Mineral comparison spreadsheet- Equimins AC vs Forage plus

[Reacher]

Reacher I would be interested in the hidden iron in the Equimins AC as I feed this product thinking the iron was very low, looking at FP there is now very little difference in the cost and I would be happy to switch (especially as I have found a 10% off coupon).

FP did a study - it is described on their website here
https://forageplus.co.uk/iron-in-horse-feed-balancers/
I guess the graph is the concentration in each product rather than the dose rate

 

[Reacher]

Reacher I would be interested in the hidden iron in the Equimins AC as I feed this product thinking the iron was very low, looking at FP there is now very little difference in the cost and I would be happy to switch (especially as I have found a 10% off coupon).

So I've multiplied up how much iron you get in FP and Equimins at the recommended feeding rates (80 g/d - Equimins AC and 100 g/d - FP) and it is as follows. Also for comparison is the recommended daily intake for a "normal" 500 kg horse = 400 mg/day and also the amount a horse gets from eating 10 kg of grass per day (it is a range since different grasses have different amounts of iron. Short grass is very bad apparently!)


(I got the range of iron consumed in grass using the data on here
http://www.calmhealthyhorses.com/facebook/iron.html
It also notes that most iron is not bio available so isn't absorbed by the gut)

 

[ycbm]

The iron in grass is not that simple, and you also need to know the manganese as that has the same copper blocking effect.

I believe the iron and particularly manganese in my grazing will be sky high because the surface spring water supply and the water table water supply are chock full of it.

 

[Noble]

Wow Reacher thank you so much, that is very interesting indeed. I thought I was feeding Equimins AC as a low iron supplement and it is highly recommended as such, more research I think but at the moment there is so little difference in cost maybe I would be daft not to change over to FP.

 

[Reacher]

Wow Reacher thank you so much, that is very interesting indeed. I thought I was feeding Equimins AC as a low iron supplement and it is highly recommended as such, more research I think but at the moment there is so little difference in cost maybe I would be daft not to change over to FP.

Looks that way to me but you might want to check my sums first to make sure I’ve not made a silly cockup!

 

[Reacher]

The iron in grass is not that simple, and you also need to know the manganese as that has the same copper blocking effect.

I believe the iron and particularly manganese in my grazing will be sky high because the surface spring water supply and the water table water supply are chock full of it.

Yes unfortunately we are sky high in iron and manganese too.

 

[ester]

I'll be sticking with the equimins because the horses are fine on it, and Frank will actually eat it which is the biggest bonus! I do feel for the people (tends to be US) where they end up having to filter water because it's just so high in iron.
I'd have to check my analyses to see what the home levels were.

 

[Reacher]

Well the CHH site does say that iron overload is uncommon which is comforting .

I am just getting a bit fixated on it as I know we have bad conditions for it (wet clay soil and grazing short grass etc)

 

[ycbm]

I'll be sticking with the equimins because the horses are fine on it, and Frank will actually eat it which is the biggest bonus! I do feel for the people (tends to be US) where they end up having to filter water because it's just so high in iron.
I'd have to check my analyses to see what the home levels were.

You should see our plant room! The equipment is inside an insulated box inside this shed and it still melts holes in the snow on the roof over each filter unit with the heat it creates! Nowhere near the US ?

 

[Jxmxg]

Does the forage plus have the same vitimans and minerals and same amount in it as the equimins, except less iron ofcourse? I was gonna order the advance complete once the tip top is almost gone. But I may get forage plus instead. I had a look to compare and it seemed the equimins has more vits and mins but obviously has more iron which may not be needed.

 

[criso]

You need to look at how much of key minerals are provided in a daily dose. Forageplus and Progressive Earth are very good at tell you how much active ingredient in the recommended dose, some tell you per kg or % so you have to do the maths to convert it to how much they will get. The version of an mineral will be relevant too when you work out how much of the mineral is available in the compound.

 

[Bernster]

Thanks so much reacher, that’s really helpful. FP winter was a better mix based on a nutr report I got which looked at hard feed and typical forage breakdown. It had the stuff I wanted to supplement and none of what I didn’t. Iron was def part of the consideration.

 

[daydreamer]

I’ve just had a quick look at forage plus and it looks like all their balancers are powder which is a shame. This year I’m hand feeding my youngster the equimins AC as none of his field mates get fed hard feed and it is easy to sneak him the small handful needed.

 

[criso]

FP was doing a pellet at one time, not sure if they still are.

 

[daydreamer]

FP was doing a pellet at one time, not sure if they still are.

Yes it looks like they had one, at least in 2019. Now it says "All Forageplus Balancers are powders" :-(

 

[Gloi]

That is the reason I had to move from Progressive Earth to Equimins, I find the pellets so much easier to feed as he was refusing the PE powders in feed.