[QUOTE=Ghazzu;7974892]
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”…[/QUOTE]
Yes, kind of the same thing I thought when I asked Triple Crown if any of the mills that produced their feed also produced medicated animal feed, and was assured that none of them handled monensin. Um, that’s not what I asked…
[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]
Purina does not allow any company to mill their horse feed if the mill also does cattle feed.
No matter how careful mills are , no matter how many protocols in place, it only takes one goof, one human error.
Thank you for the tip on McCauley’s. It turns out they actually manufacture the “house” brand at a local tack shop (TriCounty, for those in NoVA). I bought a couple bags today and will see if the ponies like it. It was not that expensive vs. SS
I spoke with my Pennfield/Cargill rep yesterday, and he assured me that the plant where Pennfield (and three of the aforementioned Tri-County feeds) is manufactured is ionophore free, as well as a participant in HACCP.
My my horse died from fumonisin contamination. Corn that was in feed that was not supposed to be in the feed at all. FYI, Cattle can tolerate fumonisin fungus within the corn kernel. Horses cannot. Only takes 2 lbs. of corn that contains the fungus to kill a horse…melt the brain down (neuro). It is fine for cows…thus the concern about corn.
Another reason to make sure cattle and horse feed are not run together – especially if corn is a component of the cattle feed.
It’s dicey for sure.
Bad news for CO people who feed Nutrena or TC
I have been feeding TC Senior and this morning contacted them to ask whether their mills in my area handle feed for other species and specifically feeds containing monensin. They didn’t really answer my question other than to say that a Nutrena mill in Sterling processes all TC feed for my area. So I contacted Nutrena, and this is, in part, what they said:
“The majority of Nutrena horse feed manufacturing locations do not handle monesin/rumensin. Sterling, CO is one of the few that does handle rumensin.”
I’m beyond concerned at this point and will definitely be switching feeds. I have a query in to a local company, but I’m not feeling optimistic as they also produce feeds for other species.
What a nightmare!!!
Does anyone feed Poulin? I checked their website and there is no statement. I was hoping there was, as I know they produce feed for all livestock.
I feed Fibre Max. It’s the only thing my horse will eat and not walk away from so I am really worried.
So I got a response from Poulin, but I am not as reassured as they want me to be …
It seems they follow the same cleansing process as many other companies & do not have dedicated horse feed lines.
"I understand your concerns about monensin contamination, as it would be devastating to any horse owner. We do have written protocols in place to prevent cross contamination of medicated feeds. After a medicated feed is produced, we run a flush through our equipment, then we produced another batch of non-medicated dairy feed to be extra sure that any residual medication is flushed out of the system. There is never any horse feed run through any equipment directly after a medicated feed. Our medications are kept locked up so they won’t be inadvertently added to a feed mix. All medications are weighed and reconciled on a daily basis. We send out periodic samples to be tested to make sure that our procedures are working.
I hope that this relieves your concerns, and thank you for being a loyal Poulin Grain customer. Please contact me if you have any further questions.
Scott Birch"
All it takes is one worker who does not speak English and you have trouble. This was made clear to me when a Colombian delivered a washing machine and hooked it up incorrectly.
[QUOTE=Equibrit;7983757]
All it takes is one worker who does not speak English and you have trouble. This was made clear to me when a Colombian delivered a washing machine and hooked it up incorrectly.[/QUOTE]
Or some mill worker who may be new and doesn’t “get” how important it is to follow the “written” protocals to ensure cattle feed and horse feed shall never meet…esp. if they mill 24 hrs. Scares me, but then I’ve felt the pain losing a horse for no good reason with a horrible death to watch, but for a quality control failure. This kind of thing also affects small pet feed quality control too I suppose. It’s not a perfect world, but these alarm bells are worth paying attention to, for sure.
Seminole also guarantees its hay. (Which is expensive, but makes me feel better now that mine have changed to it for the last year or so.) Of course, there are always weeds in the pasture to worry about. But at least Seminole grain and Seminole timothy hay are backed by the company as not containing anything harmful to horses.
I don’t know if Seminole still does this, but the regional distributor back in 2006 told me that Seminole would pay for colic treatment/surgery if any of the hay from there was the cause. (One BO was feeding non-Seminole coastal from a local store, instead of the Seminole hay she had been using after colic surgery some years before.)
Well - just to share knowledge and feed brands - for West Coasters, I feed LMF feeds, and asked them about this. In California at least, Farmers Warehouse mills LMF feeds - here was the exchange:
Hello, I am sure you are aware of the recent cases of horses being poisoned by monensin due to contaminated feed. I know Farmers Warehouse mills LMF feeds - does Farmers Warehouse produce medicated cattle feeds?
Thank you for your question and concern. Farmers Warehouse is a drug free milling operation. We again thank you and understand your concern. Please let us know if you have any further questions.
[meanwhile - before I received the response above, I did some googling, and found farmers warehouse sells medicated feeds]
Thank you for the response.
According to Farmers Warehouse website (http://farmerswarehouse.com/products.html) they carry a number of medicated products which contain Monensin:
Showtime Heifer & Steer Developer - Medicated
Showtime Beef Finisher - Medicated
Best Start Heifer Grower Mix 15% - Medicated
Are these products produced at a separate facility from the LMF horse feeds?
Thank you again for the follow up question. All LMF Horse Feeds made there are made at a non-medicated mill and sacked on a non-medicated sack line. So the answer to your question is yes they are separate with no chance for contamination.
Bluebonnet Feed
I’ve switched from ADM (which my horses did great on) to TC (which now I am questioning). I think the only feed I can buy in central Texas that is monensin free is Bluebonnet. Here is their statement; they are milled in Ardmore, OK. Is there any other truly safe feed anyone has found? http://bluebonnetfeeds.com/is-your-horses-feed-safe-to-consume/
All it takes is one worker who doesn’t speak or read good English, or one worker who is relatively new, or some day when management has decided that the line can run with one or two fewer guys because they’ve come up with a more efficient process or some day when an employee calls in sick or should have called in sick but didn’t and is in the restroom at a critical time.
I’m pretty nervous about the idea of sharing a sack line with a medicated feed, cleaning processes or not. Dedicated line with at least separate storage and no chance of accidental cross contamination by staging the wrong pallet in the wrong area, would be better and completely separate would be best.
[QUOTE=fairawayfarm;7984172]
I’ve switched from ADM (which my horses did great on) to TC (which now I am questioning). I think the only feed I can buy in central Texas that is monensin free is Bluebonnet. Here is their statement; they are milled in Ardmore, OK. Is there any other truly safe feed anyone has found? http://bluebonnetfeeds.com/is-your-horses-feed-safe-to-consume/[/QUOTE]
Can you get Ranch-Way in your area? I heard from a rep today, and while they do produce medicated feeds for other species, they have a dedicated medication-free mill line for their equine feeds. I haven’t yet decided to make a switch (still looking into other options), but that is better than TC can do in my area.
[QUOTE=Fergs;7982214]
I have been feeding TC Senior and this morning contacted them to ask whether their mills in my area handle feed for other species and specifically feeds containing monensin. They didn’t really answer my question other than to say that a Nutrena mill in Sterling processes all TC feed for my area. So I contacted Nutrena, and this is, in part, what they said:
“The majority of Nutrena horse feed manufacturing locations do not handle monesin/rumensin. Sterling, CO is one of the few that does handle rumensin.”
I’m beyond concerned at this point and will definitely be switching feeds. I have a query in to a local company, but I’m not feeling optimistic as they also produce feeds for other species.
What a nightmare!!![/QUOTE]
Wait a minute. When I asked Triple Crown if TC products were manufactured alongside any medicated feeds, I was told (and I quote):
[I]Hello [CrowneDragon],
All the feed mills that manufacture Triple Crown feeds do not have Rumensin in the facility as an ingredient, so the potential for contamination is eliminated.
All the feed mills that make Triple Crown are independently HAACP certified for food safety and will meet the new FDA “Feed Safety and Modernization Act” guidelines.
The new FDA guidelines are designed to put all feed mills under regulations to make feeds safe for both animals and humans.
Many smaller, local feed mills do not have HAACP certifications and will be forced to comply with the new FDA guidelines or face closure over the next few years.
Any other questions, please let me know![/I]
What the fruitbat is going on there…
[QUOTE=HenryisBlaisin’;7972368]
Our 4-H club went for a tour of the Southern States plant here this week, and they explained the steps they take to keep this from happening. They make several runs of cattle or other feeds after a run of something with monesin or other things that could harm horses before running anything labeled for horses. The same goes for feeds that contain copper, etc.
The computer system that controls the mixing will not allow them to start a run of horse feed within a certain number of batches of one that contains monesin, so they could not accidentally produce a horse feed on a contaminated line. It was interesting to learn about how they approach the problem in a mill that makes multiple feeds.[/QUOTE]
We were alerted to this thread and asked to comment. While companies using a computer operated “lock-out” system may advise that equine feed cannot be contaminated, this is simply not true.
In fact, please be advised this is how the Florida hunter/jumper farm’s horses were poisoned in October 2014, according to the state’s investigation. You can read more below and view the state’s documents.
Lakeland Animal Nutrition Fined for Contaminated Equine Feed
I should mention as well, for some of the larger companies, what is being done may be mill specific, not company wide.
Regarding ADM, there are allegedly two different types of feed that have tested positive for monensin. The info can be found at the bottom of the above link at the ADM articles.
I took my guy off grain a few months ago (Seminole, which sounds like is one of the few companies that have zero chance of this happening), but I’m still concerned about the beet pulp and alfalfa pellets/cubes I’m feeding. I use Midwest Agri beet pulp shreds, and from the website it looks like they make only beet pulp products, so I’m hopeful that I don’t need to be concerned about that. Does anyone know? I have to find out the manufacturer of the alfalfa pellets–I was getting Standlee (and still can), but have been going to a different feed store. Just wondering if anyone knows how likely it is that either of those products could contain monensin.
[QUOTE=CrowneDragon;7984291]
Wait a minute. When I asked Triple Crown if TC products were manufactured alongside any medicated feeds, I was told (and I quote):
[I]Hello [CrowneDragon],
All the feed mills that manufacture Triple Crown feeds do not have Rumensin in the facility as an ingredient, so the potential for contamination is eliminated.
All the feed mills that make Triple Crown are independently HAACP certified for food safety and will meet the new FDA “Feed Safety and Modernization Act” guidelines.
The new FDA guidelines are designed to put all feed mills under regulations to make feeds safe for both animals and humans.
Many smaller, local feed mills do not have HAACP certifications and will be forced to comply with the new FDA guidelines or face closure over the next few years.
Any other questions, please let me know![/I]
What the fruitbat is going on there…[/QUOTE]
That is interesting. Perhaps they mean all the TC mills in your area are monensin free? Consider yourself lucky if that’s the case. Although Nutrena claims that “the majority” of their mills for horse feeds do not process monensin, mine is “one of the few” that does, and on the same lines used for horse feeds. 
double post
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