01/04/2016
A great read!
BRAN – ARE WE MISSING SOMETHING?
Very few people now feed bran. Yet for centuries it was considered an important feed for horses. Are we missing something? Let’s look at the benefits that have been claimed for bran feeding
BRAN IS A LAXATIVE. Studies done 25 years ago showed that bran has NO laxative effects in horses. When fed as the sole feed along with hay, faecal water content remained unchanged. Even when fed in a very sloppy state faecal water only increased by 3%. Any laxative effect occasionally seen is far more likely to be a result of a digestive upset caused the sudden introduction of a new feed to which the horse’s digestive micro-organisms are not accustomed, and is an undesirable effect. Furthermore, except in some very specific veterinary situations, horses do not need a laxative. Giving the traditional weekly bran mash was based on flawed thinking.
BRAN PROVIDES WATER. The water content of a bran mash is very small and there are better strategies to ensure adequate water intake when there is a concern that horses are not drinking enough, for example during very cold weather. These include feeding soaked sugar beet (60% water), feeding haylage rather than hay, and offering slightly warmed water immediately after feeding.
BRAN IS PALATABLE. Bran used to be fed to sick horses because of its palatability but from a nutritional standpoint it has a very high and undesirable concentration of phosphate, which if fed as more than 10% of the diet for a long period, can cause musculoskeletal problems.
BRAN IS A GOOD FIBRE SOURCE. It isn’t. At 10-12 % crude fibre, it is quite a bit lower that sugar beet (20%) or hay (28-34%). And much of the fire is lignin, which is indigestible.
BRAN IS A ‘WARMING’ FEED. Traditionally horses were given a warm bran mash after a hard day’s hunting, often with various palatable additives. Great emphasis was placed on preparing the mash correctly. But any ‘warming' effect is likely to be transient. Remember horses have their own internal combustion engine. Fermentation of fibre in the large intestine results in heat production (similar to how a muck heap heats up when stacked), which keeps the horse warm. A 10 kg hay net will raise the horse’s core temperature by around 2.5 degree C. So if you want to warm your horse after a hard day – give it hay.
BRAN IS A GOOD WAY TO GIVE A HORSE IT’S MEDICATION. Yes it probably is, but there are more reliable palatability improvers in medicated feeds, such a Ribena!
IN CONCLUSION then to answer the question ‘are we missing something’? – No!
Please share if you have friends who might find this interesting
EQWEST EQUINE VETERINARY CLINIC, TAVISTOCK, DEVON, U.K.
