Wholesome high quality Ingredients Specifically Formulated and Processed with Steam Extrusion for Maximum Digestibility
What makes American Family Feed so incredible?
Our wholesome ingredients combined with steam EXTRUSION!
Pictured is an example of a STEAM EXTRUDER much like the ones used to make American Family Feed.
The extrusion process uses high temperature and steam to create pressure. This pressure is applied to the specially formulated ingredients and pushed through small holes called a DIE. The combination of heat, pressure and steam cause a disruption in the natural structure of the carbohydrate. It takes what would be digested as a starch, and expands it into a honeycomb structure, making it possible for your horse to digest easily, and not as an unsafe starch.
Pictured is an example of a STEAM EXTRUDER much like the ones used to make American Family Feed.
The extrusion process uses high temperature and steam to create pressure. This pressure is applied to the specially formulated ingredients and pushed through small holes called a DIE. The combination of heat, pressure and steam cause a disruption in the natural structure of the carbohydrate. It takes what would be digested as a starch, and expands it into a honeycomb structure, making it possible for your horse to digest easily, and not as an unsafe starch.
Horses have a unique digestive system that was designed to consume large amounts of fiber. A typical horse grazing or fed free choice hay will consume about one pound of dry matter per hour, which by the end of a day provides in excess of 12,000 calories. This will meet the daily “Maintenance” requirements of horses without any further supplementation.
When we start to add work to our horses daily schedule, the nutrient requirements increase and the daily energy requirements could well exceed 40,000 calories. The solution to the best and “Safest” way to make up the difference in calories between what is needed, and what the horse obtains from natural fiber sources is obtained with our Proven Formulas! We provide a healthy source of calories and energy without added sugars or molasses. EQUINE DIGESTION The horse's digestive system is broken down into several segments. The Stomach’s "purpose" is to simply regulate the flow of feedstuffs into the horse's small intestine. Enzymes in the small intestine have less than an hour to breakdown starches and proteins before the food passes into the hindgut. It is here in the hindgut that the majority of the digestive problems associated with feeding horses occur. The hindgut, unlike the small intestine, relies on bacterial fermentation to breakdown the foodstuffs. Until we started feeding high energy feeds, the only foods making it back to the hindgut were forage, and fibrous. But now, starches, especially from Raw Grains in the modern horse diet entering the hindgut begin to ferment which produces a combination of gas and heat. In most cases, the result is simply an uncomfortable level of gas that eventually passes. In severe cases, the gas produced may not be passed and will cause “Colic” in the horse. The fermentation creates heat, gas, and increased sugar production within the hindgut. Carbohydrates digested in the foregut, such as extruded grains, yield more energy than carbohydrates digested in the hindgut. Extruding your horses grain aids in the reduction of uncomfortable gas, and helps maintain a proper gut Ph. For years, the equine industry has recognized the serious problem with feeding high levels of energy to horses. You can’t open a horse magazine without seeing an ad for another “Safe” horse feed. What are these companies doing to “Solve” the problem? Absolutely Nothing! Companies are taking out wholesome grains and replacing them with low quality “processed grain by-products” as well as lower quality fiber sources such as (peanut hulls, rice hulls, oat hulls). Where do they get the energy? Soak it with high levels of fat! So now owners of performance horses are being asked to feed a “Processed Grain By-Product” based feed sprayed with high levels of fat. This is not even close to the best solution to the problem.
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