Why is Renew Gold™ 15% protein, and is this too much for my horse?
How much additional protein to add to your horse’s diet is one of the most misunderstood topics that I encounter when discussing equine nutrition with horse owners. While most horse owners base the feed concentrate that they add to their horse’s roughage source (hay) on its protein level, many don’t really understand how that affects the total nutritional profile.
Understanding the percentage of protein in a feed supplement seems to be a very confusing issue. Do I feed a 10% instead a 12%, a 12% instead of a 15%? Let’s take a look.
Where protein is concerned, the considerations should be total protein added to the diet, what proteins are actually provided, and what you are trying to achieve. Renew Gold™ is 15% natural vegetable sourced protein. Is this too much if your horse seems to get along with a current product that is 10%, or 12%? Looking at the total amount that is contributed to the diet will give you a clearer picture of just what the true protein numbers are and what effect they will have on your horse.
One pound of Renew Gold provides 68 grams of quality, highly usable, vegetable-sourced protein. This would be a typical daily inclusion of Renew Gold in most horse’s diets.
One pound of a “Brand X”, you fill in the name, 10% protein grain-based feed concentrate provides 45 grams of protein. But, according to feed instructions typically found on their label, you will be told to feed four or five pounds, or more, of this product. If we take the lower number of four pounds, you are adding 180 grams of protein per day into your horse. Even if you only feed several pounds of a 10% feed, you are still adding almost 1/3 more total protein than you are with Renew Gold. As you can see, if you are concerned about too much total protein added in the diet, Renew Gold adds much less, even though the label guarantee per pound is higher.
If your goal in adding protein is meeting additional energy needs, we feel that there is a better way. Rather than rely on more added protein in your horses diet like most feed companies do, we designed Renew Gold to provide the type and amount of quality protein necessary in the diet to support tissue repair, healthy growth, and to help meet essential amino acid needs. Then, instead of more added protein as an energy source, Renew Gold provides additional cooler energy more efficiently by the inclusion of three sources of high quality, easily digestible natural vegetable fats. Additionally, Renew Gold’s digestive aid and light foot print in the system promotes an overall improvement of digestive efficiency.
Not relying on additional protein for energy support allows you to take high amounts of added feed out of the diet. Doing this has additional benefits. Less grain means lower total NSC numbers which, in turn, can lower colic risk, and moderate temperament. At the same time, Renew Gold supports a digestive system that can then function closer to how nature intended. Our goal in the end is better use of the roughage that your horse eats, improved efficiency and a consistent predictable energy level from one day to the next. All of this gives you a greater ability to adjust that energy level to your needs.
When you think about it, doesn’t this make more sense?
If you have questions contact us today.
Is Renew Gold™ a Feed or a Supplement?
We are commonly asked if Renew Gold is a feed or a supplement. Interesting question, so let’s look at what the difference is when talking about equine nutrition.
What’s a feed?
An equine feed is most often sold in large bags with recommended feeding rates of five pounds per day or more, sometimes much more. The most common source of energy in feeds is a blend of grain and grain by products. The protein source in most feeds is also usually grain based, but, in low quality feeds may be from other sources.
Many feeds are formulated to meet their printed label guarantees at the lowest cost by reformulating every week with different components. This is called “least cost formulating”. While the protein, fat and fiber levels may be the same from bag to bag, the actual product inside may not be. In general, the easiest way to spot a “least cost formulated” feed is to look for a tag on the bag that lists the nutritional information rather than having that information printed directly on the bag. If the manufacturer is constantly changing the formulation as ingredient pricing varies, it is easier to change the ingredient list on a tag than on a pre-printed bag.
When a feed product is made to the same formulation every time, no matter how the ingredient costs vary, it is called “Fixed Formulating”. Usually, a fixed formulated product will have the ingredients printed directly on the bag. The exception to this might be bulk packaging for large users, but in general, fully printed retail store packaging means “Fixed Formulation” and the consistency that goes with getting exactly the same product every time you buy.
What’s a supplement?
When we think about supplements for horses, we usually imagine a small bucket with a little scoop inside. The recommendations for use commonly tell us to feed one or two of these little scoops per day. The goal here is to supplement deficient, or totally missing, pieces of the nutrition puzzle. This can be of value in some situations, but many supplements are not what they seem
As a person who has formulated many equine supplements over the last twenty years, I can speak with some authority on the subject. Not all equine supplements are created equal. The equine supplement market is a very competitive place, and quite price sensitive. There are a number of different ways to compete in this market. Let’s take a look at some of those ways.
The first is to use low quality components and provide an inexpensive product. For the horse owner, this is usually money wasted, no matter how inexpensive the product may seem. If the ingredient quality is low, it is seldom utilized by the horse in the manner promised on the label.
The second is to lie about what you put in the product. This is more common than you might think, and very hard for the consumer to detect, other than lack of result from the product. With the financial problems we have in most states, product testing by state regulatory agencies is not as common as it used to be. Many low quality manufactures know this and take advantage of the situation by making products that simply do not contain what the label states.
The third is to use high quality ingredients and charge more for the finished product. If the product is well formulated, and the feeding rate is proper, the results can justify the added expense in some cases. The best equine supplements follow this course, and, while usually expensive, can work for the horse and its owner unless you fall into the next scenario listed below.
The fourth might be the most confusing. That is to use quality ingredients and have accurate ingredient guarantees, but lower the recommended feed rate to hit a lower price per day. I see this often with higher priced supplements. They may work well if you use a higher feed rate, but the maker is afraid that you will not buy the product if you really knew how much you needed to feed, and how much that would cost, for your horse to get the response from the product that the maker promises.
This is where Renew Gold is different.
Renew Gold creates its own category between feeds and supplements. It could best be called a bio-supplement. While we commonly refer to the value of Renew Gold in replacing high starch grain based feeds in the ration, we also see significant benefits in its ability to reduce or eliminate the need for many supplements in the ration. Unless there are specific underlying health problems in a horse there should be little need for added supplementation in a proper diet being digested by a healthy and efficient digestive system. If you are adding a digestive aid, hoof conditioner, coat conditioning product, or vitamin supplement, Renew Gold, with its ability to maximize digestive efficiency can greatly simplify your program.
While we see benefits from Renew Gold with very small inclusions in the diet, this product is feed at significantly higher feed rates than commonly used in “equine supplements”. The result of this is that you actually feed enough to make the desired changes that you seek, while commonly lowering total daily costs.
It is interesting that, as a group, horse owners who use large amounts of grain based feed also use large amounts of supplements to try to address the problems generated by those large feed inclusions. Renew Gold is a better answer. Removing the high starch, grain based roadblocks and maximizing digestive efficiency in your horse can provide much of the health support that you try to address with a long, expensive list of additives. In addition, simplifying your feeding program saves money, and makes consistent day to day nutrition more assured. Something we all can enjoy.
If you have questions contact us today.
Why do you use Flax?
Flax is best known as a significant source of Omega 3 fatty acids and can help to optimize the balance of Omega 3 and Omega 6 in a formulation. Flax is also an excellent source of vegetable fat and quality proteins. This third source of low starch digestible energy rounds out the Renew Gold formulation.
If you have questions contact us today.
If you have questions contact us today.
Protein and the Total Nutritional Profile
How much additional protein to add to your horse’s diet is one of the most misunderstood topics that I encounter when discussing equine nutrition with horse owners. While most horse owners base the feed concentrate that they add to their horse’s roughage source (hay) on its protein level, many don’t really understand how that affects the total nutritional profile.
Understanding the percentage of protein in a feed supplement seems to be a very confusing issue. Do I feed a 10% instead a 12%, a 12% instead of a 15%? Let’s take a look.
Where protein is concerned, the considerations should be total protein added to the diet, what proteins are actually provided, and what you are trying to achieve. Renew Gold™ is 15% natural vegetable sourced protein. Is this too much if your horse seems to get along with a current product that is 10%, or 12%? Looking at the total amount that is contributed to the diet will give you a clearer picture of just what the true protein numbers are and what effect they will have on your horse.
One pound of Renew Gold provides 68 grams of quality, highly usable, vegetable-sourced protein. This would be a typical daily inclusion of Renew Gold in most horse’s diets.
One pound of a “Brand X”, you fill in the name, 10% protein grain-based feed concentrate provides 45 grams of protein. But, according to feed instructions typically found on their label, you will be told to feed four or five pounds, or more, of this product. If we take the lower number of four pounds, you are adding 180 grams of protein per day into your horse. Even if you only feed several pounds of a 10% feed, you are still adding almost 1/3 more total protein than you are with Renew Gold. As you can see, if you are concerned about too much total protein added in the diet, Renew Gold adds much less, even though the label guarantee per pound is higher.
If your goal in adding protein is meeting additional energy needs, we feel that there is a better way. Rather than rely on more added protein in your horses diet like most feed companies do, we designed Renew Gold to provide the type and amount of quality protein necessary in the diet to support tissue repair, healthy growth, and to help meet essential amino acid needs. Then, instead of more added protein as an energy source, Renew Gold provides additional cooler energy more efficiently by the inclusion of three sources of high quality, easily digestible natural vegetable fats. Additionally, Renew Gold’s digestive aid and light foot print in the system promotes an overall improvement of digestive efficiency.
Not relying on additional protein for energy support allows you to take high amounts of added feed out of the diet. Doing this has additional benefits. Less grain means lower total NSC numbers which, in turn, can lower colic risk, and moderate temperament. At the same time, Renew Gold supports a digestive system that can then function closer to how nature intended. Our goal in the end is better use of the roughage that your horse eats, improved efficiency and a consistent predictable energy level from one day to the next. All of this gives you a greater ability to adjust that energy level to your needs.
When you think about it, doesn’t this make more sense?
If you have questions contact us today.
Renew Deer Blocks
What is Renew Deer Block?
More than an attractant, more than a nutrition supplement–Renew Deer Blocks provide a unique combination of protein, natural vegetable fats, minerals and digestive system support to allow deer to truly utilize the food that they eat. Maximizing the use of not only the supplemented nutrition, but also that of the browse that they consume can contribute to a number of advantages during a deer’s life.
So why does Renew Deer Block work?
A healthier doe means better conception rates, better fawn survival because of better vigor at birth, better milk during lactation, and a jump start for a fawn’s healthy life.
Studies show that fawns that receive better nutrition during their first year benefit their entire life. Better bone structure, muscle development and overall body condition translates into a deer more likely to reach its genetic potential as it matures.
We all know the value of quality protein and minerals in antler development. Renew Deer Blocks contain a unique combination of protein from Stabilized Rice Bran and Coconut meal. Rice bran has proven itself in both the deer blind and deer breeding facilities for many years. As the first people to bring food grade Stabilized Rice Bran to the animal market in 1989, we are uniquely qualified in its application. As beneficial as Stabilized Rice Bran is for deer, our proprietary formulation that combines it with superior quality coconut meal is what moves our Renew Deer Block into an entirely new category.
Used in New Zealand deer farming for many years to support maximum antler growth, coconut meal has been relied upon for its amazing amino acid profile and medium chain fatty acids. While no single component of a feeding program is perfect, including coconut meal in a deer program can result in significant improvements over what we think of as conventional deer nutrition.
Combining Stabilized Rice Bran and extremely high quality coconut meal with essential minerals and digestive support results in nutritional tool for supporting your deer herd that just did not exist before.
Place Renew Deer Blocks in an area where you want to support herd health, supplement the nutrition you are providing from your feeders, or congregate deer. It is that simple.
Why we use Stabilized Rice Bran?
As the people who introduced Stabilized Rice Bran to the animal nutrition market, we have proven the advantages that can be gained by using this food grade ingredient to replace other feed ingredients
in your deer feeding program.
Stabilized Rice Bran is high in natural vegetable fat (18% to 20%), is a good source of fermentable fiber and provides quality protein. It is also a source of over 100 identified anti-oxidants and the most
commonly recognized natural source of Gamma Oryzanol.
Stabilized Rice Bran has a one year shelf life to guarantee that you get what you pay for.
Why use CoolStance® Coconut Meal?
Not all coconut meal is created equal…..the processing methods and quality of coconut meal can vary considerably. For over 20 years highest quality Coconut meal, like that found exclusively in CoolStance, has been proving itself as a super premium, source of digestible energy for deer farms in New Zealand. Clinically proven effective, CoolStance coconut meal provides the benefits of high quality protein, medium chain fatty acids , and digestible fiber while being extremely low in Non Structural Carbohydrates. By adding CoolStance coconut meal to our formulation we have found a synergy between Coconut Meal and Stabilized Rice Bran that compliments both ingredients in a number of ways. The result is a formulation that is highly digestible, while offering benefits in combination that neither can provide alone.
RENEW DEER BLOCK
25 lb
INGREDIENTS
Heat Stabilized Rice Bran, Coconut Meal, Renew Mineral Pac, Fermented Yeast Culture, Calcium Carbonate
GUARANTEED ANALYSIS
Crude Protein Min 18%
Crude Fat Min 8%
Crude Fiber Max 20%
Renew Gold™ Amino Acid Profile
Amino Acid % of total Protein
Arginine 5.4%
Histidine 1.4%
Isoleucine 2.3%
Leucine 4.6%
Lysine 2.8%
Methionine 1.9%
Phenylalanine 2.7%
Threonine 2.4%
Tryptophan 0.5%
Valine 4.0%
Asparagine 7.8%
Alanine 3.4%
Cysteine 0.8%
Glutamine 18.0%
Serine 4.8%
Proline 4.6%
Tyrosine 5.3%
Hydroxy proline 0.7%
Glycine 7.4%
The Thing About Supplements
We are commonly asked if Renew Gold is a feed or a supplement. Interesting question, so let’s look at what the difference is when talking about equine nutrition.
What’s a feed?
An equine feed is most often sold in large bags with recommended feeding rates of five pounds per day or more, sometimes much more. The most common source of energy in feeds is a blend of grain and grain by products. The protein source in most feeds is also usually grain based, but, in low quality feeds may be from other sources.
Many feeds are formulated to meet their printed label guarantees at the lowest cost by reformulating every week with different components. This is called “least cost formulating”. While the protein, fat and fiber levels may be the same from bag to bag, the actual product inside may not be. In general, the easiest way to spot a “least cost formulated” feed is to look for a tag on the bag that lists the nutritional information rather than having that information printed directly on the bag. If the manufacturer is constantly changing the formulation as ingredient pricing varies, it is easier to change the ingredient list on a tag than on a pre-printed bag.
When a feed product is made to the same formulation every time, no matter how the ingredient costs vary, it is called “Fixed Formulating”. Usually, a fixed formulated product will have the ingredients printed directly on the bag. The exception to this might be bulk packaging for large users, but in general, fully printed retail store packaging means “Fixed Formulation” and the consistency that goes with getting exactly the same product every time you buy.
What’s a supplement?
When we think about supplements for horses, we usually imagine a small bucket with a little scoop inside. The recommendations for use commonly tell us to feed one or two of these little scoops per day. The goal here is to supplement deficient, or totally missing, pieces of the nutrition puzzle. This can be of value in some situations, but many supplements are not what they seem
As a person who has formulated many equine supplements over the last twenty years, I can speak with some authority on the subject. Not all equine supplements are created equal. The equine supplement market is a very competitive place, and quite price sensitive. There are a number of different ways to compete in this market. Let’s take a look at some of those ways.
The first is to use low quality components and provide an inexpensive product. For the horse owner, this is usually money wasted, no matter how inexpensive the product may seem. If the ingredient quality is low, it is seldom utilized by the horse in the manner promised on the label.
The second is to lie about what you put in the product. This is more common than you might think, and very hard for the consumer to detect, other than lack of result from the product. With the financial problems we have in most states, product testing by state regulatory agencies is not as common as it used to be. Many low quality manufactures know this and take advantage of the situation by making products that simply do not contain what the label states.
The third is to use high quality ingredients and charge more for the finished product. If the product is well formulated, and the feeding rate is proper, the results can justify the added expense in some cases. The best equine supplements follow this course, and, while usually expensive, can work for the horse and its owner unless you fall into the next scenario listed below.
The fourth might be the most confusing. That is to use quality ingredients and have accurate ingredient guarantees, but lower the recommended feed rate to hit a lower price per day. I see this often with higher priced supplements. They may work well if you use a higher feed rate, but the maker is afraid that you will not buy the product if you really knew how much you needed to feed, and how much that would cost, for your horse to get the response from the product that the maker promises.
This is where Renew Gold is different.
Renew Gold creates its own category between feeds and supplements. It could best be called a bio-supplement. While we commonly refer to the value of Renew Gold in replacing high starch grain based feeds in the ration, we also see significant benefits in its ability to reduce or eliminate the need for many supplements in the ration. Unless there are specific underlying health problems in a horse there should be little need for added supplementation in a proper diet being digested by a healthy and efficient digestive system. If you are adding a digestive aid, hoof conditioner, coat conditioning product, or vitamin supplement, Renew Gold, with its ability to maximize digestive efficiency can greatly simplify your program.
While we see benefits from Renew Gold with very small inclusions in the diet, this product is feed at significantly higher feed rates than commonly used in “equine supplements”. The result of this is that you actually feed enough to make the desired changes that you seek, while commonly lowering total daily costs.
It is interesting that, as a group, horse owners who use large amounts of grain based feed also use large amounts of supplements to try to address the problems generated by those large feed inclusions. Renew Gold is a better answer. Removing the high starch, grain based roadblocks and maximizing digestive efficiency in your horse can provide much of the health support that you try to address with a long, expensive list of additives. In addition, simplifying your feeding program saves money, and makes consistent day to day nutrition more assured. Something we all can enjoy.
If you have questions contact us today.
Why use Flax?
Flax is best known as a significant source of Omega 3 fatty acids and can help to optimize the balance of Omega 3 and Omega 6 in a formulation. Flax is also an excellent source of vegetable fat and quality proteins. This third source of low starch digestible energy rounds out the Renew Gold formulation.
If you have questions contact us today.
If you have questions contact us today.
Why we use Stablized Rice Bran
Since we introduced Stabilized Rice Bran to the equine nutrition market, we have proven the advantages that can be gained by using this food grade ingredient to replace higher starch feed ingredients in your horses feeding program. Stabilized Rice Bran is high in natural vegetable fat (18% to 20%), is a good source of fermentable fiber and provides quality protein. It is also a source of over 100 identified anti-oxidants and the most commonly recognized natural source of Gamma Oryzanol. Stabilized Rice Bran has a one year shelf life to guarantee that you get what you pay for.
If you have questions contact us today.
