LAMINITIS TRUST APPROVAL MARK
FOR HORSE FEEDS

The Laminitis Trust has established an approval mark for horse feeds after consultation with the Veterinary Medicines Directorate. Approval will be given to feeds which reach certain standards as outlined by the Scientific Committee of the Laminitis Trust. The purpose of the mark is to help horse owners identify feeds which are considered suitable for horses and ponies which either, are considered prone to laminitis, or are suffering from laminitis. High quality ingredients, high standards of quality control are necessary for products with a high fibre and low levels of rapidly fermentable carbohydrates. Approval of product packaging and promotional material is also necessary to comply with VMD regulations. Annual inspections of manufacturing mills are required.
Interested companies are invited to apply to the Scientific Committee, Laminitis Trust, Mead House, Dauntsey, Chippenham, Wilts. SN15 4JA. Tel 01249-890784

 

Laminitis Trust Feed Approval Mark Criteria

Introduction

These criteria and associated guidelines are intended to help feed manufacturers seeking approval for products by the Laminitis Trust. The criteria have been drawn up by the Trust's scientific committee and must be met in full in order to qualify for approval.

A. Analysis and information required on submission

All methodology must be carried out in accordance with recognised methods according to the Feeding stuffs Legislation 2001.

1. A complete list of raw materials with the range of weight of each raw material.
2. NSC by calculation (100- Analysis of Moisture, Crude, Protein, Fat, Ash, NDF)
3. Water Soluble Carbohydrates, total starch (%) and digestible energy (DE).
4. Lysine (%)
5. Macrominerals - calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, chloride, potassium (%)
6. Microminerals - Copper, zinc, iron, selenium, iodine, manganese (mg/kg)
7. Vitamins A, D and E (iu/kg).
8. All analyses should be presented when the product is initially presented for approval by the Laminitis Trust; the Trust reserves the right to request re-analysis at any time.
9. Information regarding shelf life, pack sizes, bar codes
10. Details of the site of manufacture and quality control measures employed
11. Copies of bag labelling and all promotional material connected with the product including recommended feeding levels.
12. A letter of approval from the Veterinary Medicines Directorate signifying their authorisation of the packaging and promotional material. Any proposed amendment to promotional material for the approved product must be presented to and be accepted by both the Veterinary Medicines Directorate and Laminitis Trust before its introduction.


B. Criteria

1. The feed must be capable of providing a minimum of 50% of a horse or pony's energy
requirements, when fed at the recommended rate.
2. Recommended feeding advice and rates for the complete diet should satisfy the likely daily requirement for energy according to current published information.
3. Inclusion of whole cereal grains, peas and beans is excluded with the exception of where they are cooked or used to facilitate pelleting and do not exceed 5% of the total feed.
4. NSC (%) must not exceed 40% of the dry matter of the feed (where NSC is used as an estimate for the hydrolysable and rapidly fermentable carbohydrate feed fractions).
5. Recommended feeding rate per meal should not allow NSC intake to exceed 0.25% BW.


C. Literature & packaging

· Literature carrying the Laminitis Trusts Logo, giving advice on reducing the risks of Laminitis and specific information regarding the levels of feed that are suitable to minimise the risk of Laminitis, should be clearly separated from other commercial literature.
· Literature must stress the need to restrict grass intake where a product could potentially be fed alongside grazing.

· The literature must also indicate the risks of obesity in relation to Laminitis and should suggest feeding rates to normalise bodyweight slowly in obese animals.

· The packaging should show the following wording " No prohibited substances, as defined under FEI, BSJA or Jockey Club rules, have knowingly been used in the manufacture of this product"

· Inclusion of The Laminitis Trust advice panel as below is mandatory.


Feeding horses at high risk of Laminitis

Advice from the scientific committee of the Laminitis Trust

Be safe and sure, weigh all feedstuffs. Fat animals are at high risk of laminitis; maintain your horse or pony at condition score 2½ to 3. If weight loss is necessary, the animal must be stabled or fitted with a grazing muzzle. Feed intake should be reduced to achieve a slow but steady loss under the supervision of your veterinary surgeon. Only use Laminitis Trust Approved Feeds and limited long forage or restricted grazing to avoid laminitis. Animals may require a nutritional supplement; consult your veterinary surgeon for advice. Further information on Laminitis is available at www.laminitis.org

Zero grazing     4 hours grazing on unfertilized pasture    
Total feed daily 300 kg Pony 500 kg Horse   300 kg Pony 500 kg Horse
Approved product a kg b kg Approved product c kg d kg
Dried alfalfa (for example) e kg f kg Dried alfalfa (for example)   g kg
Oat straw (for example) h kg   Oat straw (for example) i kg j kg
Good quality hay k kg l kg Good quality hay m kg n kg

a - n are weights of feed


D. Conditions for Approval

1. An acceptance that a representative of the Laminitis Trust may perform an annual inspection of the manufacturing facility at a mutually convenient time.
2. The Trust's solicitors require an indemnifying letter absolving the Laminitis Trust from any and all responsibility following any untoward manufacturing accident or product toxicity be provided. A standard letter is provided for you to complete and sign.
3. Successful applicants are required to pay an annual registration fee before the "Approved Feed" logo is used by the company. The Trustees have set this fee at £5000 annually per product for the year 2002.
4. Should a product lose its registration for whatever reason, the company must agree to remove the approval mark logo from bags, advertisements and promotional material within 2 months of such notification or expiry of the approved period. We provide a standard agreement to be signed.
5. No company may use the Approval Mark for a period of time following withdrawal of the Approval Mark or following expiry of the licenced period, without a subsequent application made in time for the next approved period to run consecutively without interruption, equal to the period between loss or expiry of registration and subsequent successful application for the Approval Mark.
6. This information is provided as a guide to the criteria upon which the scientific committee of The Laminitis Trust will base their decisions. There may be specific features of individual products, which are not referred to in this document upon which the committee takes a view. The decision of the committee is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

I. A. Silver, MA, FRCVS
Robert A. Eustace FRCVS
David L. Frape PhD, FRCPath, FIBiol
The Scientific Committee of the Laminitis Trust


Nutritional and Clinical Research upon which the above criteria are based.

Chemical analytical method for feed products to be registered and requirements of commercial literature to support the product.

General requirements of analytical method
The chemical method should be capable of estimating the following contents of the product:
(a) total starch,
(b) indigestible, rapidly fermentable carbohydrate, and
(c) neutral detergent fibre.

The method proposed by Hoffman et al (2001) will allow these characteristics of the product to be estimated.

Outline characteristics of the analytical method
The evidence from the study of Hoffman et al (2001) would indicate that a determination of:
the moisture, crude protein, fat, ash and NDF may provide the principal data. From this the non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) may be calculated by difference.
The NSC consists of hydrolysable carbohydrates (CHO-H) and rapidly fermentable carbohydrate (CHO-FR). The majority of CHO-FR would reach the large intestine, whereas the proportion of CHO-H reaching the large gut would depend on:
(d) its digestibility, and
(e) the quantity of feed given in a meal.
If the product contains a significant proportion of mono- and di-saccharides, which normally would be digested in the small intestine, they could be extracted with boiling water. The remaining CHO-H could then, if necessary, be determined following enzymatic hydrolysis of disaccharides and starch (The proposal does not normally require CHO-H to be determined). The data of Potter et al (1992), indicate that the starch intake per meal should not exceed 0.4 % of body weight. However, this still constitutes a large intake for animals at risk, and an intake of 0.25 % of bodyweight is considered ample. Therefore, the value of (CHO-FR* plus CHO-H minus sugars) should not exceed 0.25 % body weight per meal to provide a reasonably low risk of diet-related laminitis.


Required (a) characteristics of products and (b) statements in the commercial literature specifically directed towards laminitis prevention, or towards a lowering the risk of its occurrence
1) Where the product constitutes the complete diet of the horse:
(i) the recommended feeding rate per meal should not allow the total intake of
(a + b) in the methods section above to exceed 0.25 % of body weight;
Table 1

Bodyweight (kg)
(a + b) kg, as 0.25 % BW
300
0.75
400
1.0
500
1.25
600
1.5

(ii) the crude protein and simple sugars (mono- and di-saccharides) should not exceed 16 % and 7 % respectively of the product, assuming 12 % moisture content.
2) Where the product is designed to provide only part of the complete diet of the horse:
(i) the product must be capable of providing at least half the daily energy requirements of the horse, or, if not, other proposed energy yielding constituents should be from the first list (Table 3) provided below. Any proposed additional constituent to this list should be submitted by name and chemical characteristics (chemical characteristics a, b, & c, derived if necessary from the literature)* to the Laminitis Trust for approval. Where the product provides more than half the daily energy requirements then the other energy yielding constituents must be provided from the second list below. (Proposed additions should have the same constraints applied to them as apply to the additions in which the product constitutes less than 50 % of the dietary energy).
(ii) The commercial literature related to reducing the risk of laminitis must be separate from other literature, clear and acceptable for the purpose of minimising laminitis risk and the advice should imply a low risk of causing any ill-health when the animal is fed according to the feeding instructions.
It is recognised by The Trust that pasture, as a feed source with major risks, presents problems in both definition of its chemical characteristics and quantity consumed per hour. Moreover, where a product is to be used as an adjunct to grazing it can be difficult to persuade an animal to eat an adequate quantity of the product, to decrease the risk and prevent over-grazing. In this case there must be evidence that, first the product would be consumed in significant quantities, so that the intake of pasture herbage is significantly decreased and second that the literature is clear concerning this potential cause of the disease. Recent evidence indicates that fructans (and possibly other indigestible oligosaccharides) present in pasture plants may be a major cause of laminitis in grazing horses. It has been estimated that a 500 kg horse at pasture would on average consume 1.8 kg of readily fermentable CHO-FR (b) per day (the variation amongst horses and pastures will be considerable).
(iii) The literature should clearly indicate the risks associated with body fat accumulation and that over-weight animals at risk should receive approximately half their normal daily energy requirements until a normal body weight is reinstated. The feeding system should take account of the following energy requirements for maintenance of the horse:
Table 2

Bodyweight (kg)
200
400
600
Approx. feed capacity per day (MegaJoules MJ, Digestible energy DE)
60
100
150
Maintenance requirement per day (MJ, DE)
31
56
81
Energy requirements for work above maintenance
Walking (1h) MJ, DE
0.4
0.8
1.3
Slow trotting, some cantering (1h) MJ, DE
4.2
8.4
12.5

Table 3
Supplementary energy-containing raw feed materials to be considered as adjuncts to a registered product. (All feed ingredients must be of good quality) The recommendations for their use must allow the total feed to comply with the restrictions given. The calculation of their non-structural carbohydrate (NSC, that includes both hydrolysable, CHO-H, and fermentable CHO-FR ) may be derived from the data provided by NRC (1989)*, where NDF values will be found.
(a) Those suitable for use where the registered Product constitutes less than 50 % of the energy yielding dietary constituents.
Good quality hay,
Nutritionally improved straw, NIS,
Cereal straw,
Dried Lucerne,
Oatfeed,
Soya hulls
Vegetable oil,
Molasses (total sugar limit applies)


(b) Those suitable for use where the registered Product constitutes more than 50 % of the energy yielding dietary constituents
Good quality hay,
Nutritionally improved straw, NIS,
Oatfeed,
Dried Lucerne,
Wheat bran,
Dried Grass pellets,
Sugar Beet pulp
Soya hulls
Vegetable oil,
Molasses (total sugar limit applies)

Additional requirements for registration
(i) A complete list of ingredients must be given together with the range of weight of each, in the proposed products.
(ii) A recent independent analyst's report is required to provide the following product details;

Table 4

Total crude protein   Iodine  
Neutral detergent fibre   Phosphorus  
Lipids (measured by hydrolysis)   Magnesium  
Ash   Sodium  
Moisture   Chloride  
Digestible Energy   Potassium  
Total Starch   Zinc  
Simple Sugars   Lysine  
Vitamin A   Manganese  
Vitamin D   Selenium  
Vitamin E   Copper  
Calcium   Iron  

(iii) Feeding Instructions on the bag should include the following advice;

Advice from the scientific committee of the Laminitis Trust

"Be safe and sure, weigh all feedstuffs. Fat animals are at high risk of laminitis; maintain your horse or pony at condition score 2½ to 3. If weight loss is necessary, the animal must be stabled or fitted with a grazing muzzle. Feed intake should be reduced to achieve a slow but steady loss under the supervision of your veterinary surgeon. Only use Laminitis Trust Approved Feeds and limited long forage or restricted grazing to avoid laminitis. Animals may require a nutritional supplement; consult your veterinary surgeon for advice. Further information on Laminitis is available at www.laminitis.org."

Further information including shelf life, pack sizes, bar codes, site of manufacture are required. Copies of bag labeling and all promotional material connected with the product including recommended feeding levels should be submitted. Quality control measures employed at the manufacturing mill should be stated and an acceptance that a representative of the Laminitis Trust may perform an annual inspection of the manufacturing facility. The Trust's solicitors also require that an indemnifying letter absolving the Laminitis Trust from any and all responsibility following any untoward manufacturing accident or product toxicity be provided.

References
Hoffman, R.M., Wilson, J.A., Kronfeld, D.S., Cooper, W.L., Lawrence, L.A., Sklan, D. and Harris, P.A. (2001) J. Anim. Sci., 79, 500-506.

*NRC (1989), Nutrient requirements of Horses, 5th Revised Edition.

Potter, G.D., Arnold, F.F., Householder, D.D., Hansen, D.H. and Brown, K.M. (1992). Pferdeheilkunde 1: 107-111.


I. A. Silver, MA, FRCVS
Robert A. Eustace FRCVS
David L. Frape PhD, FRCPath, FSB

The Scientific Committee of the Laminitis Trust

The decision of the Scientific Committee is final. No correspondence will be entered into.

 

APPROVED FEEDS


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Dengie Horse Feeds
Howells Farm
Maypole Road
Maldon
Essex
CM7 4SY
Email: feeds@dengie.com

click here to visit Dengie

 

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HYGAIN Feeds Pty Ltd, PO Box 199, Officer Victoria 3809, AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 3 5943 2255
Email: sales@hygain.com.au

click here to visit HyGain

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Spillers
29 Old Wolverton Rd,
Old Wolverton,
Milton Keynes,
MK12 5PZ
.
Tel: 01908 222888
click here to visit Spillers