Re: Milk Pellets

["Susan Garlinghouse" <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

The only reason nutritionally would be that supplementing calcium helps a
particular layer of the hoof wall (the stratum medium) regrow, but the milk
pellets are only beneficial if the diet is otherwise lacking in calcium.
It's pretty unusual to find a diet so deficient in calcium that you would
need to supplement it specifically, but just in case that were so, you could
supply the calcium easier and cheaper with a handful or two of alfalfa.  The
calcium in alfalfa is slightly bound by oxalates, so not *quite* as
bioavailable as that found in milk pellets, so fine.....feed an extra
handful of alfalfa.  Still beats paying fifty bucks for a 25 lb bag of foal
pellets.  I can't remember where you're located Jerri, so if it's back east,
than any of the good quality hays back there have all the calcium you could
possibly want or need.

Just maybe the other idea behind the milk pellets is to provide some amino
acids, but again, if you're feeding a decent ration, it's not an issue.

So assuming your ration is otherwise a good one, you don't need to
supplement extra calcium.  Biotin wouldn't be a bad idea, though.  That
specifically has some benefits to the stratum externum layer, as well as
other areas of the foot.

Good luck. :-)

Susan G
----- Original Message -----
From: Jerri Larsen <jerril@ycsi.net>
To: <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2001 7:53 AM
Subject: RC: Milk Pellets


> Hi
> What are some of the advantages of feeding milk pellets to our horses?  It
> was suggested that I feed these at a cup a day to a foundered horse.  Does
> anyone else use these, and if so for what reasons.
>
> Thanks
> Jerri
>
>
>
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