Dengie Feed Donation Couldn’t Have Come at a Better Time
This week we donated feed to Remus Memorial Horse Sanctuary in Essex with the help of wholesaler Essex Animal Feeds. We have been working with Remus for over 15 years, supporting their team offering nutrition advice and evaluating the horse’s diets.
“This donation of Dengie feed couldn’t have come at a better time. The recent wet and windy weather have reduced our turnout time, so we’re using more hay and bedding which has had an impact on our funds” says Sue Burton, Founder and Manager of Remus Horse Sanctuary. “The donation of Dengie’s Hi-Fi Molasses Free and Alfa-Beet has helped to ease that financial burden a little. Thanks Team Dengie for making this possible and to the team at Essex Animal Feeds for organising a swift and seamless delivery”.
Dengie Hi-Fi Molasses Free and Alfa-Beet are fed to a wide range of different horses, ponies and donkeys that live at Remus, many of which have dietary related issues such as PPID, EMS or poor dentition. This combination of high fibre feeds provides the horses and ponies with a low sugar and starch ration and can easily be eaten by those that struggle to chew.
“I have worked with the team at Remus for many years, they were actually one of the first places I visited when I joined the Dengie Nutrition team” says Tracey Hammond, Nutritionist at Dengie. “For me, beyond helping the horses, I have found it very rewarding supplying Sue and her team with the tools to make decisions on what and how much to feed, which means it’s only the really tricky cases they need to consult me on now”.
When Dengie first started working with Remus, they had a very elderly population including many animals with dental problems. Finding an appropriate alternative to hay that these individuals could chew was key to helping with weight gain and maintaining digestive health. Some of the horses were later involved in a Dengie funded study by a Writtle College student to assess the impact of poor dentition on forage consumption. It was found that those with poor teeth consumed 2/3 less than normal horses. When the fibre format was changed to a completely soaked fibre source, Dengie Alfa-Beet, there were no feed refusals at all showing that for the older horse, supplying fibre in a format they can easily chew is vital.
Over the years the population of horses at Remus has changed and the number of younger horses that are laminitis prone due to Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) has increased. The facilities at Remus have changed to reflect this and they now have some superb woodchip areas to manage those that have to have restricted or no grass access. With the cost of living crisis the demands on Remus have significantly increased. Not only are their own costs to run the charity increasing, but the requests to help horses has multiplied as well. It is wonderful that Dengie have been able to make a contribution of Hi-Fi Molasses Free and Alfa-Beet that the majority of the horses eat to help lighten the load.
For more information about Dengie’s feeds or for help and advice on all aspects of feeding call the Dengie Feedline: 01621 841188 or complete our Feed Advice Form.
