How much starch is acceptable in feed?

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pipper

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I have always understood that feeding starch is not good for horses' tummy's - ulcers ect...
the feed companies list the starch content in each feed - but at what point / % is the starch too high??
thanks
 
I'll be interest to read comments on this.

I have two horses. One needs condition and weight putting on and his feed which is Saracen Show Improver Pencils has 20% starch, which I consider high.

The other is a ulcer prone horse and he's on Anti Lam Top Spec balancer and Alfa A MF, which are low starch (I hope). However, I've been trying to get him to eat up his Egusin and in order to do this I have bought a bag of Allen and Page Ride and Relax which is advertised as low starch, sugar etc but in fact seems to be 15%, which I think is still fairly high. I would have thought less than 10% is low.
 
i am hoping someone in the know will answer this for me. I dont want to feed starch so currently feed fast fibre - but one of my horses is very very lazy and needs a bit more (rocket up the a*se) so i am looking at the higher energy feeds but dont know what is a 'safe' level of starch to feed.
I know i could ask the feed companies but i feel that although they are helpful they are slightly biased as they want to sell their products......
 
I think you need to combine the sugar & starch levels to get a true picture of a feed - 10% or below combined is a benchmark I was once given for a feed to be "healthy".

As well as those recommended by dixie have a look at D&H ers pellets and the Top Spec cubes (various energy levels) if you are looking for low sugar/starch.
 
Around 10% starch would be considered the safe maximum for Laminitcs, ulcer prone, tying up etc

There are feeds that are below this so i would go for those, I feed Winergy Equilibrium Growth, High in Energy 12.5MJ but only 5% starch, my horse has no known problems but I want the lowest starch feed available as that's what is best for him and all horses in general
 
Anything laminitic or has metabolic issues should always be fed 10% or less sugar and starch combined. Tbh any horse really should follow this rule as much as possible to ensure healthy digestive function. I would reccomend a low sugar base such as fast fibre/speedibeet then linseed or copra stance on top.
 
Anything less than 20% I think is fairly low for a working horse without metabolic problems. Generally I keep my horses starch to below 15% and thats fine. He's a working TB he needs something.
Sugar I try and stay away from heavily molassed products. But imo a scoop of molassed chaff won't have any negative effect on him. What I do keep an eye on spring grass. That can be 40% sugar and imo causes many more problems then a scoop of pony nuts or mollassed chaff.
 
Firewell said:
Sugar I try and stay away from heavily molassed products. But imo a scoop of molassed chaff won't have any negative effect on him. What I do keep an eye on spring grass. That can be 40% sugar and imo causes many more problems then a scoop of pony nuts or mollassed chaff.
Click to expand...

This!!
I think alot of people forget that grass is full of sugar! The amount of sugar in a few kg of chaff or in a handful of carrots is nothing in comparison to what they consume eating grass/Haylage/hay on a daily basis. The horses system isnt designed to digest starch hence why it causes problems
 
The current guideline is to feed no more than 1g of starch per 1kg of body weight, so a 500kg horse could safely be fed no more than 500g of starch at a time. Any more than this and you risk starch getting into the hind gut, which can cause colic, laminitis, hind gut acidosis, reduced capacity to ferment fibre causing weight loss, reduced performance etc.

Most horses don't need much starch in the diet, regardless of breed. Fibre and oil should provide enough calories unless the horse is in hard work.
 
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