# Oats for barefoot and condition



## ktj1891 (10 March 2014)

Are they safe to feed?
What oats do you buy?

I was looking on Thunderbrook website that said their oats are different to normal whole oats in that they are mature organic germinating oats and therefore lower in starch than most, they advise to soak them for 24 hours and that they are safe for laminitics. 

Whats your experiences feeding oats, I am really considering putting my boy on oats, only think holding me back is the fact he is barefoot and cribs and that oats contain quite high starch levels!

Any tips, advices, experience appreciated!


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## Exploding Chestnuts (10 March 2014)

My idea of a barefoot diet was based on fibre and oil + minerals .......... non molassed s/beet, micronised linseed and dengie non mo chaff.
I used oats for work, but only a pet scoop per feed to start off with, and only once doing more than light work.
Most people do not ask horses to do much more than light work. If they are doing ten hours ridden per week including some hard work, then you can justify oats.
I would not base the diet on oats, in the way I would for a horse hunting three days a week.


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## Goldenstar (10 March 2014)

I feed all my horses oats .
They are big horses and they work they all are BF at times .
I have feed a hunting horse up to three kilos a day BF with no ill effects .
Oats are of course only part of a diet based on alfalfa chopped straw micronised linseed and speedibeet  .
I would use them as part of the diet for a poor horse for weight gain as well .
I buy ATM D and H bruised  oats  .
You can soak before feeding if you wish I don't .
What work are doing with your horse ?
Some oats are lower starch than others so that ties in with what you have read .


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## ktj1891 (10 March 2014)

Goldenstar said:



			I feed all my horses oats .
They are big horses and they work they all are BF at times .
I have feed a hunting horse up to three kilos a day BF with no ill effects .
Oats are of course only part of a diet based on alfalfa chopped straw micronised linseed and speedibeet  .
I would use them as part of the diet for a poor horse for weight gain as well .
I buy ATM D and H bruised  oats  .
You can soak before feeding if you wish I don't .
What work are doing with your horse ?
Some oats are lower starch than others so that ties in with what you have read .
		
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He is ridden 6 days a week, 2/3 days schooling and 3/4 days hacking. Schools for 30/40 mins and hacks for roughly 1 hr mainly in walk (building his feet up).

He is currently on approximately 2 kg copra, 500g linseed, 1 kg kwikbeet and FP balancer, so the oats would be gradually added to his current feed. I recently dropped ERS pellets and he has started to drop some weight, therefore, I was looking to see if he would benefit better from oats.


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## Buddy'sMum (10 March 2014)

Or you could just up the kwikbeet. Sugar beet has a hgher calorific content than oats.


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## ester (10 March 2014)

I feed my welsh oats (barefoot) for energy not condition though so that might not help you! (he doesn't get copra  ) - on the plan that oats give him more energy but not weight gain as he burns it off as he is being more energetic.  He is in significantly more work than yours though - 6 days a week 3 hacks (usually 1 x 1 hour, 1 x 2 hour, 1 x 3 hour) all speeds, 1 x 1 hour schooling, 1 lunge session and 1 other depending on my life .


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## leflynn (10 March 2014)

I feed oats to my cribber for condition and a bit of extra energy and they are FAB   He isn't silly on them (sensitive TB soul) and he is putting on condition beautifully, plus it seems ot have helped reduce his cribbing, I buy micronised rolled oats as thats what I can get my hands on, tried ERS pellets but the volume costs was silly and they were sending him a bit silly

He is in work, lunged once a week, schooled twice, hacked 3 times for anywhere up to 2 hours at a time


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## ktj1891 (10 March 2014)

Buddy'sMum said:



			Or you could just up the kwikbeet. Sugar beet has a hgher calorific content than oats.
		
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I dont think its possible to feed him more kwikbeet, he gets 2/3 round scoops a day! It bulks his feed out too much to add anymore to his feed.


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## ktj1891 (10 March 2014)

ester said:



			I feed my welsh oats (barefoot) for energy not condition though so that might not help you! (he doesn't get copra  ) - on the plan that oats give him more energy but not weight gain as he burns it off as he is being more energetic.  He is in significantly more work than yours though - 6 days a week 3 hacks (usually 1 x 1 hour, 1 x 2 hour, 1 x 3 hour) all speeds, 1 x 1 hour schooling, 1 lunge session and 1 other depending on my life .
		
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His work will gradually increase, I have started him on the gallops now and as the weather is getting nicer he will be going for longer hacks, plus more and longer schooling sessions. He has a flatwork lessions fortnightly. He is very laid back so energy with the oats would be a good thing, if however, they wont add any condition, I am not sure what else I can try. He already gets two big bucket feeds and an extra lunch feed if he comes in earlier. He isnt really eating his hay atm so this may be where the problem lies, hopefully the grass will be coming through soon to help with his condition!


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## Exploding Chestnuts (10 March 2014)

I wonder if he is getting too much boring bulk with the copra and the beet, I would  cut the copra and replace with oats, it not a bad thing to going to spring a bit light, is the hay/haylage good enough quality, is he fussy about it normally?
I would certainly want him to eat his hay.
I think oats will give him condition, it is used for hunters in hard work, and main thing is to keep condition on them over the season.
He should lose fat but build condition with walking and oats.


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## ester (10 March 2014)

why would you cut the copra when it has more calories than beet?


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## Exploding Chestnuts (10 March 2014)

ester said:



			why would you cut the copra when it has more calories than beet?
		
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To build up condition and keep it appetising, she asked about feeding oats.


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## ktj1891 (10 March 2014)

MrsD123 said:



			I wonder if he is getting too much boring bulk with the copra and the beet, I would  cut the copra and replace with oats, it not a bad thing to going to spring a bit light, is the hay/haylage good enough quality, is he fussy about it normally?
I would certainly want him to eat his hay.
I think oats will give him condition, it is used for hunters in hard work, and main thing is to keep condition on them over the season.
He should lose fat but build condition with walking and oats.
		
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He is a poor doer TB and I have always struggled with his weight, he hasnt been fussy with his hay before the bale I have now. I cannot see anything wrong with this bale, it looks and smells nice but it is very long, thick hay wheras his bale before was more thin, chopped, bitty and green. I just think he is being fussy or he has gone off hay all together and wants grass!! 

Tbh he seems to be really enjoying his copra, he hasnt been on it that long, only about 2 months so far!


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## nikkimariet (10 March 2014)

Our 2 TB's are BF and both on oats.

We feed rolled oats that have been soaked for 24 hours (easier to digest and that's the way the feed run works!).

Fig gets 2.5 scoops a day and CS gets 1.5 scoops a day.

Bock crunching sound, both in hard work and both positively blooming on them.












Fatty bum bums 

I don't rate feeding any kind of beet. And if it were me I would replace with something fibre/oil based (Fig gets winergy conditioning) and see how he goes.

CS is on the other side of the scale, and although he suffers ulcers he is fed a high starch cereal based diet plus the oats and winergy high energy.


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## Kat (10 March 2014)

I feed my barefoot horse whole oats that have been soaked. She is a very poor doer and a fussy eater and feeding oats has been great for condition,  she is eating up and has enough energy for work but is manageable in the stable.


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## Exploding Chestnuts (10 March 2014)

nikkimariet said:



			Our 2 TB's are BF and both on oats.

We feed rolled oats that have been soaked for 24 hours (easier to digest and that's the way the feed run works!).

Fig gets 2.5 scoops a day and CS gets 1.5 scoops a day.

Bock crunching sound, both in hard work and both positively blooming on them.












Fatty bum bums 

I don't rate feeding any kind of beet. And if it were me I would replace with something fibre/oil based (Fig gets winergy conditioning) and see how he goes.

CS is on the other side of the scale, and although he suffers ulcers he is fed a high starch cereal based diet plus the oats and winergy high energy.
		
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I wish every TB looked like yours.


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## ester (10 March 2014)

MrsD123 said:



			To build up condition and keep it appetising, she asked about feeding oats.
		
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But copra and oats would build up more condition than kwikbeet and oats??


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## Goldenstar (10 March 2014)

You certainly have to be careful with boring  bulk and some TBs .
Oats certainly work brilliantly on this type of issue with some horses .
I usually introduce it gradually starting with 250 grammes the first day 500 the second until I get to a kilo a day then I wait ten days or so and see what difference there is .
Then as I feel the need I add another half kilo and wait ten days and so on .
You won't want to be feeding more than three kilos of oats a day and at that level I would be feeding three perhaps four times daily.
You also have to be ready to cut back when work is reduced or stopped .
Oats and kwik beet would be my choice as kwikbeet is a good calcium source I have no idea if copra is .
My TB is so easy to keep looking fab if you add oats to his diet it suits him perfectly .
The other thing to consider with TBs is that some have small appetites for size and you have to be wary of filling them up with low calorie forage my first choice would be to provide a higher feed value forage .


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## criso (10 March 2014)

I've fed copra and oats together to 2 tbs and a warmblood and they worked well in terms of weight and/or the right sort of energy depending on how much fed.

Copra is not high in calcium but has reasonable levels of phosphorus which suits the local conditions.


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## ellie11987 (10 March 2014)

Goldenstar said:



			The other thing to consider with TBs is that some have small appetites for size and you have to be wary of filling them up with low calorie forage my first choice would be to provide a higher feed value forage .
		
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Please try telling my TB that! 

On a serious note, mine has absolutely bloomed on whole soaked oats. She is never in much work as the likes of Fig and CS so gets around 1.5 scoops added to speedibeet, 2 mugs linseed and a min/vit sup. She obviously gets ad lib haylage too. I soak the oats overnight as that is what fits in with our routine!

After battling with her weight for a year we have finally got it right. I thoroughly believe that if your horse is not in hard work, a simple straights diet with ad lib haylage should be sufficient to maintain a healthy weight and it needn't cost ££££. IMO, you need to get the hindgut stabilized and efficient so that means fibre fibre fibre and oats and oil as a top up. Mine looks 1000X better on less feed but higher in fibre and oil than messing around with cubes and mixes!

This was her yesterday:







And in the middle of winter fully clipped:


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## maccachic (10 March 2014)

Love oats too best thing for my poor doer TB who is also BF.  MY mare will get them over winter if fibre based feeds aren't enough.


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## Fides (10 March 2014)

ktj1891 said:



			Are they safe to feed?
What oats do you buy?

I was looking on Thunderbrook website that said their oats are different to normal whole oats in that they are mature organic germinating oats and therefore lower in starch than most, they advise to soak them for 24 hours and that they are safe for laminitics. 

Whats your experiences feeding oats, I am really considering putting my boy on oats, only think holding me back is the fact he is barefoot and cribs and that oats contain quite high starch levels!

Any tips, advices, experience appreciated!
		
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lf the oats are germinating they're actually malt...


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## maccachic (10 March 2014)

"The general consensus is that oats can be fed unprocessed. As it is a larger grain, horses are capable of chewing the grain enough to break its seed coat, removing the need for physical processing. Studies have also found that oat starch is far easier to digest than corn or barley starch in an uncooked form. So oats can be fed whole and uncooked. However, whether oats can be fed unprocessed needs to be decided on a horse by horse basis. Observe your horse's manure closely when you are feeding him oats. If you observe whole oat grains in his manure, whole oats is not a suitable feed for this horse. It is important to make sure the oats you are observing in the manure are whole and not just undigested hulls. Do this by taking them from the manure and squeezing them. If they are whole you will observe the white starch oozing from the centre. If you want to feed oats specifically, but your horse doesn't digest them well, cracked, steam rolled and micronised oats can be purchased." from feed xl newletter


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## nikkimariet (10 March 2014)

MrsD123 said:



			I wish every TB looked like yours.
		
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It's been a complete headache at times, but really worth it when they don't just look well, they feel well and happy too


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## Penny Eater (10 March 2014)

Fides said:



			lf the oats are germinating they're actually malt...
		
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Can you explain? Do you mean if you soak oats they ferment - don't they require warmth to do that?


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## Fides (10 March 2014)

Penny Eater said:



			Can you explain? Do you mean if you soak oats they ferment - don't they require warmth to do that?
		
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No I mean that germinated oats (as in the post I quoted) are actually malt and much higher in sugar


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## Pinkvboots (10 March 2014)

Sorry another question whats the difference between normal oats and tiger oats?


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## Goldenstar (10 March 2014)

Pinkvboots said:



			Sorry another question whats the difference between normal oats and tiger oats?
		
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I think tiger oats is a brand of food ,oats with fibre and oil added .


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## Rocky01 (10 March 2014)

my boy has just moved onto tiger oats and gwf balancer (oat based) and he is positively starting to gleam. Both my two are BF and interestingly with both of them their persistent thrush is getting better without treatment as such (they both hate treatment).


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## Pinkvboots (10 March 2014)

Goldenstar said:



			I think tiger oats is a brand of food ,oats with fibre and oil added .
		
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Thank you


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## Pinkvboots (10 March 2014)

Rocky01 said:



			my boy has just moved onto tiger oats and gwf balancer (oat based) and he is positively starting to gleam. Both my two are BF and interestingly with both of them their persistent thrush is getting better without treatment as such (they both hate treatment).
		
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I might give them a try not that expensive either.


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## Nannon (12 March 2014)

Recently started my very poor tb on oats - having tried most conditioning feeds and having no success! He was on speedibeet, Alfa a oil, micronised linseed and supplements and looking ok - still very lean though, decided to add oats and have to say he's really really coming on! They haven't fizzed him up either and he hasn't gone footy - also barefoot. He's starting to bulk up finally (!!!) and people on my yard have commented on how he looks  he only gets 2 and a half mugs at the moment, and gets worked every day with a day off in 8-10, schooling for up to an hour, lunging, and hacking out once a week.


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## amandaco2 (12 March 2014)

Last yr


















And this yr


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## Captain Bridget (12 March 2014)

I've just started mine on oats, I'm hoping he'll look like the lovely TB's on here soon! 

Only problem I've found so far is that at the moment I'm introducing the linseed and oats so he's not getting very much and he is quite picky so didn't want to eat his dinner. I ended up adding a little bit of pasture mix just to get him to eat it! 

Hopefully once he has more oats/linseed he'll eat up a bit better!


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## ellie11987 (13 March 2014)

Captain Bridget said:



			Only problem I've found so far is that at the moment I'm introducing the linseed and oats so he's not getting very much and he is quite picky so didn't want to eat his dinner. I ended up adding a little bit of pasture mix just to get him to eat it! 

Hopefully once he has more oats/linseed he'll eat up a bit better!
		
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I found this with mine who is the greediest pig ever. If it has a decent amount of linseed in, she will eat it. If not, no chance!


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## Hurricanelady (14 March 2014)

I feed soaked whole oats as part of as natural a diet as possible with varying quantities of the following depending on each horse's age and metabolic status etc (Equimins Advance Complete Concentrate to provide vits and mins without soya that is often in balancers, grass nuts, micronized linseed, whole soaked oats, fibrebeet; and of course quality hay/haylage).  It works very well and seems to suit them all, from a 2 and 3 year olds, through hard working 13 year old and then 2 20 year olds.

When I was buying my oats from Thunderbrook they never actually were organic during that 2 year period, they were only able to supply "normal" oats which I ended up being able to source much more competitively (because of not having to pay delivery fees on 20 kg sacks of oats) through my local feed merchant.


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## ktj1891 (24 March 2014)

What make of oats does everyone use?


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## dianchi (24 March 2014)

Half tempted to try this with my TB, is crushed oats the same?


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## nikkimariet (24 March 2014)

We use rolled oats. Pretty much the same as crushed. We soak for more efficient digestion too.


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## Goldenstar (24 March 2014)

nikkimariet said:



			We use rolled oats. Pretty much the same as crushed. We soak for more efficient digestion too.
		
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How long do you soak them for and do you use cold water ?


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## ellie11987 (24 March 2014)

ktj1891 said:



			What make of oats does everyone use?
		
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i get whole oats from farmandpetplace.com for about £8 for a 25kg sack


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## maccachic (24 March 2014)

I feed oats whole.  As soon as the inside is exposed to air the nutritional value decreases and..

"Another reason for whole oats (instead of crushed) is that you need the intact kernel in order to receive the fat content of the whole grain. The husk of the whole oat is very important for correct chewing and digestive processes. A horse with good teeth and proper dental care will chew and digest the whole oat, leaving only husks in the manure. If oats are coming out undigested, there could be a tooth or digestion problem going on, so be sure to investigate that."  https://www.thehorseshoof.com/oats1.html


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## tallyho! (24 March 2014)

I bet you a bag from local feedo's whole oats sprout. Bought some from my merchant and grew them. It changes some of the properties but not all. I dont think thunderbrooks' oats are "special".


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## Holidays_are_coming (26 March 2014)

I might try this with my gelding!  Great


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## Holidays_are_coming (26 March 2014)

Ok nmk when you soak them do you drain the water or just cover slightly with water and feed like that? Do you feed a balancer or anything with them?


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## tallyho! (26 March 2014)

Holidays_are_coming said:



			Ok nmk when you soak them do you drain the water or just cover slightly with water and feed like that? Do you feed a balancer or anything with them?
		
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You need to drain the water.

I fed mine as an addition to normal feeds. Oats are a more complete grain than barley or anything else but still needs to be fed as part of a balanced diet. 

I mixed mine with what she was already having which was: soaked pure alfalfa, non-mollassed beet with linseed rounded off with non-molassed chaff.


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## Holidays_are_coming (26 March 2014)

Ok at the moment he is on 2 scoops of high fibre conditioning cubes, which are fully balanced at that amount! So Ill get some oats as his bum looks like some of the pics on the other page!


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## tallyho! (26 March 2014)

Go for it! 

I decided to sprout mine just to see what the looked like... Sure enough after three days, little roots and shoots started and by the end of a week I could have had it as a salad!! Lol!! 

I gave them to her like that too.


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## nikkimariet (26 March 2014)

Goldenstar said:



			How long do you soak them for and do you use cold water ?
		
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Holidays_are_coming said:



			Ok nmk when you soak them do you drain the water or just cover slightly with water and feed like that? Do you feed a balancer or anything with them?
		
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They are soaked overnight but only because that's how the feed run works  Use cold water yes. I don't drain the water no, it's handy for mixing supplements in! I don't feed a balancer but both Fig and CS get Winergy (conditioning and high energy respectively) which is a whole feed in addition to the rest of their feed.


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## amandaco2 (26 March 2014)

Soak in cold water overnight, whole feed soaked so water isnt drained off.


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