Natural and Organic feeds and supplements for all of your animals

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Horses: Do EquiPride and EquiLix contain sugar and starch?

SweetPro’s Brad Thornberg answers: The NSC (sugar) of both EquiPride and EquiLix is going to be about 2.8%. Regarding this number, it’s important to note the starch figure (2.8% as is) would be “bound/resistant starch” which is comparable to dietary fiber, having come through our fermentation. In our manufacture, the yeast eat all the sugar and starch they can (basically pre-digesting EP) and then run out of steam when there is nothing left (they actually go anaerobic and create alcohol at the end).

The “non-molasses, non-grain starch” mantra we preach is important, and we want people to differentiate between bound starch and readily fermentable starch. (EquiLix is held together with Distillers Solubles, pressure and mineral.)

Also, an area where we get no credit on net energy is for the alcohol and volatile fatty acids in the feed. They are included in the moisture number (28 to 30%).  Alcohol and VFAs are very valuable dense energy but the feed analysis industry does not have a way to provide credit for them since they are driven off in the autoclave dry matter determination–so they are lost. EquiPride/EquiLix typically has between 3 and 4% alcohol and 2% organic acids as lactic, acetic and succinic. It’s comparable to adding 5% more fat, but it’s an esoteric issue for most, and we are resigned to just letting the customer get those benefits without us getting credit for it.