Pet Care

What Makes Barley a Great Horse Feed?

Barley is one of the most important ingredients in several pre-mixed horse feeds. All across the globe, a lot of this crop is grown, and the availability of barley in pastures would determine whether it would be an essential component in your horse’s diet or not. Barley lies in the middle of corn and oats, By weight if you compare, barley offers more digestible energy as well as total nutrients available than oats, but still, it never reaches the levels of corn. But barley lacks vitamins A and D, so horse owners need to use alternative sources too.

Barley is traditional, nutritious, palatable, and good cereal grain for all horses. Barley must not be fed whole, but could be fed rolled, cut, micronized or steam flaked. The grains of barley are too hard and therefore need to be treated before feeding. It is important to know that every grain of barley locks in its great nutritional value.

Here are some great benefits of flaked barley horse feed:

  • Steam rolling begins the gelatinization process that is the cooking of the starch. It improves nutritional uptake, increases digestibility, and also enhances the palatability and nutritional value of grain.
  • Flaked barley for horses at Barastoc needs no cooking or soaking.
  • Could be used as a great balanced diet for livestock and horses as well.
  • Molasses is added for increasing palatability.
  • Great to be added as condition to horses.
  • Feeding barley is beneficial to make sure that they do not exhibit “hot” behavior many a times.
  • Each kilogram of barley contains about 33 to 3600 calories. And the total percentage of great nutrients which could be digested is approximately 82%, 6% of crude fiber, 14% crude protein, 0.38% of phosphorus, and 0.05% of calcium.

How barley should be fed to horses

Before feeding good quality barley of a reputable brand like Barastoc to horses in Australia, they must be cooked, crushed or rolled. When crushing and rolling, the grain must be crushed in a way that it should never be too fine. When it is cooked, this procedure should be carried out without crushing or rolling the grain first. The horse owner must be extremely careful about the grain’s condition before they feed their horse because if it is fed in an improper state, it could accumulate in the horse’s stomach, causing it to be colic.

Barley can also be mixed with a bulkier feed like wheat bran or chopped hay, lucerne chaff, sugar beet pulp, thus ensuring the bulkier feed comprises 15 to 25% of the mix.

If you looking for the best digestible supplement for your horses in Australia, choose flaked barley for horses at Barastoc. For working horses which can do an extra burst of energy, Barastoc Steam Flaked Barley & Molasses are ideal for horses that need a robust supplementary feed. It is specially designed to be consumed by horses, according to every horse’s specific condition as well as the quality of their present pasture. Therefore, choose the best possible barley for your horse’s feed.

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