| 25 still guides activities of NZTBA Shocking, winner of the 2009 Melbourne Cup, at Rich Hill Stud. RURAL PEOPLE » NZTBA 20minutes north of Taupo in the beautiful geothermal valley of Reporoa lie 2000 hectares of land under management by Fiber-Fresh Limited Partnership where they grow their lucerne and other specialist and ruminant grasses. The company was founded by the Bell family in 1985 and in 2019 transitioned to ownership by a fully New Zealand owned consortium. Hayden Scown and Matt Bell are joint General Managers for Fiber-Fresh with Matt running operations while Hayden is in charge of sales and marketing. The New Zealand sales team is based out of Cambridge, “the home of equine and dairy” says Hayden. “We’ve also got a large focus on our export market. We’re due to launch in Germany this year, and we’ve got distribution networks in Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong, with our biggest growth currently in Japan.” Fiber-Fresh’s main crop has always been lucerne, and they’re proud of the fact that all their feed is New Zealand grown and sourced. ”The biggest industry we’re involved with is equine,” says Hayden. “That’s from racing to sport horses to everyday ponies, and our other key market is ruminant with the likes of calf-rearing and other animal classes through to sheep dairy feed.” Marketed as Fiber-Protect®, Fiber-Fresh’s wet forage mixture is what sets them apart from other potential feed sources, especially overseas, with their main competition in the export market coming from cha , a dry alternative. “There’s not many others doing what we’re doing. The lucerne is harvested and goes through our controlled fermentation process which gives it its unique nutrient pro ile and consistency, and importantly keeps its moisture. It’s really important to feed ibre irst, in particular with the equine market, and we’re the only one with the ACVM registration which means that we prevent gastric ulcers in horses,” says Hayden. ACVM registration means that Fiber-Protect is an approved veterinary medicine. Horses evolved to freely graze moist forage 16 -18 hours a day on expansive grasslands. These days that’s likely to have been replaced with con inement, training and unnatural diets, with the net result of a high incidence of gastric diseases such as ulcers. Hence the Fiber-Fresh mantra of “ ibre irst” as, regardless of anything else, it’s the intake of wet forage that helps stimulate the horse’s natural mechanisms that typically prevent these gastric diseases. Fiber-Protect retains about a 55% moisture content and somehow also retains a sense of the Reporoa Valley fromwhere it came. “It’s a fresh product so when you pull it out of the bag it’s still moist and it smells amazing,” says Hayden. “Horses love it and just chewing it releases their saliva which is a huge preventative for gastric disease as well.” Fiber-Fresh like to support industry bodies and the NZTBA (New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeding Association) is a case in point. “We recognize that they provide a really valuable service to the racing industry,” says Hayden. “We enjoy working with them and will continue to do so.” Quality feed focus 0800 545 545 3088 State Highway 5, RD 2 Reporoa www.fiber-fresh.com sales@fiber-fresh.com Passionately Striving To Make A Difference Established in 1984, Fiber Fresh was developed with your animals’ health and wellbeing in mind. From the beginning, we have combined the power and brilliance of the lucerne plant with our entirely natural, world-first, trademarked processes, to create products with unrivalled levels of nutrients and energy. These all-natural products boast a variety of remedial, preventative and performance benefits, all of which provide a strong nutritional foundation for your animals.
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