Feed mill explains its failures that led to Okla. horse deaths

The Beutler and Son Rodeo Co., renowned for providing rodeo livestock for over 90 years, suffered the devastating loss of nearly 70 bucking horses within the past two weeks. The cause of this incident has been linked to contaminated feed delivered before Aug. 23, and the company responsible, Livestock Nutrition Center, has now acknowledged that the feed it delivered contained monensin, an antibiotic highly toxic to horses.

Livestock Nutrition Center, the feed supplier, acknowledged that the batch delivered to Beutler and Son contained monensin, an antibiotic highly toxic to horses. Monensin is commonly used in feed for other livestock but can be fatal if ingested by equines.

“Our preliminary test show a load of feed delivered to Beutler and Son Rodeo Company in Elk City contained monensin, which can be toxic to horses,” LNC said in its statement. “This likely occurred due to a combination of a failed cleanout procedure and a sensor malfunction. We have confirmed this is an isolated incident to this single load of feed from a single facility and no other feed has been impacted and is safe for animal consumption.”

Livestock Nutrition Center was founded in 1998 and has 20 locations in the south central United States. It mills custom-blend feed, premises, cubes, mineral products, tubs, and complete feed. The company’s website does not currently appear to list or advertise horse feed, and it is unclear what products were being fed to the Beutler’s rodeo stock. 

“We take this seriously and are working with the State Departments of Agriculture in Oklahoma and Kansas and the FDA to get to the root cause of the problem and will take any and all corrective actions needed,” the mill said.

The only surviving bucking mare, Black Kat, was spared because she was at VeneKlasen’s Timber Creek Veterinary Hospital in Canyon, Texas when the contaminated feed was delivered. This weekend, Black Kat won the Elk City Rodeo of Champions in Butler Bros. Arena in Wyoming with Roedy Farrell aboard, with a winning score of 88.5. 

“Words are cheap but we are dedicated to assist and support the Beutler family and make this right because our customers and employees expect and deserve it,” the mill said.

Updates on ionophore-free and safe feeds

To help prevent further public panic over feed safety, Dr. Gregg VeneKlasen, the ranch’s veterinarian, also made a statement on August 31:

“Many brands of feed — Purina, Nutrena and Bluebonnet, to name a few off the top of my head — are made in equine-only mills, and are safe. I suggest people stay with the big commercial companies with strict regulations in place. Because bucking-horse genetics are prone to metabolic syndrome, I feed Triple Crown Senior to everything here at Timber Creek (Veterinary Hospital), even the babies, because it’s beet-pulp based with low sugar and high fat content.”

“If you’re going to get custom feed from a mill that makes feed for multiple species, including horses, cattle, goats, pigs, and whatever else, make sure before it leaves the mill that it’s been tested for ionophores. It’s not an expensive test, but it’s a critically important one. You can’t have even trace amounts of ionophores, which can happen in unintentionally cross-contaminated feed, because the smallest dose impacts horses’ hearts. If they eat even a tiny amount of it and don’t die today, it might kill them in three weeks, three months, or three years.”

Kendra Santos has been keeping a social media post on the issue up to date, including a recently added list of ionophore-free and ionophore-safe feed mills compiled by Equine Nutritionist Dr. Rachel Mottet, on behalf of VeneKlasen:

“Most U.S. feed companies are extremely safe and reliable, even those with multi-species mills. The greatest safety risk comes from mills that produce ionophore-containing feeds in the same mill and production lines as their equine feeds. This becomes fewer mills each year, yet there are still some that do this, often for logistical reasons. The most important thing you should find out is what your feed company’s policy is regarding ionophores (the toxic compound involved in this situation) in their equine feed manufacturing mills.

There are some blanks as we are awaiting the response from a number of companies. A blank does not mean that your feed company is not safe, but for legal reasons, these statements can take time and we will populate them as they become available.

In our list, Ionophore-Free refers to a mill without ionophores, and ionophore-safe refers to a company with production policies that keep equine feed separate from feed with ionophores.

If your company is ionophore safe vs. free, please connect with them directly to ensure they have completely separate equipment for equine feed production and ionophore free trucks to haul bulk feed. If they do not, please make a decision about how to best reduce your horse’s risk of exposure.

The major U.S. feed companies tend to be extremely safe and have many checks and balances in place due to the volume of feed they produce. If your feed is Ionophore Safe vs. Free, do no panic, yet I advise that you follow-up with your company to get clarification on their production practices.”

Santos indicates that more details from Team Beutler will be released as appropriate.