What are the pros and cons of feeding sweet feed vs. pellets?
Sweet feeds, sometimes referred to as “textured feeds,” and pelleted concentrates with the same nutrient content have virtually the same value to most horses. Pellets hold a small advantage in digestibility, especially for those animals that do not chew their feed well. Sweet feeds can be mixed with medications or feed additives better because the molasses binds the ingredients together. In reality, the choice depends primarily on what the feeder prefers. Let’s look at other differences. Sweet feeds look like horse feeds. You can see the oats, corn and other major ingredients. They are very palatable and are generally accepted by all horses. Sometimes horses will pick and choose the ingredients that they like and reject other parts of the feed. Sweet feeds do attract flies. Pelleted concentrates are more uniform. Every bite is the same and the horse cannot pick and choose because every bite tastes the same. Pelleted feeds store better if kept dry and are more suitable for automatic fee
