Just picked up a couple bags of the Dumor alfalfa cubes and see they use bentonite as a binder. The post below on daily gold got me to thinking. I had a horse while back colic really bad on the daily gold which also has the clay. I'm guessing it was the big scoops of it all at once that caused his issues but wondering if the clay they use to bind the cubes is going to cause same thing!?!  Thanks. 

I was going to mention the use of bentonite to bind alfalfa cubes in the Daily Gold thread as well. 

Disclaimer, I'm not a nutritionist or a vet. My experience is anecdotal.

Over the years working for various trainers, alfalfa cubes rather than hay because it's cost effective, less waste, easy to pack to shows, etc. I have had some of those trainers tell me they don't buy the cubes with bentonite because the higher instance of choke or colic especially on the road when maybe some horses aren't drinking as much water as they should. If you do feed them it was recommended to soak them.

Like in the Daily Gold thread, there are horses that don't have an issue at all. I know people who swear by Daily Gold or feed the cubes with bentonite with no issues.

Thanks! I did find some old BHW threads as well and it's a 50/50 split. Lol. I don't feed them as a sole ration. My horses have grass hay 24/7 , was just using a few pounds of the cubes because baled alfalfa around here seems to be really dusty and i have a few sensitive to that. Lol. I don't think I have access to any bentonite free cubes here. Darn it. 

There are different types of bentonite. Calcilite calcium is the safest as far as using for a detox in horses goes. Sodium bentonite is typically what's used to bind animal pellets. Sodium bentonite is also what they use to seal ponds with. 

I imagine that some animals don't tolerate it as well as others. You probably need to figure out what type of bentonite is being used in your feed and then start googling.

You bet!

A lot of brands use it unfortunatly. I can't remember if Standlee, which is common here, uses it. Most of the trainers here get cubes in the big super sacks from a different local manufacturer and buy a truck load at a time. 

Like you, I've dealt with impaction colic so I'm probably over cautious.

Standee just says Bentonite doesn't say which kind. But at any rate, it's in there. Lol. 

I have been feeding the Pride of the Plains Alfalfa Cubes, they are soft so I dont think they have any binders added, not sure so I sent a question about this to the company asking if they do, so we shall see, lol. 

Another comapny that dont add binders is High Plains Alfalfa Cubes.. 

I dont think they do, this is why I like carrying them. I quit feeding some of the big name cubes a couple years ago for the exact reason of the bentonite in them. They where so dang hard and would not break apart

Yep, I dont think they dont have any binders either, since I have been buying them from you they dont compare to any other cubes I have used, these are by far the softest alfalfa cubes I have ever used, I use to use Stanley Cubes and tryed a few others but they are so darn hard.. 

The standlee Pellets don't have bentonite in them. If you are feeding grass hay as well then I would switch to the pellets since use don't techincally need the long stems. 

Actually a good friend of mine in Colorado owns the company. Lol. I'm really trying to get them to send me some in CA lol 

I've been feeding Cubeits cubes for a few years now, they are soft and don't have any bentonite in them. They are purely alfalfa, and are soft enough to feed outright. I do soak them when it gets chilly and when bog weather changes are expected but that's just because I want them to get more fluids in them. 

Yep, If I chose to go with alfalfa cubes, I use cubeit... zero binder.. they are soft and super clean and my choke horse never had a single issue with them .. I didn't soak them either. Right now I've found a good source for alfalfa hay so I'm feeding that. 

CubeIt is what most feed here for cubes and what I mentioned before in the super sacks because its local, no binder. I thought if I mentioned the name everyone would go "Who?"

I didn't realize you could get them elsewhere.

Yep, you can get them here in Texas, in fact up the road from me not to far away is New Braunfels feed & Supply and they carry them.

I don't make cubes or pellets, so I can't speak to the amount of bentonite used to bind them. I would assume it varies. But, like just about everything else, Who's cubes they are and the amount fed will vary the amount of bentonite ingested. In small amounts, bentonite can be an effective toxin binder. With the potential exposure to mycotoxins that can be in commercial grains, especually corn, this can be a good thing.

 I actually just called about the Dumor cubes and bentonite, I was told " Less than 2% bentonite". I don't know how much is to much! LOL

Ok, So lets say that the bentonite inclusion is 1.5% to bind alfalfa cubes. The contribution from the cubes would be 6.8 grams of bentonite per pound of cubes. If you are adding cubes to compliment grass hay or pasture, you would usually be in the three to five pounds per day range. If that were the case, the total amount of bentonite from five pounds of added cubes or pellets would be about 34 grams total per day. In all honesty, that should not be enough to be of concern. The dosage for Daily Gold is two oz, or 57 grams. I really don't know where the limit would be in a horse that might also be dehydrated (an important consideration). There may be cause for concern if your total roughage was alfalfa cubes, and you were feeding an additional bentonite source along with it. 

did you by chance ask if it is Sodium or Calcium Bentonite?

I did and the person did not know that answer. LOL I'm almost done with this one bag of cubes and will just finish it, its not their sole ration, they have grass hay in front of them 24/7. I will supplement with Ametza ALfalfa pellets from here on out. They are made about 2 hours from me and when I called they use a " tiny" amount of molasses as their binder... 

There is quite a lot of inaccurate information about Calcium Bentonite vs Sodium Bentonite. As long as the purity is there, both contain a negative ion, either Calcium or Sodium, that will attach to a toxin and function to detoxify some of that contaminant. Both are used in industry basically interchangably. If you add some sodium to Calcium Bentonite so that it cantains more sodium than calcium it will then be Sodium Bentonite. There are several other Bentonites also. All contain a negative ion that allows it to capture a toxin that has a positive ion. The mineral content of Bentonite does not contribute to the nutritional profile of the feed program, and it remains basically intact through the horses digestive system. 

Bottom line for me is that very low inclusions of either type should not make a significant change in their ability to capture mycotoxins in the horses digestive system. 

I looked into them but I can't get any answers on NSC content from anyone in the company or anyone that carries it? I am big on a company that answers my questions. So I haven't switched over 

I finally got a email back from (Pride Of The Plains Alfalfa Cubes) this is what they tolded me about their Cubes,,,There is no binding agents in our cubes. The cubes are straight Alfalfa and a little steam/water to compress the cubes together..

I agree with you on companies that actually take the time to return messages to their customers or potential customers... I've walked away from several companies myself that couldn't take the time to answer a few questions. Don't blame you there. The only reason I found out about cubeit was because my feedstore started carrying them and she told me all about them. So I bought 1 bag to try. They are nice soft clean cubes, the tag only listed sun cured alfalfa on the ingredients. No bentonite. Not sure of the NSC. 

what is the NSC of hay? 

It is my understanding that Alfalfa is one of the lowest Carb content hays available so it should mean the cubes are low as well. 

Cindy, I totally understand.