Introducing our NEW lowest calorie fibre feed!
We are excited to announce the NEW addition to our grass range of fibre feeds – Meadow Lite with Herbs! The ULTRA low-calorie straw and grass blend suitable for good doers and those prone to laminitis.
Meadow Lite with Herbs is now the lowest calorie fibre feed in the Dengie range, providing just 5MJ/kg of digestible energy! It is also naturally low in starch (0.5%) and sugar (3%).
Soft, tasty meadow grasses have been blended with high-quality oat straw to offer a low-calorie feed, which does not compromise on chew time. “Feeding straw can be very beneficial particularly for good doers” says Dr. Katie Williams, Dengie’s Technical & Product Development Manager. “Recent studies have shown using straw as part of the ration not only provides a valuable source of low-calorie fibres, but increases sorting or searching behaviour which in turn increases the amount of time horses spend eating.”
Low in calories should not mean that horse owners have to compromise on taste and interest for their horse. We have therefore enriched Meadow Lite with cinnamon and thyme, a combination of flavours that have worked really well in trials! Horses and ponies will not be able to resist!
“Although straw has very little buffering capability feeding it is still beneficial for gastric health” adds Katie. “Straw increases chew time and therefore greater saliva production.” This is important as saliva contains bicarbonate which naturally helps buffer acidity in the horse’s digestive tract. More chews = more saliva = better digestive health! Our research has shown that owners of good doers are increasingly worried about feeding sufficient fibre to promote gut health without resulting in weight gain and Meadow Lite with Herbs is perfect for this scenario.
Postbiotics are included in Meadow Lite with Herbs to support the gut microbiota for general health and wellbeing. While many horse owners will be familiar with using prebiotics and probiotics to promote digestive health, postbiotics are much less widely known. To put it simply, when microbes feed on prebiotics they produce postbiotics through the fermentation of food. Postbiotics have multiple important health promoting functions in our horse’s guts including maintaining the guts defences against pathogenic bacteria and other harmful substances.
A very light dressing of rapeseed and linseed oils is added to promote healthy skin and coat shine. Linseed is widely recognized as a great source of omega 3 essential fatty acids.
All Dengie feeds are free from GM ingredients, and additionally Meadow Lite with Herbs is free from molasses, cereals, alfalfa, preservatives, and binders.
Look out for the new Dengie Meadow Lite with Herbs which will start appearing in stores from the end of October!
