"A Time to Heal" by Judy Larsen

Headquartered in Plessisville, Quebec, Semican produces and conditions a wide variety of the highest quality cereal and forage seeds including equavena hulless oats, conventional covered oats, barley, spring wheat, winter wheat, soybeans, peas, triticale, buckwheat, flaxseed, alfalfa and other forage seeds

Three Tips for Buying Quality Whole Grains

by Jacques Beauchesne, Semican, Inc. president

Horses find whole grains appealing and so do many horse owners. Whole grains deliver concentrated energy to horses in the form Nature intended and that horses relish, even those with finicky appetites. When horse owners buy a bag of whole grain, there is no long list of added ingredients or ambiguous by-products to decipher on an ingredient label--what they see is what they get.

One of the things they get are vitamins and minerals in their more digestible natural, organic forms rather than less absorbable synthetic forms and whole grains retain a higher percentage of their vitamins and protein over time compared to processed grains. Once grain kernels have been processed by crimping, cracking, dehulling, or rolling, oxygen goes to work on their contents. Oxygen may turn the exposed oils rancid. Some vitamins and protein may be lost. These changes affect the shelf life of processed grains which may be up to 3 months where the climate is dry or during cooler months, but it can be as little as 1 month when weather is warm and humid. Whole grains, by contrast, can maintain their nutritional integrity for years when stored under proper conditions.

Once grains are processed or cooked, visually judging their quality becomes difficult, if not impossible. By contrast, the quality of whole grains is easier to judge with the naked eye. Here are three points to check when selecting a quality whole grain:

·        Color. A bag of quality whole grain will be uniform in color and have a color appropriate for that grain. Oats or barley should be a creamy or golden color. Corn should be a robust yellow. A mixture of dark and light kernels could mean two or more different lots have been mixed together. A higher quality grain may have been mixed in to boost consumer appeal. Whatever the reason, the buyer is no longer getting 100 percent top quality. Though grain color can vary depending on the variety, color that seems much darker than normal may indicate mold.

·        Size. Look for plump, whole kernels of uniform size. There should be no broken kernels. Shriveled or under-sized kernels have less energy value and may be harder to chew. Shriveled, covered oats, for example, will have a higher ratio of indigestible hulls to carbohydrate-rich groats. Those who buy their grain in bulk should remember that, given the same volume of well-cleaned grain, the volume with the heavier weight will be the better buy. In other words, a bushel of hulless oats that weighs 55 pounds has more digestible energy (Mcal per pound) than a bushel of hulled oats weighing 30 to 40 pounds.

·        Cleanliness. Visually examine each bag or load of grain for dust, the percentage of tiny fines in the bag or load, and for field debris like small stones or pieces of stalks. Grain coming from the combine is shaken on screens and run by blowers to remove dust, chaff, and small stones. A bushel of grain that is dusty or contains debris may weigh the same as a bushel of well cleaned grain but it is hardly the same quality. Triple-cleaned oats, for example, cost more than oats that have only been screened once because they offer more food value per bushel.

As a final test, lean over and take a good whiff of the grain you are considering. Top quality grain should look and smell good enough for people to eat. A "sniff test" for any musty or off odor is the best indicator of dusty or moldy grain. Return the grain if there are any suspicions.

The nose, however, cannot detect low levels of Fusarium molds. Fusarium molds are highly toxic to horses in very minute amounts. They can develop on corn grown under either overly wet or overly dry conditions or on corn that has been improperly stored. The best way to avoid Fusarium problems is to choose a reputable feed dealer who only buys whole corn that has been tested and certified as free of Fusarium toxins.

The table below compares several nutritional factors for grains commonly fed to horses. Because the nutritional content of a given lot of grain will vary depending on the conditions under which it was grown, the only way to know its exact feed value is to have it tested by a feed and forage lab. Call the National Forage Testing Association (402-333-7485) to find a lab near you or ask your equine nutritionist or veterinarian to recommend a lab.

Another solution is to buy whole grains from companies that track each lot of grain from the farmer's field to the retail outlets where it is sold. With the lot number in hand, you can request the nutritional analysis of the grain you are feeding directly from the feed company.

A Comparison of Whole Grains Commonly Fed to Horses

SOURCE: Rich Equine Nutritional Consulting, Eads, Tennessee

Copyright 2002 Semican, Inc.

 Simplifying Horse Feeding

by Jacques Beauchesne, Semican, Inc. president

A combination of good quality hay and oats has long been considered the ideal equine diet. Quality forage should always be the cornerstone of any horse's diet. However, when growth, gestation, or the horse's workload create calorie demands that the horse cannot meet through hay consumption alone, oats are a safe grain choice to boost the horse's energy level.

Oats have a lower starch content than other grains making them less likely to cause problems such as colic or founder. Oat starch is more digestible than the starch in corn or barley. This makes oats a good grain choice for both horses on a low carbohydrate diet or those that need to gain weight. Oats are also less subject to toxic molds and mycotoxins than other grains. Best of all, horses readily clean up the tasty, soft, and easily chewed kernels.

No single foodstuff is perfect, however, and oats are no exception. They are low in calcium, beta carotene (the precursor of vitamin A), vitamins D, E, K, and several B vitamins. They are also low in several essential amino acids. Fortunately, horses synthesize the B vitamins and vitamin K they need in their hind gut. Sunshine provides vitamin D, and pasture or green, leafy hay provides beta carotene. Studies by biochemist Dr. Bill Collins of the Eastern Cereal & Oilseed Research Centre in Ottawa, Canada, show that although the vitamin E content of oats is low, they also contain high levels of other antioxidants that act to fortify their vitamin E. Still, good quality forage, oats, and free choice trace mineralized salt are a suitable diet for mature adult horses in light work or maintenance.

Some people criticize oats, compared to commercial mixed feeds, for their nutritional variability. The precise nutritional content of a given bag of oats, like that of any grain, can vary depending on the soil and growing conditions that produced it. Nutrient tables like those published in the National Research Council's Nutrient Requirements of Horses give horse owners average values to work with in formulating rations. But they do not tell you exactly what is in the particular bag of oats you just opened.

Most horse owners are unaware, however, that many commercial mixed feeds are not always consistent from lot to lot. While manufacturers guarantee specific nutritional minimums on each bag, the actual ingredients in the bag may vary over time. As the prices of raw ingredients go up or down, manufacturers change their ingredient formulas in order to stay profitable. As long as the feed still meets the nutritional levels stated on the feed label, that is a perfectly legitimate business practice. However, the owner seeking consistency in the diet of a horse prone to colic from feed changes, for example, is going to be disappointed.

Copyright 2002 Semican, Inc. 

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