The versatility of Benchmark Balancer Mash®makes it a popular choice
There is plenty of confusion about what a “balancer” is and what purpose it serves in the equine food chain. The fact that balancers are often called concentrates doesn’t help, and even more so when a product that is labelled as a concentrate really isn’t a concentrate, or a balancer, at all.
Confused…….let us simplify things for you.
WHAT CONSTITUTES A GOOD QUALITY BALANCER?
- Has a balanced amino acid profile and contains at least 20% of good quality protein. To achieve this requires the inclusion of multiple protein sources and the addition of some essential amino acids (EAAs) in the premix.
- Has a concentrated vitamin and mineral profile.
- Has a low feeding rate.
If a product doesn’t contribute good levels of protein, it is a Vitamin & Mineral supplement, not a balancer.
The main purpose of feeding a balancer is to cover nutritional shortfalls in a horse’s diet.
These shortfalls can be caused by several things, including, but not limited to -
- Grazing poor-quality pasture or feeding low quality hay.
- Feeding low spec cheap feeds.
- Feeding a good feed, but at less than the recommended rate.
- Feeding grains alone.
All these situations can be rectified by adding a good quality balancer to the ration.
When assessing the nutritional density of a balancer one must consider the lower feeding rate. For example, many will think that a feed containing 25% protein is excessive for a horse, however when fed at 500gs to 1kg per day this will contribute 125-250gs of protein, which is only about 25% of a horse’s daily protein requirements.
Benchmark Balancer Mash® is rapidly gaining a loyal following in the equestrian community. The versatile nature of the product means it can be combined with other feeds or fed alone to achieve the desired result.
Some examples of how Benchmark Balancer Mash® is used
- Adding to a base of Benchmark Super Fibre Mash® to create a complete, high protein, low starch ration.
- Feeding alone or with chaff, to good doers to ensure their nutritional needs are met, but with minimal calories.
- Adding to another Benchmark complete feed to enhance and support muscle development and topline, without increasing starch and sugar levels.
Benchmark Balancer Mash® can be soaked down to a tasty mash or fed dry.