benefits of mashes;
โญ๏ธ As they are soaked, they help to increase water intake especially so on the summer months or when away competing / at camps etc
โญ๏ธGreat source of highly digestible fibre
โญ๏ธ They make an excellent base for mixing powders into
โญ๏ธCan act as a partial (or sometimes full, depending on product) hay replacer
โญ๏ธGreat for horses with reduced dental function
โญ๏ธChaff can get stuck in diastemaโs (pockets) between teeth, compact down and cause infection so chaff is best avoided if diastemaโs have been identified
There are so many different mashes on the market; speedibeet, fibrebeet, pink mash, agrobs mash, fast fibre, recovery mashes, Alfa-beet to name a few, in fact thereโs so many that it can make choosing the right one hard! Consider your horses energy requirements first; ie if they are in harder work or have a higher protein requirement then a mash containing alfalfa may be more suitable, generally unmolassed sugarbeet is a great option for those with lower energy requirements, requiring weight loss, laminitics/EMS etc.
Look at whether the mash contains added vitamins and minerals already; generally I recommend those without any vitamins or minerals included and then add a separate balancer or vitamin and mineral supplement and then you know the inclusions rates and ratios. If you feed a mash that is fully balanced with vitamins and minerals already, it needs to be fed at the manufacturerโs recommended feeding rate otherwise you will not be meeting your hoses daily requirements (this can often be 2-3kg Dry weight and most people under feed against these recommendations).
Remember feeding recommendations for mash feeds are always given as Dry Weight (ie before soaking).
This is a general post, there are some horses that just donโt like a mash, some that will get used to then eventually and some horses that will still need chaff based feed at times ie a horse that has/had gastric ulcers and are given chaff 30 minutes before exercise etc. Nutrition definitely isnโt a one size fits all but generally speaking, mashes are an extremely useful feedstuff! ๐ด
