I currently feed whole flax seeds with good results for coat sheen, etc. BUT I do notice plenty of little flax sprouts in the manure pile 
(Teeth are done regularly and meals are dampened with water before feeding.)
Does anyone know if the ground flax at Southern States is as nutritious? I would think there would be less wasteā¦ I do believe it is āstabilizedā but the clerks there didnāt know much about itās nutritional value and there are no tags on the flax bags. I realize I could grind my own, but it sure would be easier not to.
I know others are going to disagree, but I saw dramatically different results feeding the same amount of whole flax seeds vs. ground flax to my herd.
I have not used the Southern States brand, but I used Manna Proās Simply Flax ground flaxseed for nearly a year and saw little to none of the usual good benefits of flax.
I switched back to an equivalent amount of whole flax seed and POW, all those great results were back within days.
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I havenāt used the flax from SS either, but do use simple ground flax for my guys. One time the feed store had a bag of whole flax that ripped open and lost some volume, and I bought it on discount. Didnāt notice a difference in my horses between whole and ground, and ground is cheaper where I buy it, so Iāve stuck with that.
According to an article in The Horse, ground is better because the horses absorb the omegas better, but you have to worry about the ground version going rancid faster (if itās unstabilized). Since I live in the south and have high humidity, I simply pour some into a used 5 lb supplement bucket to keep in the barn while the rest of the 50 lb bag stays in the climate-controlled house.
Article: http://www.thehorse.com/articles/33616/5-facts-about-flax
I buy whole flax and on busy days I just feed it whole, but on good days I throw it in the coffee grinder. It literally takes 60 extra seconds to grind.
[QUOTE=1bigPercheron;7774567]
I currently feed whole flax seeds with good results for coat sheen, etc. BUT I do notice plenty of little flax sprouts in the manure pile :D[/QUOTE]
Wait ā¦ if the flax seeds are passing through so undamaged as to be able to sprout, surely the horse is getting virtually no nutritional value from them?
What do these āsproutsā look like? How do you know they are flax sprouts, specifically?
I feel whole flax too but have never seen this phenomenon ā¦
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well, Iām fairly certain they are flax sproutsā¦ they look exactly like the pictures I see when I google image āflax sproutsā ! which by the way seem to have some commercial value - hmmmm 
I imagine there are hundreds of seeds in a cup of whole flax so itās probably a small amount that is passing ? Iām not going to worry too much about it and do as quarterhorse4me does and grind when I have time.
When Iāve fed WHOLE flaxseeds I have the most beautiful flax plants with lovely sky blue blossoms in the spring. And itās all around the farm where Iāve spread manure. Thus, I try to only feed ground.
BTW, when I tire of grinding seeds I buy Omega Horseshine in large bags and honestly I see a difference in coat and skin condition. That stuff is great if you havenāt tried it.
I love Omega Horseshine too, but I did buy the big bag and had the feeling that towards the end of the bag it somehow smelled different. I only feed 7 horses with it, But i will buy the smaller bags nowā¦
Just be sure what youāre buying as ground flax is whole ground flax and not the meal. The meal is whatās left after the oil is extracted.
The best way to feed flax is by grinding it fresh daily. I grind a full cup in a large coffee grinder in less than 15 seconds. High quality flax seed isnāt cheap and Iād prefer not to seed the manure pile with it.
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if you buy ground flax that isnāt stabilized, as soon as it meets oxygen the omegaās start to go rancid and it is best to feed right away. as far as i have heard if you leave it out as little as 30 mins ground up, the omega 3ās are mostly gone.
so basically then you are feeding the oil/fat which will give you a shiny coat but not the anti-inflammatory effect.
Iāve always fed whole and loved the benefits Iāve seen from it. If I had my horse at home myself I would grind it, but since others were feeding it I provided whole flax seed. I wasnāt able to find any whole to buy at the feed store (never looked into ordering it) only ground, so Iā¦bought whole flax seed in 1 lb bags at ocean state job lot for $2.99 each. Gulp. Bug it worked for me at the time. I guess 10 lbs for 30 dollars is alot, but I only fed a cup a day or so and it lasted a month. Worked for me at the time.
Anywho, whole flax seed for me, and I would grind it myself if I was the one doing the feeding, but my horse benefitted nicely with weight gain and looooooverly coat from the whole.
Iāve fed whole and ground in the past. They still absorb the oils etc from whole flax, even if you are seeing flax in their stool.
I just did a trip to SS yesterday as it turns out. SS sells ground stabilized flax seed in 40# bags I think it is. Their brand. They also sell 2 other brands. I ended up buying the 25# bag of Omegashine. SS price was $1.09/lb, Omegashine $1.29 and the other smaller size of another brand was more expensive. I got the Omega because Iām only feeding one horse flax so donāt need the volume. I noticed the grind is finer than the batch I got at the local coop too. I figure itās better for freshness to buy it in smaller volumes. But buying whole seeds and have the feed store grind it that day is the best then you know WHEN it was ground. Seal in airtight containers too. One local feed store even lets you buy ANY volume you want then they grind it for you. Check into that. That stuff is magical I swear. I find you can feed less volume than is usually prescribed. EX: calls for 6 ozs. daily and half that works.
I ground mine for awhile. Used a cheapie small coffee grinder.
Reported.
