WOW. How cool is that?! The microbiome is amazing!
1 Like
For those of you that feed whole flax - how much are you feeding? I have had my horse on Smartpak’s flax but did not note much of a difference with it.
I do a cup of whole, or a half cup of ground. The horses gleam! 
@Jillofalltrades Oh, thanks, I’m in IL, so no go on that!
@Scoutranger My choice of feed stores is limited, compounded by the fact that I work out of my home on our farm, and don’t get out and about more than once a week or so. The feed store I’m using is the only one I’ve found locally that carries TC30 and Tribute Kalm & EZ, and I go by there about twice a month, so I’ll probably stick with them. If I could find something cost-effective to order online, that might work, but so far no go.
@ActNatural See above, I’m in a small (>2000) rural town with the nearest bulk-type store being a Sam’s Club, so options are limited.
@stressgirl37 Thanks so much for that link! I’ve bookmarked it, and it makes me want to start taking flax again for my own health! I used to, but sort of got out of the habit. Funny how I tend to prioritize my horses’ health over mine sometimes!
Thanks again for the input, everyone!
Thank you for this thread. I think flax is the cheapest, best option for a lot of things. I have been feeding whole flax forever and the horses look fabulous. I recently started grinding it to see if it makes a difference. I don’t really think it does.
I am going to go with the Kentucky Equine Research Study and going back to feeding whole! I never saw any whole seeds in the manure, but I was going with the conventional thinking and trying grinding.
I use cold pressed flax oil over my horse’s very small portion of grain/alfalfa food and vit/min supplement. He eats it just fine, and it’s quite economical. I also then don’t have to worry about seeds or griding the seeds.
I don’t know about the pricing and availability where you are though.
Awesome! Thank you!
del
With the seeds being so small it would be easy enough to pick out the offending stems or peas sized things. I get my flax from our local feed co-op and it comes from the same place as yours and I’ve never had an issue with any foreign objects.
At $20 a bag ( great price)I refuse to pay $28.00 for ground in an 8 pound container . I have no sprouts in my manure pile and the obvious benefits I see mean that my guys at least are chewing their food.
If your bag has stuff in it return it and make sure the new one is debris free.
I feed 1/2 cup of whole flax a day to my horses. The donkeys get between 1/8-1/4 cup a day, too (small handful).
I feed 1/2 cup whole flax seed, twice a day with the grain ration. (which is mostly beep, crushed oats, salt, and a handful of actual grain.)
Horses are all shiny, not too fat but not skinny. Seems to work for my guys!
Is Brooks Feed available where you are? I feed my OTTB Flax Appeal, and a 50b bag is $35, and lasts about 6 months. He’s only been on it since October, and I’ve already noticed a huge difference in his coat and weight.
Ocala Breeders Sales
There is also an Ocala Breeders Feed & Supply
Good read. According to Dr. Getty - "Whole flaxseeds are wasteful. Flaxseeds are tiny, and are not adequately chewed, leaving an intact outer hull. As a result, two things can happen: The hindgut bacteria can digest the fibrous hull, and ferment the seeds’ contents. This would provide energy for your horse, but nothing more, since the EFAs cannot be absorbed from the cecum and large colon; or the whole seeds may escape digestion altogether and end up in the manure. "
So according to Dr. Getty, the lack of whole seeds in the KER study horse manure is meaningless, but multiple folks here feed whole flax and opine that they saw a difference in the coats of their horses.
1 Like
@Simkie Thanks for that link! They have a 25# price of 99 cents a pound, and with shipping would be about $40/25 lbs., not too bad if I decide to stay with whole flax.
@CanteringCarrot I’ve tried feeding oil in the past, but without a heated feed room I think feeding it in the winter would be an issue for me.
@candyappy Here is a photo of the offending feed. I’m not going to pay $32 a bag for stuff like this, there’s too much to even pick through. And opening bags, taping them up so they don’t spill all over the trunk of my car and returning them is a total pain! Hence my searching for options.
@BrookdaleBay Looks like Brooks Feed is only available in Canada. I’m in the states.
Thanks again, everyone!
That is a lot of junk. Maybe they had a weedy patch when they combined the seeds. I can’t believe it is a common occurrence. $32 a bag is quite the price difference seems odd it would be so much more in IL when coming from the same place.
I am sure you will find a solution.
I looked at the pic and the pea sized round things are actually the seed balls from the flax plant that haven’t threshed out properly. Most of the finer ‘sticks’ are bits of straw but the big one looks like a stem from dockweed; the former will not hurt the horse, but the latter should be picked out. Used to bed on flax straw and there were always a few seed balls left along with the fine stems they grow on - horses would eat the seed balls and the fine stems and, pardon the pun, piss on the rest
1 Like
Wow, they’re not giving you any deal for being nearby–that’s about what I’d pay to have it shipped to CT!
