I just got a call from my feed store saying that they are having trouble keeping Triple Crown in stock since the feed is now produced by Bluebonnet. I don’t know much about Bluebonnet but my feed store is hinting that the quality will not be as good and they are suggesting I look into Nutrena. Has anyone had any issues? Or has anyone switched feeds because of this change?
Bluebonnet feed is by far a higher quality than Nutrena feeds. Even if TC is being produced by BlueBonnet I wouldn’t switch to Nutrena, that’s going 4 steps down when you have the opportunity to only go 1 step down.
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IMO, I wouldn’t consider a feed company who uses rice hulls in any of their feeds, (let alone the 2nd ingredient in some) as a “high quality” feed.
From this article…http://www.equinews.com/article/some-hulls-are-super-feeds-horses
Rice hulls and oat hulls are other commonly encountered fibrous ingredients which are both virtually indigestible by the horse. Rice hulls, because of their inert nature, are usually incidental ingredients since they often serve as a carrier for vitamins which are then added to fortify the feed. Oat hulls, however, may be added to boost the crude fiber content of a feed, but this should not be confused with digestible fiber.
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Not that it matters, I am sure Bluebonnet will make the TC feeds following the TC formulas.
OP… You should investigate whether the mill producing the Bluebonnet feed makes cattle feed or pet food, that should weigh heavily in any decision.
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Locally there was a feed store that started having feed made under its own label a few years ago when Pennfield Fibergized started going up in price. They told us it was formulated by a well known nutritionist from a feed company and that it was comparable to Fibregized. I trusted them so I switched feed. A few months later when I couldn’t figure out why my horses looked so poor, I finally called an independent nutritionist I know and asked her. She said she had been getting lots of calls about that hy fibe feed. She said the third ingredient was oat hulls. I hadn’t looked because I trusted the feed store.
Now I feed Blue Seal feeds that I get at TSC or another feed store. My horses look great!
Blue seal was sold to Kent Corp a few yrs ago.
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unless TC was sold, their formula is the one being followed when the grain is produced. These are just large grain manufacturers that produced different feeds.
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How do you do this; I have been looking online and can’t find any information. Is it on the bags? Do you have to call the supplier?
Call the company and ask.
If anyone finds out about bluebonnet and cattle feeds, can you please post here to let us all know? I will be sending in an email also.
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I found this… if you look at the first feed listed, its multi species from cattle to horse, rabbit, goat etc. the rest are poultry feeds. https://bluebonnetfeeds.com/poultry/
I cant find anything online that links TC with Bluebonnet
Bluebonnet makes lots of different horse feeds. If you go to the home page there is a link to their equine feeds page. You can look at all their labels and decide if you would feed bluebonnet feed.
https://bluebonnetfeeds.com/equine-feeds/
I feed Bluebonnet. Intensify Ex-Factor Low-Starch. My gelding is doing extremely well on it, but it’s pricey. $24/40lbs
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This is an interesting list;
http://otscweb.tamu.edu/reports/Annu…iscalYear=2015
A C Nutrition makes Bluebonnet;
http://acnutrition.com/
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And AC Nutrition is a division of Standard Nutrition Co. i wonder who owns them. layers upon layers.
https://www.bloomberg.com/research/s…vcapId=4436697
Nebrasks SOS; https://www.nebraska.gov/sos/corp/corpsearch.cgi
They want you to pay to see particulars.
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I couldn’t find if Standard Nutrition is owned by anyone else. They produce all kinds of livestock feed. Plants in 5? Locations.
You wouldn’t unless you paid the SOS fees :winkgrin:
The lady that owns my feed store told me that Bluebonnet owned Triple Crown. I fed Bluebonnet Senior to my old horse until he died and was pleased with it. I feed Bluebonnet Energizer to my somewhat hard keeper mare and she does well on it.
I do know they make chicken feed and other livestock feeds but don’t know about any that would contain rumensin.
I emailed TC on the matter and this was the response:
Thanks for contacting Triple Crown.
Most all feed mills in the US manufacture feeds for multiple types of animals and would, therefore, have various ingredients specific to certain species. We require all of the mills that manufacture Triple Crown to meet our stringent quality standards and we perform random visits.
Blue Bonnet does make feeds for other species (as did our previous mill) however, Blue Bonnet does not have ionophores (rumensin, monensin, etc.) which are toxic/deadly to horses.
In the feed industry, independently certified HACCP programs are in place to insure feed safety for both animal and humans and for controlling any point in the manufacturing process that could cause harmful contamination. Any misuse of any drug would be identified between shift changes and any potentially effected feed would never leave the facility. In addition, any potential contaminants would be locked in a specific portion of the warehouse with limited access.
Feed safety goes well beyond the mill itself. It requires proper precautions and certifications for all incoming ingredients, the trucks those ingredients come in on and the facilities where those ingredients have passed though as well.
It is not enough for a mill to be medication-free if they are also not checking all possible avenues of where feed could become contaminated. Recent equine related deaths reported from Rumensin poisoning came from a mill that was Rumensin-free, but the medication was traced back to an improperly washed truck that had hauled cattle feed prior to handling an equine feed ingredient.
Our mills stringently control all of these aspects via the programs we have enacted.
Please let me know if we can assist further.
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