FoalGro

Milk replacers are made up of four types of raw materials

• Protein Sources
• Energy Sources
• Fibre
• Vitamin and Mineral Sources

Protein sources

The quality of protein is based on its amino acid structure. Important parameters are: the amount of amino acids to meet the newborn’s requirements, the relationship of each amino acid to the others and the availability of the amino acid to the animal. Animals utilize protein for growth more efficiently when the supply of amino acids closely matches that of tissue requirements.

Milk protein is used to provide optimum digestion when fed at high intakes. Specific amino acids are added to improve the amino acid balance and meet high growth requirements.

Energy Sources

• Fat is extremely important in milk replacers. Young animals require highly digestible fats in order to maximize growth potential.
• The correct ratio of energy to protein is required for the foal to best utilize nutrients.
• A specialized high quality blend of food grade fats and oils are selected and blended for Grober milk replacers to meet energy needs of the fast growing young animal.
• The components of this blend are carefully selected for their high digestibility, fatty acid profile and saturation structure.
• The end product blend has a profile similar to that of milk fat.
• All of these factors ensure optimum digestibility for the young animal.
• Correct mixing of the milk replacer and temperature of water used will provide a uniform blend and low fat particle size (<1.5 microns).
• These factors encourage optimum absorption capacity by the young animal.
• Lactose should be the major carbohydrate energy source for young foals. The intestine of the foal possesses limited carbohydrate activity except for lactose.
   

Fibre

• Fibre should not be added to milk replacers.
• A measure of quality of the ingredients can be seen in the fibre content being less than 0.15% (this would indicate all milk products being used).
• Some vegetable proteins can increase the level of fibre to 0.3%.
• Careful selection of raw materials and formulation is required to keep this level to a minimum.
   

Minerals and Vitamin Sources

• A balanced premix is used to provide high growth potential for this specialized management system.
• A specialized premix is provided to Grober under the expert guidance of Denkavit, a major manufacturer of premixes in Europe.
• Vitamins deteriorate with exposure to light and air overtime, thus source and stability of vitamins are important to maintain availability for the young animal.
• Mineral sources can differ depending on the form in which they are provided.
• Different sources show different solubility and absorption characteristics.
• Water dispersible forms are used for all milk replacers.
• Minerals and vitamins are chosen based on high solubility, suspend-ability and good distribution in the premix.
• These parameters are important for optimum absorption by the young animal when producing a liquid feed.
• The newborn foal is born with low reserves of vitamin A and vitamin E.
• Vitamin E in the milk replacer has been increased to 150 IU/kg to better support the young foal’s immune response.
• Selenium is also added at a beneficial level.