Rowen Barbary Forage Fibre – 20kg Low-Energy, High-Fibre Horse & Pony Feed

Rowen Barbary Forage 'n' Fibre – 20kg

Forage 'n' Fibre is a blend of forages and fibres — oatfeed pellets, grass nuts, lucerne pellets, soya hulls and dried grass — put together to carry a horse's vitamins and minerals without carrying many calories with them. Digestible energy is 8 MJ/kg and protein just 8%, which is about as low as a fortified feed goes.

Starch is declared at 4.5% and sugar at 5.5%, and there are no cereals in it. Rowen Barbary list it for horses prone to laminitis and Cushing's syndrome as well as for good doers on restricted grazing, and for horses that turn excitable on a cereal ration.

Performance & Benefits

• Cereal-free blend of oatfeed pellets, grass nuts, lucerne pellets, soya hulls and dried grass.
• Low starch at 4.5%, with 24% fibre, on only 8 MJ/kg.
• Fortified with vitamins A, D3 and E, so a good doer on a small ration still gets its micronutrients.
• Soya oil included for skin and coat.
• Non-heating, which suits horses that get sharp on cereals.
• Protein at 8% — low enough to suit a horse already getting plenty from grass.

Suitable For

• Horses and ponies at maintenance or in light work.
• Good doers on restricted grazing.
• Horses prone to laminitis and Cushing's syndrome — Rowen Barbary name both.
• Horses that become excitable on cereal feeds.
• Not enough energy for a horse in hard work or one that needs to gain weight; Rowen Barbary Condition & Performance or Solution Mash suit better there.

Feeding

• Feed alongside forage, to bodyweight, condition and workload.
• Rowen Barbary's guide runs from 0.5–1kg a day for a 12hh pony in light work up to 3.5–5.25kg for a 17hh horse in hard work.
• Can be fed dry or damped; damping is worth doing for a horse that bolts its feed.
• Split anything over about 2kg across two feeds.
• Introduce over 7–10 days. Supplied in a 20kg bag.

Composition & Analysis

• Composition: oatfeed pellets, grass nuts, lucerne pellets, soya hulls, dried grass, molasses, soya oil.
• Digestible energy 8 MJ/kg. Protein 8%. Oil 4%. Fibre 24%. Starch 4.5%. Sugar 5.5%.
• Vitamin A 10,000 iu/kg. Vitamin D3 2,000 iu/kg. Vitamin E 100 iu/kg.
• Rowen Barbary publish no ash, calcium or phosphorus figure, so none is stated here.
• Figures of 25% fibre, 3% oil and 50 iu/kg vitamin E appear on some retail listings, along with an ingredient list naming alfalfa; the composition and analysis above are Rowen Barbary's own.