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For some time now, we have had the Metazoa power feed in our assortment at the Hay to You webshop. The products from Metazoa are made from pure and as natural as possible ingredients, without unnecessary additives.

We at Hay to You stand for the best for your animals. And that is why we would like to take you, as a loyal customer of Hay to You, into the vision of horse nutrition by Marc Janssen, founder of Metazoa. On Tuesday, March 19, Robin Sanders conducted an exclusive interview with Marc. How did Metazoa come into being and how has Marc translated his knowledge of evolution, biology, physiology, biochemistry, physics, chemistry, psychology, and natural food production into feed and supplements? How does Metazoa differentiate itself from other power feeds? Of course, there was also time to answer your questions.

 

During the webinar, several questions were asked that could not be answered that evening. Here are the questions and the answers from Marc of Metazoa:

 

Question 1: Do the balancers contain Vitamin E and Biotin?

Yes, they are included. For the contents, you can check the website of Metazoa.

 

Question 2: Is extra iron added to Metazoa products and if so, why?

There are many questions regarding the iron content in horse feed. That is justified. Iron is an important trace element. Iron is very important for the formation of hemoglobin, a component of red blood cells. Red blood cells transport oxygen throughout the horse's body. A deficiency of (absorbable) iron in the diet will lead to iron deficiency and thus a lack of red blood cells. This is called anemia, which can result in, for example, significantly reduced endurance or lethargy in the horse.

 

Should there be iron in horse feed or not?

Short answer: YES! There must be iron in horse feed. They need it.

 

Long answer: The form of iron determines the absorption. Heme iron (Fe2+ or iron(II)) is well absorbed. Non-heme iron (Fe3+ or iron(III)) is poorly absorbed. Certain sources of iron can be dangerous. Surface and ditch water can contain a lot of heme iron. This can lead to a lethal iron accumulation after years of daily consumption of drinking water with excessively high iron content. Grass and alfalfa can contain a lot of iron. This is mainly non-heme iron. So very poorly absorbable. (usually only 1-10% absorbable) We will elaborate on this further. We can establish the following:

1. There is currently no research available that clarifies the exact iron requirements of horses. For example: Insulin resistance, eczema, OCD, laminitis, scratches, and colic are relatively common diseases, which is why research can be conducted on them. This is not the case for iron accumulation in horses. There are few established cases and even less research. The fact that only sporadic cases occur is already a signal that iron accumulation in horses is certainly not a major problem.

2. We can only estimate the iron requirement. We will do that. It is generally accepted that the requirement is at least about 0.8 mg of iron per kg of body weight. This means at least about 400 mg for a horse weighing 500 kg. And we are talking about actually absorbable iron.

3. If we assume a horse weighing 500 kg, that horse consumes about 10 kg of dry matter from grass per day. If we then set the absorbability of non-heme iron to the maximum value of 10% (which will not be achieved in practice) and an iron content of 500 mg/kg (which is quite high for grass), we arrive at (10 kg x 500 mg/kg = 5000 mg x 10% = 500 mg of iron per day. That is approximately what it should also be getting. But everything has to be right! This will hardly occur in practice. Getting too much iron from grass or other roughage will not happen!

4. There are 4 known cases from 2015 of horses that died from iron accumulation. They were investigated by Utrecht University. Those horses had been drinking ditch water for several years with iron levels between 9 and 49 times the maximum amount of iron per liter. Overdosing daily for years at least 9x (up to 49x) has been the problem. So test the ditch or groundwater and provide tested tap water until then.

5. If a muesli, pellet, or supplement is added, it would actually be desirable to look at the iron content and especially at which type of iron it concerns. (Heme iron or non-heme iron). Roughly speaking, you can state: Heme iron is added via the premix and non-heme iron is found in the plant-based raw materials of the feed. So how many mg of iron is there per kg? In what form? How many kg do I give per day? And then perform the calculation. Then you will know if you can expect a deficiency or an excess in your horse. And I can already assure you that with feed you will never come close to 9 to 49 times the daily maximum dosage.

 

Question 3: What should you do if your horse is losing weight after switching to Metazoa?

For this, Marc needs more information. He needs to know more about the situation to come up with a good solution.

 

Question 4: What should you do if your horse is too greedy?

Often, he then has a deficiency of something or perhaps feed aggression. Wetting the feed is usually the solution.

 

Question 5: What should you do when you want to give more protein outside of Esparcette but do not want to give alfalfa?

Marc indicates that the options become very limited then. It is difficult to solve this in a natural way. Extra CareFit timothy is actually the only thing that is still possible.

However, Marc would start the analysis with the question: What types of alfalfa have been fed so far? And what are the symptoms associated with that? There is usually already a pattern to recognize, and from there, a better solution can be sought.

 

Question 6: Will you also develop a roughage mix?

Yes, certainly. The naturalFit grain-free muesli is already a nice step in that direction.

 

Question 7: Does a horse on alfalfa pellets need to chew just as well as on alfalfa hay?

No. Alfalfa pellets are ground alfalfa hay. So chewing is no longer necessary.

 

Question 8: Should I adjust my Metazoa ration for a heavily pregnant mare?

Yes, because the weight of the mare increases and because she needs more minerals and proteins. After all, a foal is on the way. Even before she is heavily pregnant, you should adjust the ration and actually even before she is pregnant, so that she already has a good nutritional status.

You can give more FitRight and more MuscleFit HP23.

 

Question 9: Why does Metazoa now have multiple types of pellets compared to the SuperFit Broxx in the past?

The SuperFit Broxxx was already available in 3 variants. Only all the bags had the same image. So it didn't stand out.

 

Question 10: Can you also use Esparcette to combat worms?

Marc cannot comment on this. He refers to research from WUR (Wageningen University & Research). He indicates that he is very enthusiastic about Esparcette.

 

Question 11: What is your view on pre-dried/ silage grass?

Marc thinks that this question is asking whether he is for or against pre-dried/silage grass.

Marc indicates the following: "I am for good hay. Often people do not have that choice, so I explain about pre-dried/silage grass. And I try to give them tools for awareness about pre-dried/silage grass.

We cannot just store grass. The possibility of grazing horses in winter is usually not there either. Therefore, we need to preserve that grass after mowing to make it long-lasting. There are mainly 2 methods for this: Drying or fermenting. We dry for hay. We ferment for pre-dried and silage. Fermentation requires some moisture. Therefore, pre-dried and silage must always contain more moisture than hay. If that moisture is insufficient, the preservation will not start properly, and you run a significant risk of mold. Too dry pre-dried is not good, and too wet pre-dried is silage. The exact moment of wrapping pre-dried in foil is therefore very important.

Unwrapped hay often dries a bit more after being taken from the field. Wrapped hay and wrapped pre-dried do not dry any further. And on the outside of a wrapped bale, it is difficult to assess the proper preservation."