Environmentally Friendly Feeding
 With greater awareness and concern than ever about the future of our planet we all need to do our bit to help preserve the environment. We all need to be aware of the effects that our activities have on the environment and ensuring that your feeding practices are as environmentally friendly as possible is one way to minimise this impact. This is not to say that we need to completely change the way we feed our horses, however, there are simple steps we can take such as buying our horse’s feed from a manufacturer committed to reducing their environmental impact.
Environmental standards are a good starting point and a manufacturing company holding ISO 1400 policies will have been carefully scrutinised to ensure that all of their activities, products and services interact with the environment and that significant steps have been taken to reduce emissions, environmental impact and energy usage by reducing the volume of waste generated, increased recycling and by using resources more efficiently. Companies that have Universal Feed Assurance Scheme (UFAS) accreditation can demonstrate how their feed ingredients are produced and delivered to the customer.
The concern over the risk genetically modified crops may pose has led some feed manufacturers to use only non-genetically modified (non-GM) ingredients in their products. Quality feeds will use non-GM ingredients which are described as ‘identity preserved’ meaning that they are grown from non-GM plants and their traceability is assured . Identity preserved ingredients cannot be stored, transported or produced where they may come into contact with other ingredients which may be from GM sources to ensure that contamination does not occur. Further to this by selecting a feed that is Vegetarian Society approved you can be assured that no GM ingredients have been used nor are any animal by products included and no harmful animal testing has taken place during the process of developing and producing the end product.
We are constantly being reminded of the need to reduce our carbon foot print and one way of doing this is to ensure that the company from which we purchase our horse’s feed has a food miles policy in place. In practice this means that as many ingredients as possible are sourced locally, which in turn supports local farmers and reduces the amount of haulage involved transporting ingredients from the field to the feed mill for production.
Some ingredients regularly used in horse feeds can have a very negative impact on the environment. Soya oil is a common ingredient in horse feeds, it is a nutritionally sound ingredient which offers many benefits. However not all soya oil is the same, firstly there is the matter of where the oil has originally come from. The rainforests are being destroyed to make way for farm crops such as soya and unless the soya oil used in your horse’s feed has been sourced from elsewhere there is a chance that it may be from South America. Secondly there is the matter of how the oil has been extracted. Hexane, a potentially harmful distilled petrol product is often used to extract the soya oil. When used, residues of hexane are left in the oil, causing a bitter smell and because the oil is heated more than once during the process its quality is much diminished. Look for soya oil that has been pressed rather than hexane extracted to ensure quality.
Another area of concern to the environment is the over use of packaging and the subsequent need to dispose of it. Responsible feed manufacturers are using packaging that is considerate to the environment, natural unbleached paper is more eco friendly than traditional packaging as less chemicals are used in its production, in turn reducing the potentially harmful waste liquids and gases which are released into the environment. The use of water based inks rather than those containing solvents and sticking to a simple one colour design reduces the quantities of inks used. Using paper from sustainable sources ensures that forests and woodlands will be protected for the future and of course using natural materials means that such packaging is completely recyclable.
Make your yard and feeding eco-friendly
Apart from ensuring that you only purchase your horse feed from a manufacturer that can meet the above criteria, there are steps that you can take yourself to reduce negative impact on the environment.
- Reduce your carbon foot print by cutting down on the amount of trips you make to the feed merchant by teaming up with a friend or other owners on your yard and buying in bulk.
- Use a fully balanced feed that contains all the vitamins and minerals your horse needs, rather than buying lots of different supplements and balancers, this not only reduces the amount of packaging but can also save you money too.
- Take advantage of feed helplines that can offer you free advice to ensure you are feeding the most suitable product.
- Set up recycling bins at the yard, we all know the legendary ‘re-use’ of baler twine, but there are lots of other things at the yard that can be recycled or reused – like empty feed sacks, they can be used to collect muck or rubbish bags and most can be recycled.
- Travel wisely, why not share a horse box or trailer to a show, this will help you save money too.
- Lighting – use natural light wherever possible, horses tend to prefer it, and then low energy light-bulbs.
- Choose ecological cleaning products for your yard and horse.
- Buy local, it helps to cut down on unnecessary transport and creates local empoyment.
- Save water, instead of just tipping the water bucket out every day to refill with fresh water why not use it to soak your hay, wash down your horse or clean your tack.
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