Crystalyx feed blocks are unique:
Crystalyx Beet Balancer, like all Crystalyx products is manufactured by a unique, patented, cooking process in which the moisture in the molasses is boiled off, concentrating the sugars in the molasses and producing a very low residual moisture content of less than 5%, typically nearer 3%.
Other blocks on the market are manufactured very differently to Crystalyx. A poured block is produced in a process rather like mixing concrete. The ingredients are mixed together in a liquid slurry and calcium or magnesium oxide are added to produce a chemical reaction (cement powder is 98% calcium oxide and produces the same reaction in concrete) which hardens the blocks and sets them overnight. But the moisture within the slurry mix is still in the final block (as it is in concrete) it is just held within the chemical matrix of the blocks. So a chemical poured block can have a moisture content of 20% or more. That’s 20% of the product having no feed value at all – but you are still paying for it! If you are paying say $2100/t for a poured block, you are paying $420 for water. Put another way, for every 5 tonnes of poured blocks you buy, you are probably buying a tonne of water!
The unique, patented cooking process used to manufacture Crystalyx doesn’t just produce a very low moisture block, it produces a deliquescent product, which naturally rehydrates on the surface when exposed to atmospheric moisture, to produce a sticky layer, which is what the animals lick off. A Crystalyx block is too hard to be chewed and bitten by stock, it has to be licked.
Stimulating the rumen is key
Licking takes time and patience and it means the animal can’t over-consume at a single hit. They visit the blocks several times a day, taking a little each time – and that is what the rumen bugs really like! It means Crystalyx is consumed in a very similar fashion to bulky feeds like forages and roots – little and often throughout the day.
Crystalyx doesn’t just provide all the nutrients lacking in forages and roots to help balance the total diet, it stimulates the rumen bugs to work a little harder and more efficiently, so they actually digest the bulky feed better and get more nutrition out of it.
