Everything Horses and Livestock® Magazine Nov 2017 Vol 2 Issue 4

Everything Horses and Livestock Magazine ®

chemical reaction in the body requires one or more trace minerals to act as a catalyst to start the reac- tion. Therefore it is important for all supplemental prod- ucts to contain the correct level, ratio and form of the above mentioned trace minerals. The ratios are important to prevent interference of use, but the form is more important. There are several different chemical forms of trace minerals available on the market and each have dif- ferent levels of bioavailability or digestibility; which determines how well the animal can use them efficiently. Based on the efficiency of use I suggest feeding a product that contains all of the trace minerals I have listed and only the forms of Amino Acid Chelate and/or the chloride form. These are the only two forms that I use in all of my programs for animals and humans. R. Harry Anderson, PhD 620-272-1065 Harry@TotalFeeds.com www.totalfeeds.com Reprint July 2015

TRACE MINERALS Trace minerals as a group are one of the most crit- ical nutrient groups to be concerned with in Equine nutrition. They are also some of the most variable in the forages that are available to the Equine. The critical trace minerals needed by horses are Cop- per, Cobalt, Iodine, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Selenium and Zinc. These are all present in forag- es, but the levels can vary and unless each batch or hay is analyzed you cannot tell the levels in grass. The levels change as the season progresses; so it is almost impossible to know at any point in time what the levels are. A minimum level of each trace mineral is required daily in the diet of the horse. However, some trace minerals such as Iron, Molybdenum and Selenium can also cause toxicity or deficiencies of other trace minerals if they are present in excess. One example is excess Selenium causes a sloughing of tails and hooves in any species when present in high levels as it does in a few areas of the country. High levels of Iron and Molybdenum will cause a Copper deficiency by blocking the absorption and use of this critical nutrient. Because of this, it is a good idea to analyze hay and grass for trace min- erals and not just for protein, energy and the major minerals The importance of trace minerals are that every

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