Ingredient Focus – Oat Feed

Oat Feed is commonly used in horse feeds in the UK and Ireland, but it is often thought of as a ‘filler’ with little nutrient value. However, far from just a filler, it is actually a very useful ingredient that we include in many of our feeds which provides a range of benefits for your horse.

What is Oat Feed?

Oat feed is by-product of oat milling and is made up of the outer hairs and husks of the oat grain but can often include oat bran.  Oat feed is then pelleted and added as a palatable ingredient to form part of a nutritious horse feed.

Nutritional Benefits of Oat feed

• Oat feed is high in digestible fibres which support healthy hindgut microbes.
• The oat bran within oat feed contains Beta Glucan a beneficial form of soluble fibre.
• The benefits of Beta Glucan include:
  • the formation of gels which have a protective effect on gut membranes,
  • regulation of the release of sugars from the digestive system,
  • normalising the rate food moves through the digestive tract
  • boosting overall immunity.
• Oat feed is much lower in starch than the oat itself and makes a useful inclusion for horses and ponies prone to laminitis and metabolic problems.
• Oat feed supplies a source of slow release energy to support work and condition.

At Castle Horse Feeds, we like to embrace useful ingredients that offer good nutrition for your horse. Therefore, oat feed is included throughout the majority of our feeds, with the exception of the Smart Balancer range.