Copper in feed

[Lambcrazy12270]

Currently I am feeding all of my sheep expensive show feed, but not everyone shows and some are full grown.  My breeder told me that I can feed my ewes a pellet feed, but I am confused on the copper.  My feed store bags their own pellet feed that is 14% 3% fat and 9-10 copper.  How do I now this is okay? The show feed I feed now says Copper, Min (ppm) 8 and Copper, Max (ppm) 15.  Common sense says 10 for the max is less than 15, but I just want to be 100% sure.  Would the feed store pellet be okay?

Thanks

[Don Drewry]

My guess is they had the ration tested once and that's the result.  Generally speaking sheep can tolerate 20-25 ppm of copper if there is at least 3 ppm of molybdenum.  Watch any mineral you feed and make sure it's formulated for sheep.  The only way to know for 100% for sure is to have every batch of feed tested as levels can change based on where the feed grains are grown but in reality that's not practical.

[woolpuller]

My pelleted feed for my lambs reads that we will not accept the feed if the independent laboratory shows that it exceeds 10.0 ppm of total copper. Yrs back , one time, the mill sent some feed that they claimed was 7.6 ppm total copper but the lab said it was 47.4 and repeat was 46.2.  The company pulled the 3 tonne of pellents from our tank and replaced with new pellets. This was in the proper range.

[Lambcrazy12270]

Thanks, we ending up going with the same manufacturer that I use for my show feed.  When we got to the feed store, the ingredients sections showed extra copper.  We do not live in an area where people know much about sheep, which is a huge pain in the rear.

[Kgb]

Just for information in the future.   It's really not the copper from corn, soybean meal, etc... That is the problem.  It's the added copper.  Look at the ingredient panel.  If it lists copper sulfate, copper tribasic, copper lysine, copper proteinate, or any other form of copper my suggestion is to NOT feed it to sheep, regardless of the copper nutrient guarantee.

And by the way, we (feed companies) are not required to gaurantee copper on the tag in most states.