Have you ever heard of this. I was researching and this came up several times to help mares increase their milk production. Some say they feed it 6 weeks before the “due date” and others start as soon as the mare foals. I had never heard of it. Is anyone her familiar with it?
I do not think cocoa powder itself but possibly cocoa fat
I googled – google is such a funny thing. First reference was in horsesandhoundsuk bb and had great anecdotes about using on broodmares to improve milk. Second one said:
“Cocoa powder can be fatal for animals such as horses, dogs, parrots, small rodents and cats. They cannot metabolize theobromine and caffeine found in chocolate as effectively as humans.”
Though source #1 was talking about a tablespoon or so, and source #2 mentioned “excessive amounts” which for a horse may be considerably more than a tablespoon!
It must be the fat or calcium, both of which could probably be obtained somewhere else more easily.
I have successfully used the cocoa powder for the mares.
Would like to hear experiences with the Dutch Process vs the Natural.
