Fibre – A must feed!
Fibre is of key importance in the equine diet.
Adequate fibre intake ensures maintenance of a healthy digestive system and also reduces the risk of colic and gastric ulcers as well as behavioural issues associated with a lack of fibre.
As a rule of thumb, the bare minimum fibre requirement for horse health is 1% of their body weight in hay/chaff or pasture daily (on a dry matter basis). When horses are living out on adequate pasture we can happily assume they are receiving this required intake, however when they are boxed or yarded more attention needs to be paid to ensure this is provided through their supplementary feed. Hay is a great pasture substitute and as it is almost 100% dry matter it can easily assist in meeting fibre requirements.
In addition there are some palatable straight fibre feeds that can be incorporated into the daily ration to increase fibre intake.
Dunstan Beets (Dunstan Betabeet and Dunstan Sugarbeet) are a premium fibre source and are known as ‘super fibres’ as they have a much higher calorie content than traditional fibre sources, with an energy level close to oats, however provide ‘cool’ energy.