The benefits of feeding Benchmark Perfect Mash
Benchmark Feed is a fairly new horse feed company to enter the market. They’ve only been around for a few short years, but this brand and their products’ popularity have skyrocketed since their introduction to the market. This popularity has first and foremostly come because horse owners are seeing great results. So much so, that Benchmark won the 2023 Innovation Award at Australia’s biggest equine event Equitana.
So, what’s so innovative about Benchmark’s feeds? Benchmark feeds have been designed to provide a balanced equine diet with high levels of essential nutrients without relying on grains and grain bi-products. By utilising the benefits of super fibres from soy hulls the Benchmark team have created a truly remarkable new feed that ticks the nutritional boxes for many of our equine friends.
While Benchmark’s range is relatively small, they have collaborated with leading equine nutritionists that focus on horse health, condition, and performance. Benchmark feeds are kept as natural as possible and have been made to move away from relying on grains and grain starch as an energy source. Instead, their feeds use super fibres to stimulate hind gut fermentation, which has a huge range of benefits for horses’ health.
Why pick Perfect Mash
The most popular feed to emerge from the Benchmark range is Benchmark Perfect Mash. As the name suggests this feed is fed by mixing with water to create a mash consistency (think Maxisoy consistency).
Perfect Mash is highly palatable, rich in natural antioxidants, amino acids, vitamins, minerals and electrolytes – and importantly, despite being a great conditioning feed, it’s non-heating, making it a logical choice for many horse owners.
Low sugar and starch – Horses need good levels of energy in their diet to function and perform at their best, but high sugars and starch are one of the main causes of health issues in horses today. Benchmark Perfect Mash has good levels of energy, mainly through microbial fermentation producing “cool” energy and fat content in the feed yet contains less than 6% sugars and starch. Perfect for the laminitic and EMS horse and pony, and that horse who gets a bit hot on conventional feeds but still needs a complete feed.
Super fibres – Fibre is the natural source of feed for horses and Benchmark Perfect Mash is packed with some of the best super fibres available. Soybean hulls enhance microbial fermentation in the hindgut, improving digestion, vitamin production and overall health. It only makes sense to feed something natural to your best friend!
Gut health –Perfect Mash contains substantial levels of natural antioxidants, plus pre and pro-biotics which are all designed to improve the gut and overall health of your horse.
A complete feed – Benchmark Perfect Mash is a totally unique mash feed, being one of the only in Australia to be a complete feed, meaning it has the complete vitamin and mineral profile a horse needs.
Being a complete feed means when you feed Perfect Mash, the only other thing you need to add is roughage – grass, hay and/or chaff. Perfect Mash should be fed alongside your horse’s daily roughage requirements (at least 2 per cent of the horse’s body weight in roughage per day). Any vitamin or mineral deficiencies should also be addressed with additional supplementation, for example a horse on high oxalate pasture may need calcium supplementation.
For more information on Perfect Mash or any of the other Benchmark Feed products get in touch with the team at Mustang & Co.