Yeast in a Horses Diet

Yeast in animal feed has been around for years. It is typically added to beef and dairy nutrition and rarely to equine. Lately there is talk about feeding yeast to horses.

So, what is yeast culture?

Yeast culture, by definition, is “the dried product compost of yeast and the media it was grown in, dried in such a manner as to preserve the fermenting activity of the yeast. “

The benefit of feeding yeast culture comes from the metabolites produced in fermentation in the hind gut. It is thought to stimulate the bacteria therefore increasing activity which then will result in an increase in digestion. Research has found that bacteria which digest fiber in the hind gut of the horse increased in numbers when the yeast culture was supplemented.

This means the horse can use more nutrients because they can break down dry matter and fiber resulting in volatile fatty acids which is an energy source for the horse.

The use of yeast cultures in the performance horse is not fully researched. Some studies showed that horses that horses supplemented with yeast culture had a reduction in blood lactate. This can be beneficial   because the horse will not get lethargic as quickly and be able to perform longer.

Feeding yeast to broodmares have shown improved fiber, protein and phosphorus digestibility and a short term increase in milk production. This increase lasted for the first two weeks of lactation. An analysis of milk from yeast fed broodmares showed improvements in the nutrient contentment for the first 8 weeks of lactation.  The protein level and gross energy content were also increased.  This increase in quality of milk improved the growth of the foals during the first 8 weeks of life.

As a recap, feeding yeast to horses has many benefits. It improves the digestibility of fiber in diets that have high forage diets, also improved protein digestion. It is important to meet your horses needs from his diet, yeast will help insure the digestion of the nutrients.

The complete line of Front Runner feed all contain yeast to insure maximum usage of nutrients in your horses diet.

What Initials on Feed Bags Mean

DE: Digestible energy (calories), used to fuel chemical reactions within the body and muscle contraction.

CP: Crude Protein, the major component of muscle, enzymes and hormones.

Ca: Calcium, a mineral making up 35 % of bone structure, involved in muscle contractions and blood clotting.

P: Phosphorus, a mineral making up about 17% of the skeleton, also involved in energy transfer reactions.

Cu: Copper, a mineral involved in synthesis and maintenance of elastics connective tissue

Zn: Zinc, a mineral involved in chemical reactions that are necessary to form bone, skin and connective tissue.

Se: Selenium: a mineral involved as an antioxidant in the body

Mn: Manganese, a mineral involved in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism and for the synthesis of chondrotin sulfate necessary for cartilage formation.

I: Iodine, a mineral necessary to form thyroid hormones that regulated basal metabolism

Lys: Lysine, an amino acid, the first limiting amino acid in diets for growing foals

VitA: a vitamin important for vision and born formation

VitE: a vitamin that functions with selenium as an antioxidant

Starch: chain of glucose from plants, when digested glucose is released

NSC: non structural carbohydrate is old term used to describe carbs