The Good Oil : Keyflow Feeds
At Keyflow, we know our oil. Many, many people feed oil to their horses, particularly through the winter when any extra calories are a welcome addition to the diet.
The purpose of feeding oil can broadly be broken in two, one as a calorie source, the other for the biochemical effects that the fatty acids contained within the oil can have on horse health.
It makes sense to look at these separately.
Feeding oil for calories:
All oils more or less contain the same number of calories. If you take a look at the label of your bottle of olive oil at home and compare it with the number of calories in your bottle of vegetable oil, you will see they are pretty close to each other.
As a calorie source, it is hard to beat feeding oil. A normal, healthy horse is very efficient at metabolising oil, breaking it down with enzymes in the small intestine and converting it to useable energy. With no carbohydrates from sugar or starch it is also non-heating so can be fed to horses that get a bit excitable when fed high grain/starch feeds. Sometimes we call this using a ‘cool energy pathway’. It is also slow release and has a low glycemic index.
In regards to building condition using oil, we believe that it acts more like an energy offset. This means that horses preference the use of oil as an energy source for activity, in doing so it means the horse is more likely to use store energy from other sources as body fat. Oil can certainly be used safely and strategically in this way if desired.
Feeding for health benefits:Whereas oils carry the same approximate amount of calories, this is certainly not true when we look at the fatty acid profile of oils. They’re all different, they all have their own unique fatty acid signature.
In modern times, much is said about omega 3’s and their benefits in both humans and animals. It’s true and is something that we at Keyflow have been talking about as well as supplying in our feeds and supplements since we were born (2012).
Omega 3 fatty acids can be broken into two families, long chain and short chain, both are beneficial but long chain in particular has a potently positive effect on a horses health and wellbeing. The horses critical systems rely on long chain omega 3 to function normally, this includes the immune system, circulatory system, nervous system, musculoskeletal system, reproductive system and respiratory system.
Long chain omega 3’s (DHA and EPA) are generally found in the fatty tissue of animals such as fish. DHA can also be produced by certain algae.
Short chain omega 3’s are derived generally from plant sources such as oil seeds – but are also found in grass (and to a lesser extent – hay).
The fact that horses use the long chain form usually begs the question as to why would horses need something derived from an animal. The answer is, the horses system will actually convert and move short chain upwards through the family to long chain, then use that for critical functions.
This conversion process is not terribly efficient so we like to feed a direct source of long chain omega 3 if possible as well as short chain.
So whats the best oil to feed?
We believe that the best oil is an oil blended specifically for horses. One that contains both long and short chain omega delivered through natural, cold pressed oils. This is exactly why we created Key-3 Oil, a blend of cold pressed rapeseed oil, cold pressed linseed and Scottish salmon oil with some garlic.
Our unique formula, delivers simply amazing results as it boosts the overall (long and short chain) omega 3 value in the diet but also gives a very useful calorie source, something that is highly beneficial at this time of year in particular.
We should also mention that Key-3 is perfect to to feed with Pink Mash although the two together don’t make a complete diet,. For this you will need to also add one of our pre-digested balancers or feeds.
We’ll also let you in on a secret, if you buy a 5L of Key-3 through our online store, we send it out to you carriage free and we’ll even send a 30ml pump for free, heres the link to that: https://keyflowsupply.com/products/key-3-oil-5l
If you would like one of our friendly nutrition team to give you some support with feeding for health and wellbeing through the winter we are always here to help. You can get hold of us in the following ways:
Call our friendly advice line on 01672 519000 opt. 2
Email advice@keyflowfeeds.com
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