Starch Percentages In Feeds

You've been recommended to feed a low starch feed, but what does this actually mean?

When looking at the starch level of a feed it's important to look at the feeding rate as well as the % on the feed bag or label.

There is a misconception about the % on a feed bag or label being the same as the amount of starch a horse or pony recives on a daily basis.

Balancers, hybrid feeds, mixes & cubes will all have different feeding rates for a 500kg horse. Therefore to work out how much starch they are receiving it's important to first understand the recommended feeding rate of the feed.

Pelleted Balancer vs a compound feed

If you are feeding your 600kg Warmblood Essential Balancer at the recommended feeding rate of 100g per 100kg bodyweight - 600g a day and it has a starch level of 6% your horse will be receiving 36g of starch per day.

If you are feeding your 600kg warmblood Super Fibre Cubes at the recommended feeding rate of 2.5kg a day and the starch level is 10.5%. Your horse will be receiving 262.5 g of starch per day.

It is recommended that for those with or prone to gastric ulcers, starch should be limited to a maximum of 2g per 1kg of bodyweight per day and 1g per 1kg of bodyweight per meal.

So a 600kg horse can have up to 1.2kgs of starch per day with no more than 600g per meal.

A feed should not be judged just by the percentages on the bag, but by the amount fed!

Even a high starch performance feed such as Competiton-Fit Mix with a starch level of 26% fed at 2.5kg a day for a 600kg horse will provide 650g starch which is still within the maximum recommended intake for those horses prone to gastric ulcers. We would recommend splitting this into multiple meals during the day so that it is below 1g per 1kg bodyweight per meal.

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If you would like any further information, please feel free to contact our nutritional team on 01622 718487 or email info@saracenhorsefeeds.co.uk