Top performing international race horses are fed on specialist products grown and produced at Reporoa – and soon valuable Middle Eastern racing camels could be eating them too.

Innovative family company Fiber Fresh grow and produce the range of feeds scientifically proven to enhance animals’ natural digestive development and function.

Fiber Fresh harvests crops from 1200ha of land at Reporoa.

Stomach ulcers
Bob says the company and its clients have always known horses perform better on Fiber Fresh products but recent studies with Massey University and other research organisations in New Zealand have confirmed its positive effects on stomach ulcers in horses.

In a peer-reviewed scientific study, when fed at recommended levels as the sole feed to spelling horses, FiberProtect provided dietary relief of symptoms of gastric discomfort, corrected an acidic stomach environment and returned the stomach to a normal healthy condition within 14 to 28 days in 100 per cent of horses studied.

FiberProtect was also shown to be effective as an aid in the management of gastric health in active horses following the reintroduction of high grain racing or competition diets.

Up-and-coming eventor Samantha Felton is one of the sponsored riders Fiber Fresh supports. 

NZ only
Fiber Fresh Feeds is the only New Zealand-based feed company with an active scientific research and development division.

The company is supported by the New Zealand Government, through the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Callaghan Innovation fund and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.

Through a number of research trials completed in partnership with AgResearch and Callaghan Innovations, Fiber Fresh feeds have proven to play a significant role in rumen development.

Calves reared on Fiber Fresh have 18 per cent heavier rumens than those reared on conventional meal-based systems.

They have greater papillae growth and better rumen wall development which results in better rumen metabolic function, enabling calves to digest and extract nutrients more efficiently once on pasture.

Rumen development
“The first 10 weeks of a calf’s life are crucial to the development of its rumen. If it doesn’t develop fully in that time it never will, and the adult animals will never reach their full potential,” says Michael.

“Our products are truly ‘fresh’. This means the crops are harvested at the optimum time to retain nutrition and avoid degradation, and then managed carefully and efficiently in order to retain critical nutrients.

“In order to achieve this, we have an integrated manufacturing process whereby all our crops are grown and harvested within a short distance of our production plant in Reporoa.

“We control all the different elements of the process, from planting through to manufacturing,” says Michael.

Bob says many of the company’s clients claim bigger and better heifers entering their dairy herds, which go on to lift production.

Fiber Fresh now employs about 50 people and harvests crops from 1200ha of land at Reporoa.

It has a wholly owned subsidiary in Japan and is a long-time supplier to the Hong Kong Jockey Club, the Singapore Turf Club and the Macau Horse Racing Company.

It also has Dubai-based Fiber Fresh United Arab Emirates CEO Ian Pryor, who is exploring the potential expansion of the company’s export business in the Middle East.