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1 Fall 2014 BROOKS PERFORMANCE HORSE FEEDS 1580 HIGHWAY 7 A PORT PERRY ONTARIO L9L 1B5 I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E 1/ Product announcement! Brooks supports worthy causes! 2/ When to use Fibrelite 3/ When not to use Fibrelite! 4/ Risks in fall pastures Before and after transitions on Brooks Feeds 5/ Fibrelite information sheet Like us on Facebook Product Announcement Fibre-Lite New from Brooks Feeds is a convenient choice to add some extra fibre to your horse s ration when on pasture or when hay is in short supply. Maybe your just want to offer a very low NSC concentrate to your carbohydrate challenged horse or something you can soak and feed to an aged horse with poor teeth. Fibrelite could be the answer. Available in a large pellet format Fibrelite has Brook s quality in the formulation so you know you re not just feeding filler fibres as may be the case with alternative products. See the last page of this newsletter or go to for more information. Brooks Feeds supported a very worthy cause on August 15 th. The Long Run Thoroughbred Retirement Society held a silent auction and fund raiser. We were pleased to donate a gift certificate for the auction and a donation to this very worthy cause. The organization works to find and transition former race horses to new lives. For more information visit their web site.

2 When to use Fibrelite There are situations where Fibrelite is a good option to provide adequate calories for maintenance and work. For example a horse that needs 4-5 pounds of Fibrelite per day to maintain weight and perform satisfactorily is getting a good balance of minerals and vitamins as well as sufficient calories in a very low NSC formulation. Compare these two rations. Ration A uses 5 pounds of a typical 12% sweet feed with around 16 pounds per day of hay. Ration B uses 5 pounds per day of Fibrelite with the same amount of hay. There is a significant difference in the amount of NSC in the two rations and there is also a significant undesired weight gain on the sweet feed ration. In this case Fibrelite is a better fit than the sweet feed. 180% 160% 140% 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% A/ Sweet Feed B/ Fibrelite NSC Calorie Intake NSC from Concentrate As a Hay Replacer Weight gain Weight Gain Lbs/day There are times when Fibrelite can replace part of the hay in the ration because of the built in high quality fibre. There could be a number of reasons for doing so. 1/ Hay is in short supply 2/ Hay is of very poor quality 3/ To replace some of the hay as a better option than increasing the grain ration where more calories are needed.. Fibrelite added No Fibrelite The latter situation could be a hard working horse that is already getting a large amount of grain but still needs to gain some weight. In this example the horse was being fed 9 pounds of grain per day but was working quite hard and not gaining weight. By replacing just 4 pounds per day of hay with Fibrelite the horse would start gaining weight while maintaining a healthy fibre intake without increasing the grain ration.

3 Overweight horse with insulin resistance. When not to use Fibrelite or other so called ultra-low NSC Feeds The objective with this horse is to limit the NSC intake and encourage weight loss. It would seem that an ultralow NSC feed would be a logical choice then. However keep in mind that all complete feeds require a minimum daily feeding rate in order to properly balance the minerals and vitamins. The hay only ration illustrates the lack of a balanced ration on a hay only diet. (minimum 1.5% of bodyweight) The hay plus Fibrelite ration illustrates how 4 pounds per day of Brooks Fibrelite nicely balances the total ration with the same amount of hay. Hay Only Hay plus Fibrelite The flaw in this suggested ration however is two-fold. Number one instead of our overweight horse losing ½ pound per day on hay only, she will actually gain about ¼ pound per day by adding enough Fibrelite to balance the ration. Secondly even though Fibrelite is an ultra-low NSC formulation we ve actually unnecessarily increased the amount of NSC fed daily. A better strategy in this case is a ration balancer like Enhancer/All Phase 20. One pound of Enhancer nicely balances the ration with adequate minerals and vitamins at just over ¼ of the daily cost. Just as importantly we feed less NSC using Enhancer compared to the Fibrelite ration and our horse still loses weight. 140% 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Enhancer ration Fibrelite ration NSC Calorie Intake NSC from Concentrate Weight gain Weight Gain Lbs/day

4 Autumn Grass Poses Risk for Laminitic Horses Horse owners know to be cautious when allowing horses access to lush green pasture in the spring. But that tired-looking autumn grass can be just as dangerous for some animals at risk of laminitis. Fructan levels in pasture grasses are known to vary by season, location, time of day, grazing pattern, plant species, and field topography. In addition, individual equines have different tolerances. For extremely sensitive horses, there is no completely safe time to graze. Pasture grasses contain high levels of soluble sugars and nonstructural carbohydrates during their active growth phase. When cold temperatures cause growth to cease, the sugar cannot be utilized as fast as it is produced. The grass accumulates sugars in the stem base in an attempt to fuel regrowth, resulting in plants that are both more easily digested and sweeter to hungry horses. For horses prone to laminitis, restrict or avoid grazing when night temperatures are below 40 F (5 C), followed by sunny days. When the growth of grass resumes, these sugars will be used to form protein and fiber and will not accumulate. Sensitive horses should graze late at night or very early in the morning, with horses removed from pasture by midmorning at the latest. Avoid having horses graze mature stemmy grass; grass changing from the leaf-growth stage to the seed-/earemergence stage, such as during late spring; during periods of sunny, cold weather such as late fall after the autumn flush of growth and cool, sunny winter days; or on recently cut stubble. In those situations, utilize grazing muzzles or restrict horses to a drylot and provide low-carbohydrate hay. Transformations Thanks to Heather McNaughton of Guelph who sent us this before and after just a few months on Fibre Omega Plus. Thanks to Misty Gay for sending this before and after transformation on Fibre Omega Plus. Thanks Heather! Thank you so much for having such great products! This is by far the best program we ve been on, all our horses look amazing! Valerie Goyette was very happy to share this transformation with us and very appreciative of field rep Tania Laframboise s assistance! Belinda La Belle

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