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Location: IL | Tys-ol-lady - 2016-01-21 12:17 PM I feed 1/2 cup flax, 1/4 tsp organic Turmeric, a few grinds if black pepper, Noni, whole oats, and beet pulp- all that twice daily. My fatty is staying in great shape, and hubby's hard keeping calf horse is keeping weight on. I wouldn't feed more flax because I feel it would be wasteful. If I need to add weight I would add more oats and beet pulp to their diets, and if they're getting too chubby I would cut back on the oats and beet pulp.
I would watch adding more oats. Oats can make them pretty hot. I experienced this with my gelding and it took a good week for him to go back to normal. There is alot of starch in oats and the stomach can only break down so much. Then what is left over moves into their hindgut and causes problems with acidosis. Just an FYI If you are trying to put weight on I would add more flaxseed and give more better quality hay. |
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| merdth6 - 2016-01-21 1:10 PM
FLITASTIC - 2016-01-21 2:34 PM How hard is it to grind flax?? Never used it in its raw form. I called my feed store and they carry it by the 50 pound bag so picking up some to try!
You don't have to grind them....I feed them whole.
Whole it is!!!! |
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Veteran
Posts: 169
| I took an equine nutrition course and horses can not digest whole flax seeds. |
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 Elite Veteran
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Location: West Texas | You might could ask for your money back. Respectfully, it probably wasn't the only misinformation they taught. I've been learning that for some time now.
Edited by Tdove 2016-01-21 8:34 PM
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Expert
Posts: 3300
| Grind It with a coffee grinder... They can't digest it fully whole |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| Yes, they can digest it. I could tell a big difference in my horses after I started feeding whole flaxseed. They used to say horses couldn't digest whole oats, you needed to feed crimped oats, but that wasn't right either . |
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Expert
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| I just started with a 1/4 cup last night!! My horses LOVE IT... I put some in my mouth and chewed... Very soft outer shell. IMO if your horse can't chew a flax seed, you have BIG PROBLEMS> |
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Expert
Posts: 3300
| It's not chewing it its digesting it completely...they can eat it whole but they can't completely digest it whole... |
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| I just grind it in KRUPPS spice grinder. I don't know if they can or can't, so I just grind it to be safe. Its the last thing mixed in the bucket and fed immediately because it does start to loose nutritional value when it is ground and reaches oxygen. |
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Expert
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| aqhabarrelchic1 - 2016-01-22 10:25 AM
It's not chewing it its digesting it completely...they can eat it whole but they can't completely digest it whole...
OK, so my question would be, if you grind the flax and feed it to the horse they CAN digest it... What is the difference in a horse chewing it themselves? I mean those are some big teeth and some little soft seeds. I just don't see how a horse would not be able to grind it themselves. Now with something like Whole oats or even better, Whole BARLEY, I can totally see it. Barley is HARD. Oats medium.. lol But seems like lots of folks are doing fine with it whole so I am not going to go buy a grinder quite yet.. lol |
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Expert
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| FLITASTIC - 2016-01-22 12:35 PM
aqhabarrelchic1 - 2016-01-22 10:25 AM
It's not chewing it its digesting it completely...they can eat it whole but they can't completely digest it whole...
OK, so my question would be, if you grind the flax and feed it to the horse they CAN digest it... What is the difference in a horse chewing it themselves? I mean those are some big teeth and some little soft seeds. I just don't see how a horse would not be able to grind it themselves. Now with something like Whole oats or even better, Whole BARLEY, I can totally see it. Barley is HARD. Oats medium.. lol But seems like lots of folks are doing fine with it whole so I am not going to go buy a grinder quite yet.. lol
Maybe because the seeds are so small they get missed by the teeth and swallowed whole....  |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 851
Location: West Texas | I think flax is the least understood feed source in the equine world. Probably the least researched as well. There are myths and old wives tales. These are spread and reported by nutritionists and even feed textbooks.
My experience is feeding them in Omnis cubes and I can tell you they are digested whole, at least when included in the cube. They also are not going to give your horse cyanide poisoning. Horsemen for hundreds, if not thousands of years have been feeding flax whole, with excellent results. That is what matters to me most, results. I have come to the conclusion that nutritionist and feed experts do very little research and mostly reading about and regurgitating other writings, from experts that likely read and learned it somewhere too...and so on.
Feed them whole for a couple months and then tell me they can't be digested. It doesn't take a rocket scientist or even a lowly equine nutritionist to figure this out.
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Elite Veteran
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Location: West Texas | FlyingJT - 2016-01-22 12:37 PM
FLITASTIC - 2016-01-22 12:35 PM
aqhabarrelchic1 - 2016-01-22 10:25 AM
It's not chewing it its digesting it completely...they can eat it whole but they can't completely digest it whole...
OK, so my question would be, if you grind the flax and feed it to the horse they CAN digest it... What is the difference in a horse chewing it themselves? I mean those are some big teeth and some little soft seeds. I just don't see how a horse would not be able to grind it themselves. Now with something like Whole oats or even better, Whole BARLEY, I can totally see it. Barley is HARD. Oats medium.. lol But seems like lots of folks are doing fine with it whole so I am not going to go buy a grinder quite yet.. lol
Maybe because the seeds are so small they get missed by the teeth and swallowed whole....
Correct, that is the theory. I have read so many people feeding it whole with positive results as well as heard about recent studies that show this to be false. I am sure that horses do get slightly better digestion from grinding it. I can say that feeding in the cube, it causes complete chewing and grinding by the horses teeth. I would think it best to feed them mixed with something else, to promote chewing, possible oats or a little chopped hay.
As far as other grains and oats. Here is an interesting read about digestion and processing.
http://ker.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Grain-Processing-Does-It-...
Edited by Tdove 2016-01-22 1:00 PM
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 Ima Cool Kid
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Location: TN | I have been feeding a yogart cup full to my running horses for years. started on Omega shine but now get the Tractor Supply version for 1/2 the price.
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  Neat Freak
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Location: Wonderful Wyoming | Tdove - 2016-01-22 11:59 AM FlyingJT - 2016-01-22 12:37 PM FLITASTIC - 2016-01-22 12:35 PM aqhabarrelchic1 - 2016-01-22 10:25 AM It's not chewing it its digesting it completely...they can eat it whole but they can't completely digest it whole... OK, so my question would be, if you grind the flax and feed it to the horse they CAN digest it... What is the difference in a horse chewing it themselves? I mean those are some big teeth and some little soft seeds. I just don't see how a horse would not be able to grind it themselves. Now with something like Whole oats or even better, Whole BARLEY, I can totally see it. Barley is HARD. Oats medium.. lol But seems like lots of folks are doing fine with it whole so I am not going to go buy a grinder quite yet.. lol Maybe because the seeds are so small they get missed by the teeth and swallowed whole.... Correct, that is the theory. I have read so many people feeding it whole with positive results as well as heard about recent studies that show this to be false. I am sure that horses do get slightly better digestion from grinding it. I can say that feeding in the cube, it causes complete chewing and grinding by the horses teeth. I would think it best to feed them mixed with something else, to promote chewing, possible oats or a little chopped hay. As far as other grains and oats. Here is an interesting read about digestion and processing. http://ker.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Grain-Processing-Does-It-...
I only fed it whole when I gave it and it does amazing things to their hair coat. |
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Member
Posts: 25
| Just bought a bag today, can I also feed it to my 8 1/2 month pregnant mare? Shes maiden and young, not very good feet or coat and she can always use weight so I would like to try it on her. I think I'm just going to feed it whole to the others since people haven't really seen a difference it seems like. How much should I start them out on and how much to go up by?
I'll be feeding it to my 8 year old mare who's an easy keeper and has excellent feet and a super long mane, my 13 year old gelding who could use some filling out and has crappy feet, and the pregnant one. |
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