|
|
 Off the Wall Wacky
Posts: 2981
   
Location: Louisiana | I recently started feeding Safe Choice Perform, as my horse has been on the Original in the past and did great. I decided to go ahead and buy the Perform for his "type", and he looks better already.
BUT, I have been reading about the ionophores, and I see that some of Nutrena's mill are "safe", and some "free". The plant code in my bag is 30, does anyone know which mill this is?
Also, we have been feeding a mix from out local mill for years. Recently word got out that a couple horses died, and they had to test for toxins. They got the all clear. But I'm worried as I'm pretty positive they make medicated cattle feed. What exactly do I need to ask when I call them tomorrow?? Is it just monesin?
Thank you in advance!!
Edited by dashnlotti 2015-07-27 11:06 PM
|
|
| |
|
Veteran
Posts: 161
Location: Right Where I'm Meant To Be :) | You should be able to ask your local feed store where you're buying it from. Mine is very open with me. They have actually visited the plant where it is made. Pretty cool and reassuring. I love the Perform! |
|
| |
|
Off the Wall Wacky
Posts: 2981
Location: Louisiana | I buy it at Tractor Supply and I know they likely get it from a distributor. So it may not come from the closest mill. The employees at the particular TC I shop at are kinda questionable. Of course if it turns out to be one of the mills that also makes cattle feed, I could likely locate it elsewhere for a short drive.
The co-op where we get our mixed feed is what I'm most concerned about. I have a strong feeling what the answer will be when I ask about ionophores. I'm pretty positive they sell a lot more cattle feed than horse feed. We've been feeding this mix for years, and I hate to change. But depending on their answer tomorrow I'm prepared to. |
|
| |
|
  More bootie than waist!
Posts: 18425
 
Location: Riding Crackhead. | Call Nutrena and ask. I used to feed it until I found it came from the same line as medicated feed. After they lied to me for a while they finally fessed up. I don't feed stuff that comes off the same line as medicated feed no matter how much they promise they flush the system and I really don't feed products from liars. |
|
| |
|
 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | dashnlotti - 2015-07-27 9:08 PM I buy it at Tractor Supply and I know they likely get it from a distributor. So it may not come from the closest mill. The employees at the particular TC I shop at are kinda questionable. Of course if it turns out to be one of the mills that also makes cattle feed, I could likely locate it elsewhere for a short drive.
The co-op where we get our mixed feed is what I'm most concerned about. I have a strong feeling what the answer will be when I ask about ionophores. I'm pretty positive they sell a lot more cattle feed than horse feed. We've been feeding this mix for years, and I hate to change. But depending on their answer tomorrow I'm prepared to.
The TSC employees around here know nothing about nothing and they are bad are rotating their feed. |
|
| |
|
Off the Wall Wacky
Posts: 2981
Location: Louisiana | Nevertooold - 2015-07-27 10:35 PM dashnlotti - 2015-07-27 9:08 PM I buy it at Tractor Supply and I know they likely get it from a distributor. So it may not come from the closest mill. The employees at the particular TC I shop at are kinda questionable. Of course if it turns out to be one of the mills that also makes cattle feed, I could likely locate it elsewhere for a short drive.
The co-op where we get our mixed feed is what I'm most concerned about. I have a strong feeling what the answer will be when I ask about ionophores. I'm pretty positive they sell a lot more cattle feed than horse feed. We've been feeding this mix for years, and I hate to change. But depending on their answer tomorrow I'm prepared to. The TSC employees around here know nothing about nothing and they are bad are rotating their feed.
The only reason I get fresh feed from mine is bc they never have enough stock on hand. So either I get fresh feed, or no feed. Which is annoying, but at least I know it moves. Same thing with the alfalfa cubes I buy there. But yes, they are clueless and not just when it comes to horses. Anytime I ask a question I get looked at like I just sprouted antlers. There used to be a gal that knew a good bit but they went and fired her for some stupid reason.
I plan on calling Nutrena tomorrow after I call the other mill. I just thought maybe there was a list somewhere.
I guess I'm late on the whole ionophores thing, but I have been doing a lot of reading over the weekend. As long as I can get feed from one of the ionophore "free" mills I won't change. But I know the guys in the back at our local mill and they can barely give me the right bag of feed, I'm not trusting them to follow "safe" protocols. |
|
| |
|
 Pork Fat is my Favorite
Posts: 3791
Location: The Oklahoma plains. | Another thing To think about and I do not know this to be true but I have heard TSC has a central warehouse for buying power so while you may think they are being shipped direct from the MFG, that may not be the case. You feed could be coming from the home warehouse and sitting for months. Just what I have heard from our local TSC. But ours sound like yours, not super bright. |
|
| |
|
 Expert
Posts: 5293
| TurnLane - 2015-07-28 11:44 AM
Another thing To think about and I do not know this to be true but I have heard TSC has a central warehouse for buying power so while you may think they are being shipped direct from the MFG, that may not be the case. You feed could be coming from the home warehouse and sitting for months. Just what I have heard from our local TSC. But ours sound like yours, not super bright.
Turn lane is correct!!! The mill my feed came from is about 100 miles away. When it gets produced ( Here in CA), it gets shipped to TSC central distribution in NEBRASKA!! THen it gets redistributed to all the TSC on west coast. In that time a LOT can happen to it. And it does. Like my senior feed being full of Mold and by the time TSC gets it, I have seen 30-60 days since production. Makes no sense. No more of that either. Whole grains for mine. |
|
| |
|
 I'm Cooler Offline
Posts: 6387
Location: Pacific Northwest | Nevertooold - 2015-07-27 8:35 PM
dashnlotti - 2015-07-27 9:08 PM I buy it at Tractor Supply and I know they likely get it from a distributor. So it may not come from the closest mill. The employees at the particular TC I shop at are kinda questionable. Of course if it turns out to be one of the mills that also makes cattle feed, I could likely locate it elsewhere for a short drive.
The co-op where we get our mixed feed is what I'm most concerned about. I have a strong feeling what the answer will be when I ask about ionophores. I'm pretty positive they sell a lot more cattle feed than horse feed. We've been feeding this mix for years, and I hate to change. But depending on their answer tomorrow I'm prepared to.
The TSC employees around here know nothing about nothing and they are bad are rotating their feed.
That isn't surprising. I work at a store owned by TSC and we can't even get people to apply. No one wants to work at a feed store, I don't know if they think it's too physically hard or what. I mean in a way it kind of is, it IS physically challenging and you make barely above minimum wage. You eventually reach a point that you have to hire someone that can perform the tasks but might not have any idea what they're talking about.
I know at our store, theres only 6 of us. We definitely all have areas we're strong and weak at. I know the most about horses out of everyone in the store, but I have a hard time remembering things about the tractor equipment and usually have to ask someone else.
I know it might seem like they should be hiring farm experts, but you can't hire someone that doesn't apply. You get good benefits but you honestly get really, really crappy pay.
ETA but we're good about rotating feed :) things that we dont sell often we keep a limited stock, everything else we go through fast enough that we're starting on a new pallet each week. Everything in the store we stack new stuff on the bottom so old stuff gets sold first and we go through once a month and pull anything that is expired.
Edited by livexlovexrodeo 2015-07-28 2:40 PM
|
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 5293
| livexlovexrodeo - 2015-07-28 12:36 PM
Nevertooold - 2015-07-27 8:35 PM
dashnlotti - 2015-07-27 9:08 PM I buy it at Tractor Supply and I know they likely get it from a distributor. So it may not come from the closest mill. The employees at the particular TC I shop at are kinda questionable. Of course if it turns out to be one of the mills that also makes cattle feed, I could likely locate it elsewhere for a short drive.
The co-op where we get our mixed feed is what I'm most concerned about. I have a strong feeling what the answer will be when I ask about ionophores. I'm pretty positive they sell a lot more cattle feed than horse feed. We've been feeding this mix for years, and I hate to change. But depending on their answer tomorrow I'm prepared to.
The TSC employees around here know nothing about nothing and they are bad are rotating their feed.
That isn't surprising. I work at a store owned by TSC and we can't even get people to apply. No one wants to work at a feed store, I don't know if they think it's too physically hard or what. I mean in a way it kind of is, it IS physically challenging and you make barely above minimum wage. You eventually reach a point that you have to hire someone that can perform the tasks but might not have any idea what they're talking about.
I know at our store, theres only 6 of us. We definitely all have areas we're strong and weak at. I know the most about horses out of everyone in the store, but I have a hard time remembering things about the tractor equipment and usually have to ask someone else.
I know it might seem like they should be hiring farm experts, but you can't hire someone that doesn't apply. You get good benefits but you honestly get really, really crappy pay.
ETA but we're good about rotating feed : ) things that we dont sell often we keep a limited stock, everything else we go through fast enough that we're starting on a new pallet each week. Everything in the store we stack new stuff on the bottom so old stuff gets sold first and we go through once a month and pull anything that is expired.
Which is why I always have to take all the top bags off so I can get the fresh stuff at the bottom of the pile.  |
|
| |
|
I'm Cooler Offline
Posts: 6387
Location: Pacific Northwest | FLITASTIC - 2015-07-28 12:50 PM
livexlovexrodeo - 2015-07-28 12:36 PM
Nevertooold - 2015-07-27 8:35 PM
dashnlotti - 2015-07-27 9:08 PM I buy it at Tractor Supply and I know they likely get it from a distributor. So it may not come from the closest mill. The employees at the particular TC I shop at are kinda questionable. Of course if it turns out to be one of the mills that also makes cattle feed, I could likely locate it elsewhere for a short drive.
The co-op where we get our mixed feed is what I'm most concerned about. I have a strong feeling what the answer will be when I ask about ionophores. I'm pretty positive they sell a lot more cattle feed than horse feed. We've been feeding this mix for years, and I hate to change. But depending on their answer tomorrow I'm prepared to.
The TSC employees around here know nothing about nothing and they are bad are rotating their feed.
That isn't surprising. I work at a store owned by TSC and we can't even get people to apply. No one wants to work at a feed store, I don't know if they think it's too physically hard or what. I mean in a way it kind of is, it IS physically challenging and you make barely above minimum wage. You eventually reach a point that you have to hire someone that can perform the tasks but might not have any idea what they're talking about.
I know at our store, theres only 6 of us. We definitely all have areas we're strong and weak at. I know the most about horses out of everyone in the store, but I have a hard time remembering things about the tractor equipment and usually have to ask someone else.
I know it might seem like they should be hiring farm experts, but you can't hire someone that doesn't apply. You get good benefits but you honestly get really, really crappy pay.
ETA but we're good about rotating feed : ) things that we dont sell often we keep a limited stock, everything else we go through fast enough that we're starting on a new pallet each week. Everything in the store we stack new stuff on the bottom so old stuff gets sold first and we go through once a month and pull anything that is expired.
Which is why I always have to take all the top bags off so I can get the fresh stuff at the bottom of the pile.
haha well at our store the only things we stock inside is dog food...which we go through too fast for it it to matter. It gets restocked every day. The bottom stuff might not necessarily be fresh, we get shipments of dog food that come weeks apart but have the same expiration date printed on them. I have no idea how the DC works things.
Theres very few things we have to worry about being "old" because we try to keep it so that as we run low on something we're scheduled to get more in. There's only a hand full of feeds that end up sitting in the warehouse because no one buys them. SafeChoice is definitely not one of them, we go through ALL of the SafeChoices really fast. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 1695
Location: Willows, CA | No matter where you buy your feed you need to take the time to understand how the bags are dated. Just about every feed company puts dates on every bag that they make. There can be a number of different codes to do this. If the manufacturer will not tell you how to read their production dates, switch to someone who will. |
|
| |
|
Off the Wall Wacky
Posts: 2981
Location: Louisiana | winwillows - 2015-07-28 3:13 PM No matter where you buy your feed you need to take the time to understand how the bags are dated. Just about every feed company puts dates on every bag that they make. There can be a number of different codes to do this. If the manufacturer will not tell you how to read their production dates, switch to someone who will.
When I buy my Safe Choice I always check the date. The feed in my feed room is less than a month old and I bought it 2 weeks ago. But as I mentioned above, they are always out of the Perform so it must sell pretty good in my area. I know the feed we get at the local mill is fresh bc we buy the big bags and they make it to order. You have to give them a couple days to get it ready.
Of course I get what Flit was saying too...just bc my feed was a week old when I bought it doesn't mean it didn't sit out in the heat and humidity that week.
Ugh...it's so frustrating that we as horse owners have to worry about things like this! I finally find a combo of feed that works great and my horses look good on then BAM, maybe it's not so great... |
|
| |
|
Blessed 
Location: Here | winwillows - 2015-07-28 3:13 PM No matter where you buy your feed you need to take the time to understand how the bags are dated. Just about every feed company puts dates on every bag that they make. There can be a number of different codes to do this. If the manufacturer will not tell you how to read their production dates, switch to someone who will.
 |
|
| |
Folks on-line