Horse Tech vs Uckele Poly Zinc and Poly Copper

[Myta]

Hey guys. So I put my horses on additional cu and zn about 5 years ago after struggling with skin issues and testing grass to be super high in iron. I have no trouble getting my entire herd to eat a daily dose of Uckele powdered copper and zinc supplements added onto a soaked feed just before serving. But the price for a 10 lb bag has nearly doubled from when I last ordered in spring of 2022, so I’ve been looking into alternative brands. It seems Horse Tech has a 10 lb bag of zinc at $77 vs Uckele’s $150. If I’m mathing this right, Horse Tech’s 22% zinc would have 660 mg / 3 g. Uckele has 670 mg / 3 g. So essentially the same. (The Copper is also the same ratios; right now, I’m not out of copper, so I haven’t actually been searching it as much).

Has anyone found a difference in palatability, bioavailability, or anything else with the two brands? I know the Uckele supplement has kelp in it, is that a big deal I want to keep, or just the zinc? I’m sure I’ll need to get the smaller bag first to test the waters, but if they hold at those price ratios, it would be worth one $46 bag to be able to get a much lower per year price. I have been happy with Uckele, and even at the raised prices, it’s $0.18/day for both supplements, so I’m not considering dropping Zn/Cu completely over the price raise, but with a herd eating it daily, $0.09/day/horse really does add up if another brand is just as good.

[Simkie]

I’ve noticed zero difference between the two. Switched to horsetech years ago due to cost & packaging size.

[HiJumpGrrl]

I’ve been very happy with the Madbarn stuff, and my very picky mare eats it with no problems.

[EventerAJ]

I order 4lb bags from California Trace. Same palatability and effect as Uckele, but much more affordable.

[Myta]

Just to follow up, I bought the 4 lb bag from Horse Tech, all 3 of my horses eat it just fine, and personally, I think it smells much better than the Uckele. The 4 lb of course, isn’t really any cheaper per day than the Uckele, but hopefully the price won’t increase too much before I use up this 4 lb bag and actually get to order the 10 lb.

[JB]

In general, horses seem prefer the HorseTech simply because it doesn’t have kelp. They’re both still polysaccharide forms, so there’s no difference in bioavailability.

The only time people sometimes see a difference is if they switch forms of these minerals, like from the polysaccharide form to a chelated form.

[walktrot]

I used HorseTech products for years for my Paint gedling who I had to put down in 7/2021 for an arthritis problem in one knee. The quality of their prodcuts is top notch. They use stabilized ground flax as the basis for their supplements.

What I like most is that HorseTech provides unmatched customer service. If you have questions, call them. This is a family company. You will talk to Rod, the owner, who really knows his stuff. He helped me when my horse’s selenium was at the top of the range because I had added vit E/selenium to grain with selenium. He recommended switching to Vit E without selenium.

He also helped me with free fecal water syndrome, which was creating a huge mess on his butt and thighs. I had to scrub him daily. We put him on HorseTech’s psyllium product which got rid of most of the problem. We were in on the development of WaterWerks which had additional ingredients specifically shown to maintain a healthy digestive tract. No more liquid poop juice squirting out his back end.

I like the fact that you can get information for your horse’s requirements and they will create custom products if you need.one. They often provide free samples so you can test palatability. And every shipment includes a small package of chocolate chip cookies for you. Worth a call.