Sweet Feed - Yuck!
One of the biggest culprits in dis-ease in horses is manufactured feeds. Not to put too fine a point on it but the great majority of horse grains and pet foods are made up of agri-waste. Most of the "grain" (and I use this term loosely) in your standard sweet feed is what was left over after making other products for humans.
The primary focus for the health of our animal guests is NUTRITION! In my opinion, a holistic approach to animal nutrition means looking at what Mother Nature, in her infinite wisdom, fed an animal. Then looking at how stress and caloric need changes affect their overall health and using foods naturally found in their diet to keep the body in balance.
First - horses GRAZE. They are not designed to eat concentrated calories in short bursts. In fact, concentrated feeds such as hay pellets & cubes and pelleted grains can lead to sand colic, teeth problems and overall poor nutrient assimilation. Here in Arizona grass pasture is rare and expensive. And it is less expensive to grow a low-water legume like Alfalfa than it is grass. But feeding alfalfa is to save money is short sighted and can get very expensive in future veterinary bills. Click here for a more complete article on Why Not to Feed Alfalfa.
The most common questions that I am being asked about our plans involve a more complete picture of what we mean by "holistic" boarding. One large consideration is flys... How do you keep the fly population down without poision? First - we use (and resell) fly biological fly elimiators:
After over a year of dreaming we have some pretty clear ideas about what we would like to see the ranch evolve into. We will start with the basics that are ready to go: the bed and breakfast along with horse boarding. But not standard, shove them in a 10' x 15' pen with alfalfa hay, boarding.
Our vision is for a holistic boarding facility: The large 100' to 200' horse runs. daily or weekly turnout on pasture, good bermuda grass hay, organic grain mix and free choice minerals. We will filter the water going into the waterers and set out salt controlled minerals for the full-time pasture animals. No chemical fly control will be used. Instead we will use fly parasites from Arbico, consistent manure spreading on the unoccupied pasture along with non-toxic fly traps.
I see so many miserable horses that are left in pens for weeks, months or years at a time. We no longer feed them in any way resembling how they ate in nature: concentrated pellets, high-protien legumes (alfalfa), and junk quality grains no fit for human consumption that are covered with animal fat and preserved with ethoxyquin (agent orange). YUCK!
Here, horses will eat like horses and enjoy romps in large pastures with their friends!
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