Important information for horse owners and breeders
Article from RD1's 'Straight from the Horse's Mouth', August 2010
In the modern environment, professional horse owners and breeders are required to operate within the guidelines and regulations of various societies and associations.
Industry regulations are put in place to promote fairness in competition, honesty in breeding practices and, most importantly, the welfare of the horses. Most industry stakeholders would not dispute the need for regulation. In most cases it has raised the bar in the way we operate our businesses, requiring us to make an assessment of risk with the decisions we make and actions we take every day.
It is surprising therefore, that many horse owners and breeders don’t make a “risk assessment” when choosing what they should feed horses in their care. History tells us that contamination of equine feeds by ingredients intended for other species has been a regular occurrence in the thoroughbred industry. Recent high profile cases have received plenty of media attention, however there are many more instances that affect owners’ reputations and livelihoods that often go virtually unnoticed. The consequences of feeding contaminated horse feed can range from a positive swab to, in extreme cases, the death of the horse.
It is concerning that many companies manufacturing equine feeds do so at facilities that also produce feeds for other species, or source their raw materials from facilities that supply to other species’ manufacturers. These practices create a potential risk that horses may be exposed to additives intended for dogs, pigs, poultry or cattle. Many of these additives can be toxic to horses.
This has been a factor in recent high profile cases of feed cross – contamination that has affected horses in various industries and has led at least one industry group to request assurances on the integrity of the feed they are using.
In reality, the safest option for the conscientious horse owner is to source your horse feed requirements from a dedicated equineonly feed mill. The Mitavite® range of horse feed is manufactured at a multi-million dollar state-of-the-art mill designed and used solely for the production of horse feed. Mitavite’s quality control systems and procedures have been designed to provide optimum feed quality protection.
To help you make a feed safety risk assessment, here are 10 impor tant questions that you need to ask your feed supplier:
- Is the horse feed I will be purchasing manufactured in a facility that also produces feed for other species?
- If so, does the mill make poultry, cattle, dog or pig feeds?
- If so, does the mill use ingredients that would swab or that would be classed as medications?
- Does the manufacturer use animal protein meals on the site?
- If so, have any of these animal protein meals tested positive for salmonella?
- What would happen to my horses if crosscontamination occurred?
- Does the manufacturer have quality control procedures in place to prevent cross-contamination occurring, and if so, are they documented?
- Does the manufacturer quality check every raw material received?
- Does the manufacturer quality check transport facilities to ensure no cross-contamination is possible?
- Does the manufacturer ensure that the manufacturers of outsourced materials used in the feeds (vitamin and mineral mixes, etc) are manufactured under the same or equivalent quality control procedures?
To learn more, please call Mitavite toll free on 0800 650 505.
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Disclaimer: Any views and comments expressed in this article are not necessarily the opinions of RD1 Limited nor associated agencies. This content is copyright of RD1 Limited.
