Daily Bites 4.5kg

Easy to feed and measure:
Thunderbrook Daily Bites is straightforward to feed and measure. One whole bar provides the daily requirement of vitamins and trace elements for an average adult horse. Bars can be fed directly by hand.

Ingredients:
Grass pellets, Timothy, Apple pulp, Sunflower seed meal, Cane molasses, Linseed, Peas, Brewer’s yeast, Calcium carbonate, Herbal Mix, Monocalcium phosphate, Sodium chloride (salt).

Analytical Constituents:
Crude protein 14.8%, Crude fat 4.1%, Crude fibre 18.9%, Crude ash 14.9%, Sugar 8.5%, Starch 4.8%, Calcium 2.37%, Phosphorus 0.60%, Sodium 0.30%, Magnesium 0.16%.

Vitamins (Per kg):
Vitamin A (3a672a) 19,000 IU, Vitamin D3 (3a671) 26,600 IU, Vitamin E (3a700) 4,560 IU, Vitamin B1 (3a821) 305 mg, Vitamin B2 (3a825ii) 305 mg, Choline chloride (3a890) 665 mg, Vitamin B6 (3a831) 190 mg, Folic acid (3a316) 170 mg, D-Biotin (3a880) 15,200 mcg, Vitamin C (3a300) 3,800 mg.

Trace Elements (Per kg):
Copper (3b409) 608 mg, Zinc (3b609) 1,900 mg, Manganese (3b505, 3b503) 2,850 mg, Selenium (3b801, 3b811) 7 mg, Iodine (3b202) 23 mg.

Daily Bites (Actual content per 150g bar – daily feeding rate for 600kg horse):

Are Daily Bites a complete feed?
Daily Bites are formulated as a nutritional balancer for horses where the majority of their diet is fresh grazing, which means they are a complementary feed intended to be fed in addition to fresh forage grazing.

Are Daily Bites suitable for horses prone to laminitis and/or with metabolic sensitivity?
Yes – Daily Bites are fed at a low quantity (150g for a 600kg horse), and are low sugar (8.5%) and low starch (4.5%), meaning they suit the needs of a low sugar/starch/energy diet and good doers.

Which herbs are included and why?
Daily Bites contains hawthorn, marigold, and nettle. This adds some natural and delicious variety to the taste, and these herbs have functional properties that can be supportive of the digestive system, overall wellbeing, and provide additional naturally occurring nutrients. They are included in small amounts that suit any horse, while if you wish to support for specific issues it may be helpful to seek advice and provide more generously in a targeted way.

Are Daily Bites grain-free, and what’s it made of?
Yes! They are grain free. The bar itself is made primarily from a mixture of ground meadow hay including timothy, apple pulp, sunflower seed meal, linseed, and peas. This mixture creates a high fibre base with tasty additions, a helpful texture to turn into the ‘bar’ shape, as well as some protein. The cane molasses acts as the ‘glue’ to form and hold the bar. The other ingredients including the calcium carbonate, monocalcium phosphate and sodium chloride are all added for nutritional reasons as they provide minerals that contribute to the specification, and the brewer’s yeast provides a little nutritional prebiotic. Then there’s the small addition of herbs, including marigold, hawthorn, and nettle, all for taste and nutrition.

Why do Daily Bites contain molasses?
To create the bar shape in a way that doesn’t crumble or break apart, but that is still easy to snap and eat, an ingredient is needed that can act as a suitable ‘glue’. This also needs to be healthy and digestible to horses, and is why a small amount of cane molasses is the perfect choice. While molasses has a bad reputation, this is related to its use as a straight ingredient in the feed room in considerable quantities that are not suited to our horses health, or unnecessarily in compound feeds where the amount is high, and/or it’s used to ‘hide’ feed ingredients that are poor quality or unpalatable. But in very small amounts for binding properties, where the overall product is low sugar, it’s very safe, and in fact contains some concentrated and naturally occurring nutrients and minerals.

Does the molasses mean it’s sugary and bad for my horse?
No – the amount of molasses used is very small, and where Daily Bites are low sugar and low starch and fed in a small quantity, the actual content of sugar fed is very small. So small in fact, that the molasses contributes as much sugar in 1 Daily Bite as is contained in 1-2 handfuls of hay.

What’s the difference between Daily Bites and the other Thunderbrook balancers?
The Thunderbrook range includes 4 balancer options: Synergy, Daily Essentials, Daily Care, and the new Daily Bites. It’s worth thinking of them in two ways; 1. Presentation, whether it’s part of a feed or a concentrate and how this works relative to your horses needs and preferences as well as to you practically, and 2. Specification, where some horses have a diet that includes lots of nutrients that means they don’t need it in their balancer, and some may have a diet that is less nutritious or they may have greater needs than average due to diseases, conditions or age. If you’re unsure which is best, then our nutrition team can help recommend a plan that best suits you and your horse, though in very simple terms if we’re first thinking of Presentation, then our Synergy is feed based meaning it provides some supportive slow release calories/energy and quality protein and is mixed into a wetted or soaked feed. Our Daily Essentials is a concentrated zero calories/energy/sugar/starch powder that is mixed into a wetted or soaked feed. Daily Care is a small-quantity forage feed based pellet that can be fed as a mash or dry as knots either on its own or within a wetted or soaked feed. And the Daily Bites are a small-quantity forage feed based bar that is fed directly without a bowl feed. If we focus on Specification, then Synergy and Daily Essentials are generous and wide-ranging, including nutrient provision that suits all horses, but is especially well suited to those who have a lot of conserved forage in their diet, are older, who may have a diagnosed condition, and are in no to hard workloads. Our Daily Care suits those who have some fresh grazing in their diet, are in no to light work, or are receiving other generous feeds but not another balancer. Daily Bites suit those with fresh grazing as the majority of the diet, are in no to light work, and are healthy and well.

My horse is on 24/7 turnout; how do I feed Daily Bites?
Daily Bites are designed to be extra-practical, as they don’t need to be fed in a bowl. If you need to break the bars to achieve the appropriate feeding rate, then simply snap them to the right size, and they can be fed on their own by hand. This can be especially useful for horses living out, as it’s quick, avoiding the need for preparing or dealing with feed bowls, or of having to police the feeding of multiple horses in a herd (who reliably tend to want to steal from each other!)

How many bites does my horse need per day?
Our feed guidelines are to provide 1 full bar to a 600kg horse, or ½ a bar to a 300kg horse/pony. If your horse differs in size, then use these proportions as a guide, and feed based on halfing or quartering. For example for a very small pony that’s ~150-200kg, feed ¼ of a bar. For a horse that’s 500kg, feed ¾ or 1 whole bar. Confused or concerned? Get in touch with us, and we’re here to help make recommendations and to answer any questions.

Can I feed Daily Bites alongside other supplements?
In principle, Daily Bites can be fed alongside supplements and feeds, though the diet should only ever include one well formulated nutritional balancer that is suited to the individual horses needs. So you should not feed Daily Bites in addition to another nutritional balancer, and for other supplements it’s important for any crossovers to be assessed by someone knowledgeable in nutrition to ensure that there is no risk of over-supplementation of any ingredient. If you are providing other feeds or supplements in a bowl feed, it may be that an alternative balancer from our range suits better, both practically and nutritionally, and we’d welcome you to get in touch with us so we can help you choose the best option for you and your horse.

How many bites are in a pack, and how long will it last?
There are 30 bars per pack, which means it will provide a: 30 days’ supply at 1 bar per day, 40 days’ supply at ¾ of a bar per day, 60 days’ supply at ½ of a bar per day, and 120 days’ supply at ¼ of a bar per day.

Can I snap the bites easily?
Yes – these are well formed into a bar shape that holds its shape, but has been made to be easily snapped/broken into the feeding amount intended, and then easily chewed and eaten by the horse.