TwoDreamRides–fingers crossed! Sending positive thoughts!
Texarkana–agree, I was shocked by the blurb on their sites
I feed Nutrena SafeChoicd … I emailed them yesterday asking about this situation and how I could be sure my horse’s feed was safe. This is the reply I got this morning:
Thank you for contacting us. The majority of Nutrena horse feed manufacturing locations do not handle monesin/rumensin.
In the few that do, we utilize FDA approved Good Manufacturing practices to eliminate the risk, in addition to HACCP, which is used to manage risks associated with the production of our animal foods. HACCP stands for “Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point,” a systematic, preventive approach to food safety that addresses physical, chemical and biological hazards. HACCP is not required in the animal feed industry, but it is mandated in four areas of food for human consumption (fish and seafood, juice processing, poultry, and meat).
For the area you live in there is a mill that services the area that has rumensin for bulk feed only so it separate for the bagged horse feed.
Our manufacturing locations and employees are fully dedicated to providing a safe product! If you have any further questions, please let us know!
So it sounds like the horse feed is prepared on totally separate equipment from the bulk feed containing the antibiotics … Hopefully this is adequate to make sure that no contamination occurs.
[QUOTE=monstrpony;7973102]
I had an issue with a Purina feed a few years ago, and my local feed store put me in touch with a manager at the mill. That person said that that particular mill handled no cattle feed, that cattle and horse production was completely separate. But that doesn’t guarantee that any other mill follows that strategy.
Scary stuff. My thought are with all of those who may have horses affected :([/QUOTE]
Indeed. There was a problem with Purina feeds being contaminated with zilpaterol not that long ago, which is a banned substance for racehorses. It was identified because horses were testing positive for it and they couldn’t track down where it was coming from. Just shows a lack of proper procedures being followed in the feed production.
Given that I’ve opened two bags of feed recently (not horse feed) from two different manufacturers that contained ground up plastic feed bags, I’m not feeling happy about feed QA right now.
Friend of mine was feeding an all-stock grain to sheep, and apparently it was reformulated after he selected it to add copper, without any obvious announcement, which caused the death of a valuable animal. I guess I have to be doing more QA when I bring home each bag, but I thought that was what I was paying the feed company for.
Your best bet it make sure you attend feed seminars and speak with reps directly! The best information is straight from their mouth - and they have a hard time lying in person. Usually they have slides showing where their food is produced. I asked Purina several questions that made me halt using their products immediately. I have been to seminars by Brooks, Purina, and Trilogy, and they all do things differently. GET informed! Most feed stores host these types of things and if they don’t ask them to!
[QUOTE=Jealoushe;7973319]
Your best bet it make sure you attend feed seminars and speak with reps directly! The best information is straight from their mouth - and they have a hard time lying in person. Usually they have slides showing where their food is produced. I asked Purina several questions that made me halt using their products immediately. I have been to seminars by Brooks, Purina, and Trilogy, and they all do things differently. GET informed! Most feed stores host these types of things and if they don’t ask them to![/QUOTE]
I’m planning on attending a Nutrena seminar next week, so hopefully they will be able to give me more information about the quality control process and how they keep horse feed safe.
Is it just the 12/10 feed? I use the 10/10 extruded and am worried. I talked to my feed store owner an was told and read that ADM was denying there was any of the stuff in the feed, so I bought the stuff I usually use, but now I am worried again because of the case in Ga.
[QUOTE=Fergs;7972358]
Does anyone know the full list of feed manufacturers that have been found to produce monensin-tainted feed?[/QUOTE]
It can happen to any manufacturer that doesn’t have an entirely separate facility for equine feeds. That list is going to be shorter and more useful than what you requested. Find a manufacturer that gives enough of a crap to have an entirely separate facility and buy their feed. 
@Gnalli - the only reported issues are coming from horses fed the 12-10, which makes sense that it would only be one type. Likely whichever batch which was run after a monensin-inclusive feed. The eventingnation article mentions lot # GA35614 which you can check against on your bags. Our bags of 12% matched.
We are having blood pulled on the 12% horses only (4 where I board, including my own 1). Another local barn sent off 10 blood samples yesterday and also sent off samples of all their ADM feed types.
[QUOTE=Bluey;7972374]
Here local feed mills have a separate mill just for their horse products.
Cleaning bins out properly is supposed to happen, no matter what is mixed there, but why take ANY chance at all?[/QUOTE]
That’s the thing. The risk is not that a horse will get sick, be treated and then be ok after a short recovery. The risk is death - from just one quality control mistake.
I keep thinking of the elimination of a Burghley first place winner due to cross-contamination in a supplement that was well-respected, widely used and supposedly had high quality controls. Turned out that quality control = not so much. What people print on labels and in emails is far from a guarantee of how it will be done in real life.
[QUOTE=Texarkana;7972404]
…/
I wonder if the widespread use of computer systems that have built in safeties and monitoring have created a false sense of security for feed companies. In years past, no reputable equine feed mill would ever run monensin in the same building, let alone on the same line. I don’t care how many batches you run in between.[/QUOTE]
yeah that - both above posts
Ugggg this is horrible!
At first I thought I wouldn’t have any risk - as the brand I feed produces only horse feeds… but a little research revealed that they now use a producer who also mills cattle feeds - and a few of those products DO include Monensin 
I just wrote to the feed company and asked them what their process is for ensuring that there is no contamination.
One more reason I am not a fan of widespread, unprescribed use of antibiotics.
[QUOTE=Texarkana;7972681]
At one time, I was told that Triple Crown used to source much of their regional milling to Southern States. But that may be either outdated or incorrect information- I think it came from my feed store clerk many years ago. Feed store clerks quite frequently make up things that they think their customers want to hear. ;)[/QUOTE]
Yes, SStates started milling Triple Crown feed many years ago. I switched from Pennfield to TC when it first came out because it was the only manfacturer that had started making a senior feed, other than Purina, for my very oldie. So I switched all my feed to the TC line. It was milled in Minnesota at that time.
Sadly, I lost a horse to fumonisin poisoning (i.e. “moldy corn poisoning”) on TC Lite when it was a new product. She was autopsied. TC Lite (for fatties) was not supposed to have any corn in it at all (this happened after the milling changed to SStates and I didn’t know that). It was a pellet so you couldn’t see corn. But Va Tech tested a bag, and sure enough, it did have corn in it. We let the powers that be at TC know and they were on the phone with me immediately, probably afraid I would sue. I didn’t.
I switched back to Pennfield and have fed it ever since. Also, since that time I worry about pelleted feeds because I can’t see what the heck is in it. That was over a decade ago.
[QUOTE=TwoDreamRides;7973528]
@Gnalli - the only reported issues are coming from horses fed the 12-10, which makes sense that it would only be one type. Likely whichever batch which was run after a monensin-inclusive feed. The eventingnation article mentions lot # GA35614 which you can check against on your bags. Our bags of 12% matched.
We are having blood pulled on the 12% horses only (4 where I board, including my own 1). Another local barn sent off 10 blood samples yesterday and also sent off samples of all their ADM feed types.[/QUOTE]
Oh my Please keep us all updated on the results, TwoDreamRides! Fingers crossed that yours were not affected.
[QUOTE=TwoDreamRides;7973528]
@Gnalli - the only reported issues are coming from horses fed the 12-10, which makes sense that it would only be one type. Likely whichever batch which was run after a monensin-inclusive feed. The eventingnation article mentions lot # GA35614 which you can check against on your bags. Our bags of 12% matched.
We are having blood pulled on the 12% horses only (4 where I board, including my own 1). Another local barn sent off 10 blood samples yesterday and also sent off samples of all their ADM feed types.[/QUOTE]
Thank you. I am so sorry that your bags were in the bad bstvh. I will keep yall in myprayers
[QUOTE=Appsolute;7973541]
Ugggg this is horrible!
At first I thought I wouldn’t have any risk - as the brand I feed produces only horse feeds… but a little research revealed that they now use a producer who also mills cattle feeds - and a few of those products DO include Monensin
I just wrote to the feed company and asked them what their process is for ensuring that there is no contamination.
One more reason I am not a fan of widespread, unprescribed use of antibiotics.[/QUOTE]
While ionopheres fall into the antibiotic’s classification, they are not the kind of antibiotics you use in a syringe or pill for a sick animal, but a true feed supplement.
To regulate them any more than they are now would be like regulating mineral or vitamin supplements.
They are rightfully sold just as any vitamin or mineral supplement.
The problem is when people don’t pay attention to what they are doing, be it what sacs they are using or how they are cleaning the equipment to make ration batches.
Using the wrong products there, many other such also out there or missing a spot when cleaning, that can cause harm.
Regulations should make mills use separate facilities for separate groups of species, as the good mills are already doing.
For what I have heard, ours has a completely different side of their mill only for horse rations.
Much harder for a mill’s inspection process to miss a mistake before it causes a problem.
Maybe we should start a list of mills/brands that only process horse feed? Here or on another thread?
I will paste the form letter I got back from Southern States, confirming that they do share lines:
thank you for your inquiry regarding Southern States Cooperative feed mill processing.
The ADM event marks the third such claim in recent weeks involving the presence of monensin in horse feeds. The majority of feed mills in the U.S. manufacture feeds for multiple species. There are some that are dedicated feed mills and they produce only specific rations. SSC feed mills produce feeds for many species (equine, beef, dairy, poultry and more) and guarantee all products are safe for the intended specie(s) as labeled. We have a comprehensive Quality Assurance program in place, which is overseen by a dedicated QC Supervisor at each (7) location. We never manufacture feeds immediately following harmful substances, e.g. a horse feed after a medicated beef feed. Our sequencing protocols demand that we produce feeds in a particular order to prevent any cross-contamination that could cause potential safety issues with the feed. If the label says the feed is intended for horses, rest assured we are confident the feed is safe as intended.
Southern States Feed Mills have been HACCP-certified for over a decade, and the procedures we have in place are voluntary and not yet mandated by the federal government. We are also certified under AFIA’s Safe Feed/Safe Food, and compliant with federal Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs).
You may be interested in viewing a series of 3 videos regarding quality controls made recently at our Winchester mill on SS you tube channel – the below link will take you to the first one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EZ1Q5NRPjU
Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions or concerns. We appreciate your business!
Ruth Hopke
What I received from 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 be rumensin free, but some may have lasalosid. Here is a good article from one of our primary manufacturing partners concerning handling of drugs within the feed mill system.
http://www.southernstates.com/articles/eliminating-the-risk-of-ionophore-toxicity-in-horses.aspx
While there seems to have been a run of monensin poisoning recently, any of these cases could have been prevented with a properly managed HACCP program. In the feed industry, independently certified HACCP programs are in place to insure feed safety for both animal and humans both for the reasons you sited and for controlling any point in the manufacturing process that could cause harmful contamination. Per the article above, 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. Other safeguards are separation of equipment that processes medicated feeds from non-medicated feeds.
These HACCP procedures have been purely voluntary for the feed industry, but the new FDA Feed Modernization Act will establish these types of guidelines for all feed manufacturers.
[QUOTE=Jealoushe;7973319]
Your best bet it make sure you attend feed seminars and speak with reps directly! The best information is straight from their mouth - and they have a hard time lying in person. Usually they have slides showing where their food is produced. I asked Purina several questions that made me halt using their products immediately. [/QUOTE]
Jealoushe, what questions did you ask (and their response) made you stop using Purina? I’m feeding Ultium and feeling pretty anxious about all this. The last bag I opened seemed to have a lot of corn in it…
I am happy to use McCauley Brothers, who only manufacture horse feed. It is a terrifying thing, for sure! I feel for everyone who has had to deal with this. One article I read about the latest outbreak said that 20 horses died with the one in Florida. Have they lost the entire herd now?
[QUOTE=Texarkana;7973083]
I also used to have a lot of respect for ADM, as they have been a leader in livestock nutrition for many years. But I have to say, I have been appalled at how they have handled this situation. Whether they are directly to blame or not, their defensive and flippant public responses don’t exactly give the general population any warm and fuzzy feelings.
Sending positive thoughts your way, TwoDreamRides![/QUOTE]
I agree. I’ve read the statement on their web site and it seems that their attitude toward the situation is, “they haven’t proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the feed was the immediate cause of the horse deaths, so we are just going to carry on as though nothing happened until they do prove it.” They also almost make it sound as though the situation was an invention of social media and as such has no more credibility than the posts claiming that Bill Gates will donate $10 to the starving children in Africa every time you “like” a picture of a cat.
The responsible thing for them to do would be to voluntarily recall that lot of feed. Even if they still release a statement saying that they aren’t totally sure of the connection between the feed and the horse deaths, at least it would show that they care about their customers and their customers’ horses and understand the seriousness of the situation.
