EHAL Magazine November 2017

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Everything Horses and Livestock Magazine ®
EHALmagazine.com | November 2017 | ©Everything Horses and Livestock® 5
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
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
Reprint July 2015