Fodder 101
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Lab tests show our barley fodder averages about 83% moisture. That means a chunk of fodder weighing 5 pounds provides almost ½ gallon of water for your horse—a helpful contribution to the 6 to 10 gallons of water an idle horse needs to drink each day in a cool environment.
In addition to general health and wellbeing, adequate hydration is critical for performance and recovery. Experts indicate that for every 1% dehydration, your horse loses 4% performance ability. If your horse is showing dehydration with a skin pinch or capillary refill test, he’s already 5-6% dehydrated, which means his performance will be notably diminished. In terms of recovery, well hydrated horses are better able to replenish the glycogen stores in their muscles.
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Several factors affect forage quality, including digestibility. Plant cell contents are easily digestible, but the cell wall is fibrous and less digestible.
We can measure the fibrous fraction of forage in the lab using neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) analysis. NDF approximates the total cell wall constituents, and ADF primarily represents cellulose and lignin.
Forage digestibility is heavily influenced by plant maturity. Young growth has a higher level of digestible nutrients, while older forage has fewer leaves, more stems, and a higher NDF content. Plus, as plants mature, more lignin is deposited to give the plant rigidity—and lignin causes the forage to be much less digestible. This is why we think of “leafy” hay as better quality than “stemmy” hay.
We harvest our barley fodder after 6 days of growth. Lab tests show NDF averages 30% of dry matter, with 14% ADF and 3% lignin.
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We’re happy to provide customized service tailored to fit your horse’s unique needs. We welcome the opportunity to coordinate with your veterinarian and/or equine nutritionist to ensure no detail is overlooked.
Above all, our goal is to support horse owners and caretakers on their journey to optimize the health and wellbeing of their equine partners.
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Differences included:
- Increase in protein – Crude protein content of sprouted barley was 38% higher than raw grain
- Increase in amino acids – The concentration of 7 amino acids increased significantly, including lysine (48% increase)
- Increase in fat content – 50% higher in sprouted vs. raw barley grain
Regarding the mechanisms behind the nutritional changes, the researchers noted:
“During sprouting, chemical changes occur in the composition of the seed due to the complex metabolic and physiological processes that start when the original seed comes out of its latency stage. Once sprouting is initiated, the cell wall polysaccharides are degraded, which allows enzymes to access the cell content.”
Reference: Ortíz, L., Velasco, S. M., Treviño, J., Jiménez, B., & Rebolé, A. (2021). Changes in the Nutrient Composition of Barley Grain (Hordeum vulgare L.) and of Morphological Fractions of Sprouts. Scientifica, 2021, 1–7. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34336362/
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Researchers studied the same group of 63 horses over 2 periods. Each period was 21 months long. 43 of the horses were turned out during the day and stabled in box stalls overnight for 12 hours. The other 20 horses were turned out on pasture 24/7.
During the first period, the horses ate a standard diet and researchers counted the number of colic cases. During the second period, sprouted barley fodder was added to the horses’ diets at a daily rate of 0.5kg/100kg bodyweight. (So, an average 500kg horse received about 5.5lbs of fodder each day.) Again, the number of colic events was recorded.
Did feeding sprouted barley fodder reduce the number of colic cases? Here the researchers observed an interesting difference based on living conditions:
- For the horses on pasture 24/7, the rate of colic events was low in the first period, and stayed low with the inclusion of sprouted barley fodder. No differences were noted in colic incidence.
- For the horses stalled 12 hours each day, including germinated barley in the diet resulted in a statistically significant decrease in colic events. The figure decreased from 23.9 cases/100 horses at risk-year to 5.3 cases/100 horses at risk-year. (P = 0.03)
The authors note:
The results might support the hypothesis that supplementation with germinated cereals favourably affects the horse’s digestive tract, thereby reducing the risk of colic.
They suggest the prebiotic function of fructo-oligosaccharides may be the helpful factor.
A few caveats: The population studied was small and results should be interpreted with caution. It’s possible that one or more confounding factors may have been at play. We hope to see more research into fresh sprouted feed in the near future, ideally with larger populations.
Reference: Troya, L., Blanco, J. L. S., Romero, I., & Re, M. (2020). Comparison of the colic incidence in a horse population with or without inclusion of germinated barley in the diet. Equine Veterinary Education, 32(S11), 28–32. https://doi.org/10.1111/eve.13274