Hygain feeds reviews or additional information?

[MissAriel]

Hygain feeds have recently become the next “in” thing among some riders I know. I looked into the nutrition, and was less than impressed with the information provided on the product, particularly since this feed is $40 per 20 kg bag.

The nutrition analysis leaves out a lot of important nutrients like copper and zinc, the vitamin and mineral ingredients are lumped into “HYGAIN[SUP]®[/SUP] Vitamin and Chelated Mineral Premix” and many formulations include ingredients like corn and sunflower seeds and their RBO[SUP]®, [/SUP]rice bran oil blend, for which I couldn’t find the actual analysis.

So far, it looks like a high priced boutique feed that may or may not have much in the way of nutrition. I wish they would include more information on their products and less advertising.

[Scribbler]

Well they are Australian so I’m surprised they are selling in the USA?

I’m not impressed by the website. No NSC and the first ingredient is micromaize which I have to think is some proc eased corn product?

The website is not transparent enough for me and i feel they are hiding behind proprietary bafflegab.

I can’t see where it improves on numerous fortified feeds already available. I have no idea what niche it fills in Australia. I would pass.

[Postandrails]

Hygain aren’t a “boutique” or “niche” brand in Australia - they would be number 1 or 2, and have been around for a long time. I agree about the lack of nutrition analysis being frustrating though.

Scribbler, I’m not sure what product you were looking at to pick Micromaize as the first ingredient?

https://www.hygain.com.au/range/

I’m not sure what products are being used near you, OP, but the Hygain products are very popular here in Australia and many horses do well and look great on Hygain. They are used by top racing stables, FEI, Olympic competitors etc. I know you probably have enough feeds already in the US, but I certainly wouldn’t be wary of the Hygain brand.

There are a couple of Hygain products which might be useful/unique in the US. Hygain Zero is a very low NSC feed at around 5 or 6% and is used a lot here for laminitic or IR horses.

Hygain Fibre Essentials is a fairly unique product. It is useful for adding additional fibre, especially for horses which can’t each much hay any more. It is marketed as a partial hay replacer, and it is very digestible and extremely palatable - the horses absolutely love it. It only needs to be dampened and it crumbles down into a soft almost-mash, but can also be fed dry as it is easily chewed. It is an alternative or addition to hay cubes, alfalfa pellets, beet pulp etc. but requires no soaking. It’s pricey, but like I said, the horses absolutely love it and I’ve never come across a horse who didn’t.

[Scribbler]

@Postandrails

Hygain aren’t a “boutique” or “niche” brand in Australia - they would be number 1 or 2, and have been around for a long time. I agree about the lack of nutrition analysis being extremely frustrating.

There are a couple of Hygain products which might be useful in the US. Hygain Zero is a very low NSC feed at around 5 or 6% and is used a lot here for laminitic or IR horses.

Hygain Fibre Essentials is a fairly unique product. It is useful for adding additional fibre, especially for horses which can’t each much hay any more. It is marketed as a partial hay replacer, and it is very digestible and extremely palatable - the horses absolutely love it. It only needs to be dampened and it crumbles down into a soft almost-mash, but can also be fed dry as it is easily chewed. It is an alternative or addition to hay cubes, alfalfa pellets, beet pulp etc. but requires no soaking. It’s pricey, but like I said, the horses absolutely love it and I’ve never come across a horse who didn’t.

I’m not sure what products are being used near you, OP, but the Hygain products are fairly popular here in Australia. I’m not sure what their proprietary blends of vit/min are, but many horses do well and look great on Hygain.

I know you probably have enough feeds already in the US, but I certainly wouldn’t be wary of the Hygain brand.

Thank you, good to know! Was hoping an Aussie would chime in!

[Postandrails]

Sorry Scribbler. I was editing my post to add more info while you were replying!

[MissAriel]

@Postandrails Thank you for the info. I guess given the added cost associated with getting it here, I want to really make sure of what I am feeding, if I were to use this. As it stands, my easy keeper is on a minimal diet of a V/M supp in just enough beet pulp to make it edible, so I doubt I’d switch, but I was curious.

Release, Showtorque and the Zero are a couple I have heard mentioned locally.

[chippychaps]

Hi! Just thought I’d chime in as your local SD Hygain rep. I would have to agree that our US website is a bit unappealing, but you can find more nutrient specs on the Aussie site. I’m happy to send a more complete analysis your way and I’ve also done up several comparisons to feeds available on the US market. In general, you’ll find that the Hygain feeds are going to be higher in micros and macros.

Let me know if there’s a specific feed you’d like to try and I’ll arrange a couple of free bags for you

[Palm_Beach]

@MissAriel

@Postandrails Thank you for the info. I guess given the added cost associated with getting it here, I want to really make sure of what I am feeding, if I were to use this. As it stands, my easy keeper is on a minimal diet of a V/M supp in just enough beet pulp to make it edible, so I doubt I’d switch, but I was curious.

Release, Showtorque and the Zero are a couple I have heard mentioned locally.

You need to hang with some different riders. Success in horses is all about hard work, not what you scoop out of a bag. Look at your horses, do they look great, are they healthy, good coats, good feet? If the answer is Yes, then focus on riding and training and ignore what everyone else is touting as the next “in” thing. There are lots of great feed products out there, and only one person gets the blue ribbon. I guarantee it’s not the result of a specific feed. Look to yourself and what you are doing (or not doing) with your horse. That is the reason for your level of success.

[chickenstuffer]

@Palm Beach

Success in horses is all about hard work, not what you scoop out of a bag.

And if your horse has some sort of nutritional deficiency they will never thrive, no matter how much work you’re putting into it. If you’re feeding a sub-standard feed or your pasture is lacking is areas that aren’t being met by the feed it will eventually show up in your horse’s work ability, even if they have a nice coat.

Our success is half hard work and half nutrition, which ultimately comes down to… what we scoop out of a bag.

MissAriel - for the record, I feed Hygain. Like a lot of other feed manufacturers, you have to feed large amounts of the feed to get the intended vit/min levels and that can make them very expensive impo. I feed lower rates and then top them up with a vit/min balancer.

[Palm_Beach]

@chickenstuffer

And if your horse has some sort of nutritional deficiency they will never thrive, no matter how much work you’re putting into it. If you’re feeding a sub-standard feed or your pasture is lacking is areas that aren’t being met by the feed it will eventually show up in your horse’s work ability, even if they have a nice coat.

Our success is half hard work and half nutrition, which ultimately comes down to… what we scoop out of a bag.

MissAriel - for the record, I feed Hygain. Like a lot of other feed manufacturers, you have to feed large amounts of the feed to get the intended vit/min levels and that can make them very expensive impo. I feed lower rates and then top them up with a vit/min balancer.

OP is already using a v/m supp and has an easy keeper, so probably a product that needs to be fed in large amounts of feed is not what she is looking for. There are so many premium products out there, possibly a different one will fit her needs better.

“Reports of uncomplicated nutrient deficiencies in horses are rare.” Sarah L. Ralston , VMD, PhD, DACVN, Department of Animal Sciences, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University

That is from the Merck Manual.

[JB]

@Palm Beach

“Reports of uncomplicated nutrient deficiencies in horses are rare.” Sarah L. Ralston , VMD, PhD, DACVN, Department of Animal Sciences, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University

That is from the Merck Manual.

Context PB, context!

Here’s the whole quote:
“Reports of uncomplicated nutrient deficiencies in horses are rare. The nutrients most likely to be deficient are caloric sources, protein, calcium, phosphorus, copper, sodium chloride, and selenium, depending on age and type of horse and geographic area. Signs of deficiency are frequently nonspecific, and diagnosis may be complicated by deficiencies of several nutrients simultaneously. The consequences of increased susceptibility to parasitism and bacterial infections may be superimposed over still other clinical signs.”

[MissAriel]

To be clear, I’m very happy where my horse is nutritionally and in work. He’s healthy, sound and in good weight. To be clear, my lack of skills as a not very coordinated middle aged ammy is what is holding him back from progressing faster now, not his feed regimen.

Im not looking to make a change, but as a scientist, I enjoy learning about new things. So I came here to see if others had a better source of information than I had found. Thank you,

@chippychaps for pointing out the Aussie site is a bit better than the US site. And thank you for the offer of a trial bag. I will be in touch if I decide a change to his current program makes sense.

And this is a product being used by a number of professionals who ride FEI near me. I don’t think any got where they are without a lot of hard work and attention to every little detail. One happens to be from Australia, so that fits.

[Palm_Beach]

@JB

Context PB, context!

Here’s the whole quote:
“Reports of uncomplicated nutrient deficiencies in horses are rare. The nutrients most likely to be deficient are caloric sources, protein, calcium, phosphorus, copper, sodium chloride, and selenium, depending on age and type of horse and geographic area. Signs of deficiency are frequently nonspecific, and diagnosis may be complicated by deficiencies of several nutrients simultaneously. The consequences of increased susceptibility to parasitism and bacterial infections may be superimposed over still other clinical signs.”

Yes, they are RARE and then they are listed in order of likelihood - but they are still rare.

[JB]

UNcomplicated nutrient deficiencies are rare, meaning, it’s pretty easy to determine the deficiency.

Ralston did not say nutritional deficiencies as a whole are rare.

[Palm_Beach]

@JB

UNcomplicated nutrient deficiencies are rare, meaning, it’s pretty easy to determine the deficiency.

Ralston did not say nutritional deficiencies as a whole are rare.

So complicated nutritional deficiencies are common? Wonder why they are not mentioned at all in the manual if it something a vet or horse owner would probably encounter at some point in time. Odd that it would be left out of the section on nutrition.

[JB]

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

The opposite of rare is not common.

[Palm_Beach]

@JB

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

The opposite of rare is not common.

So why would they only discuss the rare deficiencies and not the “not common” deficiencies? Maybe all that eye rolling can help you figure it out. Or maybe Google? You know the internet is a great source of information.

[JB]

“uncomplicated nutrient deficiencies in horses are rare” does not equate to “nutrient deficiencies are rare”. The section talks about the nutrient deficiencies most likely to occur, without anything stating they are rare or common or anywhere in between. I don’t know how to make that any more clear. Certainly energy deficiencies are not rare - look at all the starved horses out there - and that’s the very first ones they talk about.

You also didn’t understand my comment. The opposite of “not rare” isn’t common.

In case anyone wants to actually do some reading:
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/manag…ases-of-horses (where PB originally pulled the quote)

and the entire National Research Council’s Nutrient Requirements for Horses
https://www.nap.edu/catalog/11653/nu…evised-edition (scroll a bit, the book is all there, not just options to buy)

The NRC book does talk about how some of these nutrients are rarely to never documented, such as a folate deficiency (never documented, at least as of the 2007 release of the book)

[enjoytheride]

I think that it’s a boutique feed, and if you have the budget for grain that expensive then go for it. I do think there are less trendy brands that will serve you just as well without scaring you about nutritional deficiencies and non organic products.

[JB]

@enjoytheride

I think that it’s a boutique feed, and if you have the budget for grain that expensive then go for it. I do think there are less trendy brands that will serve you just as well without scaring you about nutritional deficiencies and non organic products.

I checked several feeds and saw no mention of organic ingredients, in the sense of “certified organic”. The “organic” used in their literature is in the context of minerals - organic vs inorganic - and you want organic minerals as much as you can - they are much more bioavailable. Most high end feeds use organic forms of minerals.

@MissAriel I’m not sure why you are sayin "The nutrition analysis leaves out a lot of important nutrients like copper and zinc, " - all 3 of the feeds you mentioned list both those right in the analysis.
https://hygainfeeds.com/product/zero/

I’m guessing the cost is in part due to using more $$$ sweet lupins as the main protein source, instead of cheap soy. That’s a GREAT thing for those who want to avoid soy, or have to avoid it, and there’s just no way around it costing more to get the same protein % without soy. And as sweet lupins have a lower amino acid profile, more has to be used to compare to soy, or more AAs added, which makes things more $$.

I don’t find this boutique at all - it’s a fortified feed that uses a non-soy protein source which is what a lot more horse owners are clamouring for