I didn’t want to hijack the Uckele thread, so figured I’d start a new one. Is there a pelleted copper and/or zinc supplement out there that I’m missing? Mine were quite offended at the Uckele pellets and it was cost prohibitive with how many I have to feed. I love the price of Custom Equine’s supplement, but the picky beasts sift out powder, so I have to get the powder to stick by applying oil; icky, semi problematic in the winter. A pelleted supplement that is reasonable enough to feed to 12ish horses would be * chef’s kiss *
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Depending on selenium requirements, take a look at MPV Mega-Cell pellets for grass/grass hay diets. They are pretty well rounded, and can get as low as $0.25 a day per horse when purchased in bulk.
The alfalfa/legume diet equivalent is MVP Mega Mag pellets
MVP is great quality, great QC, pretty affordable, consistent and available. I’ve used MVP in the past, and now with Uckele selling out, I may move back to MVP exclusively.
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I actually fed Mega Mag for quite a while. But its copper and zinc profile is pretty small, so I still supplemented it. I’ve since switched back to TC ration balancer as it has a bit higher amount of all nutrients. I really liked the hoof and coat quality when I was supplementing Cu/Zn. But looking for an easier way than feeding powder.
Mega Mag is a more complete v/m, much more than just cu/zn
Hay Harmony isn’t a pellet, but it’s a “meal” form mixed with flaxseed
Can you use a bit of water instead of oil?
MadBarn has a 3:1 product but I don’t know its form. It has DDGs in it so that might mean it’s a pellet
My one horse always gets supplemented in the spring/ early summer at least. But last year he was injured and on a limited diet. He didn’t really like the pellets anyway but it was too much for him last year. No way he eats the powder. He’s got super smeller powers.
This year I am feeding HorseTech’s ReitHoof which has about 1/2 the amount per 60g serving. But it is a very palatable pellet and has some other good stuff in there. My other horse needed hoof support and is also very picky, so I just fed this to both. And I switched first horse to a no added iron feed. First year he hasn’t developed any vitiligo on his face in the spring! Perhaps even though he’s getting a bit less Cu/Zn supplementation the diet overall may be more balanced.
It’s a powder.
yeah, just saw your comment on the other post, thanks!
Water is still a pain for a dozen or so horses. And some will turn their nose up at the wet texture.
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I need to call them and get a price. It’s hard to beat the price of the Custom Equine blend. I guess at some point I’m paying for convenience…
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I wonder about this – maybe?? Worth a try!
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Mine is one of those – Heaven forfend that her feed be wetted! Beet pulp? Oh, hell to the no!
I was using the MB 3:1 until my horse went off her feed and I’ve swapped to SmartHoof, which is pelleted. Not bad if you double/triple up the dose on a SmartPak and resubscribe periodically with the sales.
I recently started feeding a copper/zinc powder from Mad Barn. My ver picky mare accepted it without a problem when I introduced it gradually
I might just need to stick with Custom Equine blend and throw in a handful of sticky senior feed. Can’t beat the price. I used to mix it with Santa Cruz vitamin E so only one scoop needed to be used to put both supplements on the feed. The vitamin E was sort of granular so it wouldn’t stick to anything. Wonder if that was contributing to the powder falling to the bottom and so easily sorted out without the use of something wet to make it stick.
I think that any time I see how many people soak their feed. I’m like your ungrateful beasts aren’t offended at the presence of H2O??? I have a couple that will eat beet pulp plain, but don’t you dare put other feed in it!! I don’t know what I will do when any of these critters lose the ability to chew dry feed in their old age and require soaking…
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@JB Can you help me decipher and compare Horse Tech copper and zinc to the Custom Equine blend? Horse Tech gives the calculation for how much elemental Zn and Cu is provided per dose. Custom Equine doesn’t make mention. So I am trying to understand the difference between the various types of complexes and how much is actually provided/absorbed.
I may be making too much of this but figure it’ll be educational as I try to decide between options. The goal is to balance out the high iron in my alfalfa, but admittedly I do not have values for this/last year’s hay as the test results provided by my hay supplier did not include trace minerals this year. Using previous test results from other labs, I know it’s high (300-500 ppm). I will do my own testing on this year’s hay once it’s put up so I can test for all that is important to me.
CEN says it’s 200mg Cu and 550mg Zn per 6gm (1/2 tsp) serving
that’s a fairly “normal” high.
How much copper and zinc are in this pelleted form?
I am crestfallen to realize that the only option is going to be powder from now on. Which of course will be left at the bottom of the feet tub.
Thinking back, I used to have picky horses when I boarded. Once I moved them home, and I could feed whatever hay suited them best, the amount of bucket feed dropped pretty steeply. And my ability to wait them out increased substantially.
Now they all eat soaked feed. I never worry about adding a supplement (or dropping one) and there are no issues with powdered poly copper/zinc. It’s also super to have another avenue to get water into them.
If you add water, they’ll eat. Eventually.
