Red Mills Horse Care Ultra Cubes – 20kg Ultra-Low Starch Conditioning Feed

Red Mills Horse Care ULTRA Cubes – 20kg

Horse Care ULTRA Cubes is the low-starch end of the RED MILLS range and the only feed here that RED MILLS themselves name for laminitis, insulin resistance and EMS. Declared starch is 4.0%, achieved by leaving cereal grain out altogether: beet pulp, soya hulls and alfalfa meal are the first three ingredients.

What makes it unusual is that it is a conditioning feed as well as a low-starch one — 8.0% oil and 18.0% crude fibre at 12.0 MJ/kg, so a metabolic horse that also needs covering does not have to choose between the two. It carries the full RED MILLS Nutrition Care package.

Performance & Benefits

• Declared starch of just 4.0%, and cereal-grain free — no oats, barley, maize or wheat.
• 18.0% crude fibre, the highest in the RED MILLS feeds we stock, from beet pulp, soya hulls and alfalfa meal.
• 8.0% crude oils and fats at 12.0 MJ/kg, so it conditions as well as it calms.
• 14.0% crude protein from extruded soya and sunflower seed meal.
• RED MILLS Nutrition Care package: maerl at 0.75% and mannan-/fructo-oligosaccharides at 0.1%.
• Per kg: 2,500 iu vitamin D3, 375 iu vitamin E, 50mg vitamin C, 4.4mg vitamin K3 and 3.75mg biotin, with copper, manganese, zinc and selenium partly chelated.

Suitable For

• Horses prone to laminitis, insulin resistance or EMS — the feed RED MILLS name for these horses.
• Performance and stud horses needing ultra-low starch conditioning.
• Horses with gastric sensitivity.
• Horses prone to muscle soreness, and horses that are easily stressed or temperamental.
• Barren, pregnant and lactating mares, with rates published for each stage.

Feeding

• Light work, or barren mares: 0.2–0.6kg per 100kg bodyweight daily — 1.0–3.0kg for a 500kg horse.
• Moderate work, or mares 0–6 months in foal: 0.4–0.8kg per 100kg bodyweight daily — 2.0–4.0kg at 500kg.
• Hard work, or mares over 6 months in foal: 0.8–1.2kg per 100kg bodyweight daily — 4.0–6.0kg at 500kg.
• Intense work, or lactating mares: 1.2–1.6kg per 100kg bodyweight daily — 6.0–8.0kg at 500kg.
• RED MILLS advise introducing the cubes gradually, and soaking them before feeding where that suits the horse.
• Feed alongside good forage with clean, fresh water always available.

Composition & Analysis

• Composition: beet pulp, soya hulls, alfalfa meal, soya bean extruded, cane molasses, wheatfeed, soya oil, sunflower seed meal, mono-dicalcium phosphate, maerl 0.75%, sodium chloride, magnesium oxide, mannan-/fructo-oligosaccharides 0.1%.
• Typical analysis: crude protein 14.0%, crude fibre 18.0%, crude oils and fats 8.0%, crude ash 8.5%. Starch 4.0%. Digestible energy 12.0 MJ/kg.
• Minerals: calcium 1.06%, phosphorus 0.60%, sodium 0.32%, chloride 0.59%, potassium 1.38%, magnesium 0.36%.
• Per kg: vitamin A 15,000 iu, vitamin D3 2,500 iu, vitamin E 375 iu, vitamin C 50mg, vitamin K3 4.4mg, biotin 3.75mg. Iron 150mg, iodine 1.5mg, copper 48.75mg, manganese 81.25mg, zinc 150mg, selenium 0.5mg, a proportion of each chelated.
• RED MILLS publish no sugar figure for these cubes, so none is stated here. Earlier copy on this page described them as double-pelleted and containing added electrolytes; neither claim appears in RED MILLS' own product information and both have been left out.

Care & Caution

• A 4.0% starch feed does not by itself make a diet safe for a laminitic. Grazing, hay sugar content and bodyweight matter more than the bucket — work the whole diet out with your vet.
• High-fibre cubes swell on contact with water or saliva. Introduce them gradually, and soak them for a horse with poor teeth or one that bolts its feed.
• Cane molasses is present, low in the ingredient list. Horses on a strict no-molasses regime should be checked against the full declaration on the bag.