DR LYDIA GRAY: Hey, SmartPak fans.
Welcome to a special edition of Ask the Vet.
You may notice I'm sitting on this side, not that side.
I'm Dr. Lydia Gray, the Staff Veterinarian and Medical
Director at SmartPak.
This is Nerida Richards, PhD.
I'm going to let you introduce yourself.
NERIDA RICHARDS: Sure, thanks, Lydia.
So I'm Nerida.
I'm an equine nutritionist from Australia, which is probably
quite obvious given my accent.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I was going to say "far."
NERIDA RICHARDS: Yeah.
[LAUGHING]
DR LYDIA GRAY: Obvious.
True.
NERIDA RICHARDS: I work as a consulting nutritionist
in Australia.
I formulate feeds and supplements
for companies all over the world,
and I also run the FeedXL.com website,
which is a nutrition calculator that horse owners use to put
their horses' diets together.
DR LYDIA GRAY: We love it, yeah.
Great.
We asked you to submit your horse nutrition questions,
specifically.
And then this segment, we'll answer one of those questions--
you'll answer one of those questions.
I'm helping.
And then to see the other questions,
just click on the playlist at the end the video,
and you'll get to see them all.
So, ready?
NERIDA RICHARDS: Mm-hmm.
DR LYDIA GRAY: OK.
From myamego from Instagram, "What is the difference--" oh,
I love this one--
"what is the difference between a ration balancer
and a vitamin/mineral supplement?"
NERIDA RICHARDS: OK.
This is one I'm well-qualified to answer.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Good, good.
[LAUGHING]
NERIDA RICHARDS: So I've formulated
I can't tell you how many ration balancers and vitamin/mineral
supplements over the years.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Good.
NERIDA RICHARDS: So there's really
just a distinct difference between them.
So a supplement, generally, is a very small dose.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yes.
NERIDA RICHARDS: And a ration balancer, generally,
is a much larger dose.
So very handily, we have a ration balancer,
and we have some supplements in a SmartPak.
So a supplement you'll often be looking at one or two
of these wells for a day.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Mm-hmm, in ounces--
oh, sorry.
NERIDA RICHARDS: So it might be--
DR LYDIA GRAY: Imperial system--
NERIDA RICHARDS: 100 grams, 50 grams--
it's a small amount.
So up to four ounces a day, generally, is a supplement.
Whereas your ration balancer, you'll
feed sort of in a half-pound to two pounds a day
kind of amount, so roughly what these two are showing you.
Now, because there's such little space
in a vitamin/mineral supplement, generally all we
can put in there is trace minerals, so copper, zinc,
selenium, iodine, manganese, things like that, and vitamins.
That's all we can fit, because other nutrients
are quite bulky.
So the bulky nutrients are things like protein,
with your essential amino acids, and then your macrominerals,
so calcium, phosphorus, magnesium
are the main ones we would add.
So because we've got a lot more quantity to play with,
we can put it in a ration balancer.
So with a ration balancer, you're
getting protein, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium.
You don't get those nutrients with the vitamin/mineral
supplement, but generally where we
would use a vitamin/mineral supplement
is where you're not needing-- you've
got other ingredients, adding those nutrients, and so yeah,
only needing the trace minerals in the vitamins.
DR LYDIA GRAY: And neither one of them
is a significant source of calories.
NERIDA RICHARDS: No, no, and interestingly,
I mean, you get calories from a ration balancer.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Sure.
NERIDA RICHARDS: But the really interesting thing to remember
is there's a lot of mineral in a ration balancer.
So by the time when I'm formulating them,
by the time I put all the calcium, all the phosphorus,
all the magnesium, all the bulky mineral ingredients,
they might take up 30% or 40% of the actual ration
balancer for a really heavily mineral fortified one.
So there's not a lot of room to put ingredients
that actually contain calories.
So often, a ration balancer's calorie content
will be lower than the pasture or the hay you're feeding.
So it's taking up room, and yes, it
is giving the horse calories.
But it's going to take up a half-pound pound of space
in that horses gut for daily intake
that's not now going to be taken up by hay or pasture.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Right.
NERIDA RICHARDS: So often, you'll
actually pull the calorie intake down
by using a ration balancer.
It's an interesting one.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So that might be a good choice
for an easy keeper.
NERIDA RICHARDS: Absolutely.
And that's what my easy keepers are on.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Excellent.
NERIDA RICHARDS: I love it.
DR LYDIA GRAY: And that's what my easy keeper is on too.
NERIDA RICHARDS: Yeah, they're very, very useful ingredients.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Great.