OBS Quality Feeds: Homegrown Company Flourishes in Horse Country

by

Cynthia McFarland

Here in the Horse Capital of the World®, a vast equine population supports not one, but two, locally owned and operated feed mills dedicated to producing horse feed.

For decades, the only feed mill in town was Seminole Feeds, which opened its first store in 1934 and began operating its mill in 1968.

Just over a dozen years later, a local co-op owned business expanded to increase the hometown feed options in Marion County.

Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company has established a well-deserved reputation as the 2-year-old sales venue in the U.S. Since its first 2-year-olds-in-training sale in January 1975, OBS has risen to prominence at the international level, even surpassing the hopes of its founders.

Photos Courtesy of OBS Quality Feeds

But sales aren’t the only aspect of the company’s success. Another flourishing division of the company is Ocala Breeders’ Feed & Supply, which launched in 1982. Today, many of the horses going through the ring at OBS sales have been raised and trained on feed bearing the OBS label.

Most, if not all, of the original shareholders of Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company were horsemen themselves. Having a feed division made sense as a logical extension of the company. For a short time, the business bought feed to sell but in 1983, OBS built its own horse feed production plant on 27th Avenue in Ocala.

Dean Wright was general manager when the company got rolling. Ty Springer came on board in 2014. There have been only two general managers at Ocala Breeders’ Feed & Supply all these years.

Ocala Breeders’ Feed & Supply has three locations in Ocala. The Highway 27 and Airport Road locations are fully stocked retail stores, which also sell feed and hay. The mill location on 27th Avenue, which is also the corporate office, has feed sales only. OBS Quality Feeds are also sold at several local dealers, including Rural King, Williston Hay Company, Wagon Wheel in Brooksville, and Larsen Farms in Oxford.

Busy Mill

Feed is manufactured Monday through Friday, with the mill producing 80 tons a day. This equates to 3,200 bags a day of textured and pelleted oat-based horse feeds.

There is not a large warehouse to stockpile feed, so it is sold right after production. Every bag is stamped with the date that feed was produced. In keeping with the company’s emphasis on freshness, most feed is sold within a 30-mile radius of the mill.

The bagging area of the mill is brand new as of late August 2024.

Workers load trucks with feed at OBS Quality Feeds

Photos Courtesy of OBS Quality Feeds

“A robot takes bags off the conveyor belt and puts them on a pallet. This is a big improvement from when bags used to be stacked by four men. We have used a robot for about 15 years and recently upgraded it,” says general manager Ty Springer.

“We receive whole oats and corn by rail in large bulk amounts,” he says, noting that the train tracks are right at the back door of the mill location on 27th Avenue.

“We buy the best there is and only from certain companies that have the same integrity we do. The oats we buy are the same grade as what you’d get in human cereal. Our oats come out of Canada; our corn is grown in Indiana,” says Springer.

Ty Springer, OBS Quality Feeds General Manager

While these grains ship in by rail, semi-trucks deliver other ingredients, including soybeans hulls, soybean meal, dehydrated alfalfa meal and wheat middlings.

Testing ensures that only the highest quality ingredients are used.

“We have mycotoxin testing and quality graded testing on every load we buy,” notes Springer. “We also have in-house mycotoxin testing and pull samples and test them.”

Mycotoxins are toxic substances produced by fungi that can contaminate plants and grain crops, including oats and corn.

Feed Production

All oats used in OBS formulas are steamed and crimped and processed at the mill. Corn is either cracked or will be ground if it’s going into a pelleted ration.

Crackers, steamers, grinders and crimpers are among the mill’s machinery. At the heart of the mill is a mixer, (think of it as a giant mixing bowl), which handles 4,000 pounds at a time. That’s the equivalent of 80 bags of feed.

Since horses require different nutrients at different stages of life, the nutritional analysis of feed is critical.

OBS Quality Feeds is a Balance Partner with Kentucky Equine Research (KER), the respected international equine nutrition, research, and consultation company based in the Blue Grass State. To create properly fortified rations, OBS Quality Feeds uses KER micronutrient blends.

“Our partnership with Kentucky Equine Research gives us direct access to cutting-edge science, which enables our team to provide the best service and research-backed recommendations to our customers,” says Springer. “We know our product line now reflects the latest research on optimal feeding practices for modern race, breeding, and sport horses.”

Springer notes that during the mixing process, KER micronutrient blends are added to the rations. Using these carefully designed premixes balances the vitamin and mineral profile so that the feed meets or exceeds nutrient requirements for the intended class of horses. Whether an owner is raising foals, feeding high level performance horses or backyard pleasure horses, they can feel confident the feed was formulated to meet their specific nutrient requirements. To meet those varying demands, OBS produces 11 different feed formulas.

When soybean oil is part of the ingredients, this is added to the mixer, as is molasses.

“The majority of our feed is made with molasses. Even the pelleted feeds have a light application of molasses for palatability,” says Springer. “Thoroughbred buyers like their feed to have more molasses than the sport horse people, so we have OBS Sport Horse, which is a high fat, low starch feed which has no corn or oats and is light on molasses.”

Rigid Standards

Most consumers aren’t aware of the strict regulations involved in operating a feed mill.

“When you’re feeding million-dollar racehorses, quality is of the essence,” says Springer, noting that Triple Crown winner American Pharoah was fed OBS feed when he was broken and trained at McKathan Brothers Training Center.

Even if horses aren’t destined to become champions, owners want to know that their feed is safe and contains the best ingredients.

“The state of Florida requires us to submit so many samples of finished product based on the tons of feed produced every quarter. They test for protein, fat and fiber to analyze that the samples match the tags for each formula. We’re held to strict governing standards and are fined if it doesn’t match,” notes Springer.

Photos Courtesy of OBS Quality Feeds

Ty Springer, OBS Quality Feeds General Manager

All scales used in the mill must be USDA certified, and the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services routinely sends state inspectors to feed mills; those visits are unannounced.

The mill is also FDA inspected.

“The FDA inspects the facilities on a regular basis, but without advance warning. They look for cross contamination of any kind. They also look at the protocols and procedures. Those protocols have to be written down and our employees have to be trained in it,” says Springer, adding that their motto is “Food Safe, Feed Safe.”

Photos Courtesy of OBS Quality Feeds

Although OBS also sells feed for cattle, goats, sheep, and swine, those feeds are never produced in their mill.

This means consumers don’t have to worry about any potentially dangerous medications accidentally finding their way into horse feed, which can have fatal results.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened this summer when a rodeo stock contractor in Oklahoma received a bulk feed shipment that contained monensin. The drug is routinely used in cattle feed to improve feed efficiency but should never be fed to horses because even a small amount is toxic. Tragically, the ranch lost 70 to 80 horses.

Such accidents can happen in feed mills that produce multi-species feeds if there is a failed cleanout procedure or sensor malfunction. OBS Quality Feeds users never have to worry about this happening as the mill is totally drug free and only produces equine feed.

Trusted Source

Prominent juvenile consignor Eddie Woods has long relied on OBS Quality Feeds. At the height of the season, there are 200 horses at his Ocala training center.

As of mid-October, Eddie Woods ranked #4 among Leading Consignors for 2024 North American Sales having sold 49 head for $10,060,500 in 2024.

“We’ve been feeding OBS feeds since 1993,” says Woods, noting that his 2-year-old sale horses and older layup horses are all fed OBS Performance Blend, which is the choice of many 2-year-old consignors and trainers. The 12 percent protein textured feed is formulated for the high energy demands of yearlings and horses in training.

An OBS shareholder, Woods also serves on the board of directors. He especially likes the fact that OBS Feeds is backed by extensive research and that all feeds are fortified and balanced with KER micronutrients.

Local delivery is an added convenience. “We put in our order by barn and get a truckload delivered a week,” says Woods.

Photos Courtesy of OBS Quality Feeds

All Classes of Horses

At Bridlewood Farm, every horse on the property is fed OBS Quality Feeds–from mares and foals to yearlings, stallions and training horses.

Founded in 1976 by Arthur Appleton, one of the pioneers of Florida’s Thoroughbred industry, Bridlewood Farm has a rich history of breeding, raising and training stakes winners. Following Appleton’s death, the operation was purchased by John and Leslie Malone in 2013.

“We’ve been OBS shareholders since the inception of the company and have fed OBS feeds for many years,” says George Isaacs, Bridlewood’s long-time general manager.

In his many years of managing Bridlewood, Isaacs says he’s conducted his own in-house trials and tried other feeds, but always came back to the OBS brand. A big reason for that is knowing all OBS formulas are backed by extensive research.

“They hired Dr. Joe Pagan (of Kentucky Equine Research), one of the foremost equine nutritionists in the world, to reformulate their feeds,” says Isaacs. “Dr. Pagan does more boots on the ground research than anyone, so I have 1000 percent confidence in him and am glad he’s part of the OBS team. He has ‘looked under the hood’ so we can use OBS feeds with confidence and know we can raise a good horse on it.”