Just a probably very stupid question… As far as I see it everything in pellets might me dangerous, depending how is was manufactured… What about Smartpaks??? Do they produce the pellets in their smartpaks themselves???
And what about pelleted supplements??? is there any possible danger??? I really think about eliminating anything with pellets from my horsefeed
Manni01, good question
I’d be surprised if the same feed mill wasn’t churning out product for multiple brands, so purchasing a brand that only produces horse feed isn’t necessarily any sort of guarantee. Any reputable feed company is going to give you the spiel about having appropriate quality assurance in feed production… it’s when those protocols fail that something bad happens.
What’s up with this? 2x in less than 6 months.
One of the things I still remember from my business 101 class?
Voluntary recalls actually help a company’s public relations.
ADM should recall the feed regardless at this point. It makes their customers feel that the company truly cares (well would have if they had done it immediately). I don’t buy ADM products…and, given their response to this, I never will.
[QUOTE=Bluey;7973592]
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.[/QUOTE]
Just an aside, maybe a heads up for what may eventually be coming down the pipe in the US one day.
Up here in Ontario (and eventually all of Canada) dairy farmers must have a prescription updated yearly for any feeds containing Rumensin/Monensin. Additionally, we must have signs in storage areas indicating the feed stored by the sign contains drugs. Even the scoop used for those feeds must be labelled and kept separate from other feeds. Our storage area sign/s (must have a sign at each storage location) must also include information about which group (something like must not be fed to cattle over 5 months of age or whatnot) the feed may be fed to.
All medicated feed bag labels are also dark red.
However, I’m quite sure that within cattle feeds, mistakes can still be made. They are just not as devastating as cross species mistakes.
True feed supplements like fats, and minerals, vitamins, etc., require no prescription, or special labelling. So, yes, Rumensin/Monensin is a feed supplement, but it is NOT like adding a little extra zinc, or vitamin E, or balancing rations for amino acids by jacking the methionine levels.
Ok, dairying in Canada lecture over lol. But since I’m here, i’ll say it once more. Find a manufacturer that produces ALL their horse feeds in a completely separate facility. For Canucks, Purina does. There may be others too, but Purina is the only one I know for sure has a whole separate plant. In the US, I have no idea, but research and discussion with various companies should yield you an answer.
Good luck to those having to do research and especially those that have found their horses to have ingested the drug 
Now in Georgia.
ADM Alliance Nutrition horse feed contaminated with monensin.
http://eventingnation.com/home/contaminated-horse-feed-causes-panic-in-georgia/
[QUOTE=CrowneDragon;7972609]
It is very scary that it keeps happening. I contacted Triple Crown today and asked if their feed was milled alongside any medicated animal feed, and was told that the mills they used did not use any monensin at all, and they do keep very high quality control regarding these things. When I asked about other ionophores like lasalosid (which was one of the offenders in the recent Lakeland problem in FL) and salinomycin, the rep said that some of the mills do use lasalosid and she was unsure about salinomycin.
I just keep my fingers crossed. Triple Crown make very good feed, but you often get bags which contain kernels of the whole corn that is used to clean the equipment or with bits of their sweet feeds (that contain whole grains) that must have been from previous runs and stuck in there. This certainly happens with pretty much every other company out there, I just hope that nothing sinister finds a loophole there into a bag of horse feed. I don’t know what feeds, if any, are produced at mills that do not handle medicated feeds at all.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just stop cramming this crap into the animals of the food chain in the first place??[/QUOTE]
They lied to you.
My Triple Crown comes from the local Southern States Mill.
http://www.southernstates.com/articles/eliminating-the-risk-of-ionophore-toxicity-in-horses.aspx
Where does Southern States say they do not process Monensin ?
Southern States Revitalize 18% Complete (RUM) Medicated 50lb
Check local store for pricing
Southern States Revitalize 18% Complete (RUM) Medicated is a pelleted, complete feed formulated specifically for non-lactating dairy cows to supplement forage intake. It is designed to prepare the dry cow for the next lactation and helps reduce metabolic and nutrition-related disorders at time of calving. High levels of Vitamin E, selenium yeast and chelated trace minerals help to reduce somatic cell count in subsequent lactation periods. Medicated with Rumensin, which has proven effective in controlling metaboloic problems at freshening. Revitalize products have been formulated to allow dairy producers to provide excellent nutrition to their dry cows without overfeeding energy as well as to accommodate single or multiple group dry cow programs.
Southern States Dairy Heifer CP Mineral (RUM) Medicated 50lb
They’ve never said that. It has been referenced multiple times in this thread (see posts #5 and #35), even in direct quote from Southern States, that they run monensin feeds and equine feeds on the same line. They state that they follow HCAAP protocols for processing ionophores and equine feeds on the same equipment.
Correct - so it’s just Triple Crown saying that ?
[QUOTE=Jealoushe;7972677]
Brooks Feed has equine only production. Purina has cattle/dog/equine, I heard they were going to move to equine only, not sure if they did.[/QUOTE]
When I visited Purina about 10 years ago, I was told that there was only one plant in the US that produced cattle feed and horse feed, and that there was physical separation (a solid wall) between the two sides of the plant. Separate equipment, separate loading docks, etc.
Purina dog food is not longer made by the same company that makes livestock feed–the original company was spun off into two quite some time back–Nestle bought the pet food, Land O’ Lakes bought the livestock/exotics.
[QUOTE=Equibrit;7974770]
Correct - so it’s just Triple Crown saying that ?[/QUOTE]
According to the quote in post #36 from TC, I suppose that would be correct:
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/articl...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.
According to that statement, SS is a “primary manufacturing partner” of TC. But to me, that implies that they are not the only manufacturing partner.
I think it varies by region. It would however be nice if Triple Crown didn’t give out misleading information, and Southern States named their local mills that process rumensin. It is possible that not all do, but how would you know ?
Didn’t TC contract milling operations to Nutrena a few years ago?
I know they used to be milled by Blue Seal in the northeast before that.
ETA: here’s the post from TC in 2012 explaining it:
"A little info for everyone:
For various states in the NE region, dealers may be getting their feed from Cargill mills or from Southern States mills. Mills may have different manufacturing capabilities and this can include how a pellet may look, this could be why you see a size difference in the pellets. Whether Triple Crown is being manufactured by Cargill or any of our other feed manufacturers, all mills must use the same “fixed formulas” for all Triple Crown feeds. Each mill takes feed production very seriously and works very hard to produce quality products. Also, all mills must follow strict safety regulations and are consistently monitored. If at anytime you find an issue with your feed please do not hesitate to contact Triple Crown or Nutrena. Again, we can be contacted by a phone call, through our websites, via Facebook or email. We are happy to answer your questions at anytime."
Hmmmm interesting;
http://www.safefeedsafefood.org/main/certified_facilities.cfm
About the Safe Feed/Safe Food Certification Program
The American Feed Industry Association, the world’s largest organization devoted exclusively to representing the business, legislative and regulatory interests of the livestock feed and pet food industries, established the Safe Feed/Safe Food Certification Program in 2004. The mission of the Safe Feed/Safe Food Certification Program is to establish and promote generally accepted food safety guidelines designed to ensure continuous improvement in the delivery of a safe and wholesome feed supply for the growth and care of animals. The program is administered by the Safe Quality Food Institute. Facilities will be able to choose between the standard Safe Feed/Safe Food Program or a FSC 34, a soon to be GFSI-benchmarked Safe Feed/Safe Food Program.
The Safe Feed/Safe Food Certification Program is a voluntary, third-party-certified initiative designed for feed mills and feed- and ingredient-related facilities in the United States and Canada. The program establishes comprehensive standards of excellence that go beyond existing regulations to show leadership and maximize food and feed safety. Communicating food safety risks to the industry, building consensus among the segments of the industry, continuing the education process and enhancing consumer confidence in the feed and food supply are all important aspects of the program.
Healthy, productive animals mean a safe, sound food supply. And it starts with “Our Responsibility, Our Promise” to provide the best feed for dairy and beef cattle, swine, horses, poultry, fish and companion animals.
[QUOTE=Equibrit;7974692]
Where does Southern States say they do not process Monensin ?
Southern States Revitalize 18% Complete (RUM) Medicated 50lb[/QUOTE]
I would hazard to guess that not all Sothern States mills produce Triple Crown products, so it is possible that those SS mills that do, don’t produce TC horse feed.
Judging by their zilpaterol contamination problems about a year ago, I would guess that this is no longer the case.
The aforementioned McCauley Brothers does state that their feed is made in mills that do not handle any medicated animal feed at all. https://www.mccauleybros.com/
[I]Superior Ingredients & Manufacturing
1Highest standards of grain selection in the industry
2Drug and ionophore-free feed mills
3Equine only feed production[/I]
Yes. It did raise my eyebrows when I saw that.
Made me wonder whether they were doing a bt of weasel-wording wrt other species. “No cattle feed” vs. “only horse feed”…
