Does anyone else think horse feed is too expensive?

[marlyclay]

My feed bills are too high,and i begrudge paying around nearly£8.00 a bag for economy course mix!I also am annoyed that the average bag weighs only 20 kg.I can remember when we used to buy good old half hundred weights,thats 50kg to you young un's.
There is also a ridiculous amount of feeds available for every possible scenario you can think of all perfectly marketed and branded ,but does there really have to be so many of the same sort of thing.I can understand the average one horse owner finding peace of mind by sticking to a brand that suits there horse and needs and therefore not mind paying over the odds .But if you own more than three,i currantly have four all requiring slightly different rations depending on workload,age and temp...then i think it would be cheaper to stick to straights and make up my own feed.I always used to so i don't quite Know why i lost my way .I also used to add wheat middlings to help put condition on,its cheap and quite frankly is what is in most of the more expensive conditioning cubes.
I would love to hear from any of you who are bold enough to mix your own feeds anyone else feed midds and do you buy your barley,maize ,oats etc direct from a local farmer .Any tips to cut down feed prices please share...

 

[CastleMouse]

Shop around

 

[gails]

Yes, tye are too expensive, and it may be my imagination, but , I am sure even though they say 20kg, a bag does not last as long as it used to.

When I first got my boy, it cost around £10 a month, now it costs nearer £40.

Would love to make my own up, if anyone has a good mix to make up for a verteran how struggles to keep eight on, then I am all ears

 

[Chestnutmare]

I thought Happy hoof was expensive when i had to feed it to merl at £13 a bag.

now I use mollichop original chaff £4.70 cooked barley £9.60 and speedibeet £6.00ish....so really this isnt dear to me....and it last longer too

I do agree though that prices of feed have gone up and up....guess there keeping up with todays market...even though us horsey people struggle with it.
could you not use a farm own brand? they are generally cheaper

 

[arwenplusone]

They are expensive, but everything is more expensive that it was in 'the good old days'

I think it is a good thing that there is choice & selection and that you can tailor your horse's diet to his own needs. They are all individuals.

If you are finding it a pain though I would recommend straights. When I had more than 3 horses I used to fed oats, barley, a balancer and some alfalfa. Simples

 

[Chico Mio]

Mine isn't. I feed straights and hay.

A 35kg sack of oats lasts me 10 days and costs about £7
A 35kg sack of sugar beet pellets costs about £12 and lasts me about 3 months.
Corn/soya oil £1.50 a week
Cider vinegar 40p a week

Mineral lick £6 lasts for months

I am feeding a 15.1hhh and a 16hh.

So about £32 a month in feed.

 

[TGM]

I do agree with you to some extent! Some of the feeds on the market seem hugely expensive considering what is in them and I suspect the consumer pays a lot for the extra marketing and advertising of some 'fashionable' feeds. However, some of these feeds can be very useful when dealing with horses with specific feeding problems, but often the general public feel they are letting their horses down by not using these 'special' or 'wonder' feeds for their everyday horses with everyday needs.

For the average horse, the cheapest way to maintain weight is to feed good quality hay/haylage/grazing. Only if the horse is eating as much as he can of these without maintaining weight, do you need to add significant amount of additional bucket feeds.

Most of mine are good doers, but I have one veteran who tends to lose weight and I have tried many veteran and conditioning feeds over the years. The best and cheapest solution I have found so far is the combination of ad lib haylage alongside sugar beet and either micronised barley or soaked oats (depending on availability and price locally) and a little vegetable oil. This works brilliantly for her, but wouldn't be suitable for laminitics or horses that hot up easily on sugars/cereals.

The others just get a handful or two Baileys Everyday High Cubes as a token feed, alongside their grazing/haylage.

As for bag sizes, feel lucky you are getting 20kg bags - I have noticed that some of the over-hyped feeds come in 15kg bags so that the buyer doesn't realise quite what over-the-top prices they are paying!

 

[Moggy in Manolos]

Yes, feed does seem more expensive, my feed bills seem to get higher and higher

 

[Chestersmum]

Like TGM said, my biggest expense is on ad-lib good quality hay - approximately £70 a month.

I pay £10-11 (ish) for Dengie Healthy Hooves, £5 for a bag of high-fibre nuts. I am feeding a 17.2hh, who has a tendancy to be a poor doer.

I swear by (linseed) oil as well, for maintaning condition and as a form of slow release energy.

I do admit to using 'own' brand, which I didn't realise were made by the big feed companies, they just come in a plain paper bag without the advertising!

 

[marlyclay]

[ QUOTE ]
Mine isn't. I feed straights and hay.

A 35kg sack of oats lasts me 10 days and costs about £7
A 35kg sack of sugar beet pellets costs about £12 and lasts me about 3 months.
Corn/soya oil £1.50 a week
Cider vinegar 40p a week

Mineral lick £6 lasts for months

I am feeding a 15.1hhh and a 16hh.

So about £32 a month in feed.

[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks chico,
Where do you get your 35kg bags from,i thought it was impossible to get that weight nowadays cos of health and safety regulations about lifting heavy weights?

 

[Ladylina83]

[ QUOTE ]
I thought Happy hoof was expensive when i had to feed it to merl at £13 a bag.

now I use mollichop original chaff £4.70 cooked barley £9.60 and speedibeet £6.00ish....so really this isnt dear to me....and it last longer too

[/ QUOTE ]

Kez - molly chop has LOADs of sugar in it !! It's not the same as happyhoof be careful - try HIFI light comes in a massive bag tho is more than a Fiver lol

You guys are paying more than me for feed tho my Happy hoof is £10.10p

 

[ester]

sugar beet is the best thing ever, we buy a 25kg bag for £4-5 and it lasts us nearly all winter

(I feed hi fi and cheapest own brand pony nuts too)

 

[Bosworth]

Mine has actually gone down this winter. I feed just Simple Systems and the Purabeet ha reduced from £8.40 a bag to £7.50 and the luci nuts , red nuts and blue nuts are the same price as last year so I am spending about £90 on 8 horses every 6 weeks. So not bad really.

 

[marlyclay]

[ QUOTE ]
Like TGM said, my biggest expense is on ad-lib good quality hay - approximately £70 a month.

I pay £10-11 (ish) for Dengie Healthy Hooves, £5 for a bag of high-fibre nuts - both of which, last a fortnight. I am feeding a 17.2hh, who has a tendancy to be a poor doer.

I swear by (linseed) oil as well, for maintaning condition and as a form of slow release energy.

I do admit to using 'own' brand, which I didn't realise were made by the big feed companies, they just come in a plain paper bag without the advertising!

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes i do feed plenty of hay and plain brand feeds from a local mill, i rarely fall for the flashy marketed ones,but i still think that they are way too expensive.
Also has anyone else noticed that branded pasture mix is suspiciously high in colour,i am sure they add colouring to make it look nice for the consumer.

 

[Ladylina83]

[ QUOTE ]
Mine has actually gone down this winter. I feed just Simple Systems and the Purabeet ha reduced from £8.40 a bag to £7.50 and the luci nuts , red nuts and blue nuts are the same price as last year so I am spending about £90 on 8 horses every 6 weeks. So not bad really.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah Luci nuts - I have seen them before look like a really good high fiber feed just don't stock them at my feed merchants , I hear you can get them delivered- my foot person told me about them (not going to call her a trimmer lol for fear of being mobbed after all the grief on here last night I'm not getting involved)

 

[TGM]

[ QUOTE ]
I thought Happy hoof was expensive when i had to feed it to merl at £13 a bag.

now I use mollichop original chaff £4.70

[/ QUOTE ] Just remember that Happy Hoof comes in 20kg bags and is supplemented with vit/mins, whereas Mollichaff Original comes in 12.5kg bags and is not supplemented.

 

[Coffee_Bean]

Baileys no.4 for me is fab, so the folks have to pay for it I'm afraid. However I did find that my first bag of AAoil this winter was £13.40 or something ridiculous

How much has that gone up from last year??! Alternatives??

ester- which type of sugarbeet do you get? brand/where from? I just payed £8 or so for speedibeet!

 

[Donkeymad]

QR

Yes, feed can seem expensive, some are very expensive, but everything has gone up in price. The cost of the raw ingredients has gone up because of the bad weather conditions we often suffer these days, making crops poor, and in more demand.

Have you seen the price of dog and cat food thse days? Or even of the food you buy for yourself? A loaf of bread is usually over £!

 

[TGM]

[ QUOTE ]
sugar beet is the best thing ever, we buy a 25kg bag for £4-5 and it lasts us nearly all winter

[/ QUOTE ] Got to agree with that - great cost-effective source of calories from highly digestible fibre. Has as many calories (dry weight) as many conditioning feeds/mixes and you get 25kg to a bag as opposed to the normal 20kg (or even 15kg in some cases).

 

[SO1]

I think people actually do over feed sometimes - I do wonder if horses really need all these fancy foods when they have a system designed to do well on good quality forage.

I know it is slightly different because I have a 13.3 NF who lives out not a big TB but he is very cheap to feed he has dengie good doer - one 20k bag lasts about 4 months and he has a hoof supplement so he cost about £10.00 a month on hard feed including his supplement. As you can see he has a lovely shiny coat and plenty of energy.

 

[marlyclay]

Yes Donklet you do have a point.Everything has gone up.But i still think that we are being taken for abit of a ride as far as the high cost of a very average bag of feed is concerned.The fact that there are so many different brands of the same thing means to me that there is plenty of room for companies to make a killing out of the average horse owner.We are in some ways our own worst enemy,horses related products are big business.And because we are so besotted with our four legged friends we buy into the big sell of many an oversold product.I do think that many of us have lost the common sense approach to feeding.Prehaps many of us lack the confidence/knowledge that people had years ago and rely too heavily on the convienence of a ready made product?

 

[Chico Mio]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Mine isn't. I feed straights and hay.

A 35kg sack of oats lasts me 10 days and costs about £7
A 35kg sack of sugar beet pellets costs about £12 and lasts me about 3 months.
Corn/soya oil £1.50 a week
Cider vinegar 40p a week

Mineral lick £6 lasts for months

I am feeding a 15.1hhh and a 16hh.

So about £32 a month in feed.

[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks chico,
Where do you get your 35kg bags from,i thought it was impossible to get that weight nowadays cos of health and safety regulations about lifting heavy weights?

[/ QUOTE ]

We don't do health and safety here! Sorry, didn't realise you didn't know I'm not in the UK. I was really giving you an idea of how you can feed cheaply.

I soak my oats. Soaking them is supposed to remove the 'hotting up' and lami problems because the grain begins to sprout and changes from being an inert grain full of starch to a growing plant. You need to soak them for at least 36 hours though - much longer than sugarbeet. I soak for 36 hours and drain for 12 as it's easier to manage it on a two day system.

 

[marlyclay]

I agree SO1, i think we do sometimes over feed the average dobbin.

 

[marlyclay]

Ha Ha,sorry i didn't know that you weren't in the UK chico

It 's very interesting that you soak your oats before feeding to make them less heating.

 

[TGM]

[ QUOTE ]
I soak my oats. Soaking them is supposed to remove the 'hotting up' and lami problems because the grain begins to sprout and changes from being an inert grain full of starch to a growing plant. You need to soak them for at least 36 hours though - much longer than sugarbeet. I soak for 36 hours and drain for 12 as it's easier to manage it on a two day system.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just chuck mine in alongside the sugar beet to soak - but then I just do it to soften the husk of the oats. No soaking = whole oats in dung, soaking = no oats in dung so must be fully digested!

 

[Chico Mio]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I soak my oats. Soaking them is supposed to remove the 'hotting up' and lami problems because the grain begins to sprout and changes from being an inert grain full of starch to a growing plant. You need to soak them for at least 36 hours though - much longer than sugarbeet. I soak for 36 hours and drain for 12 as it's easier to manage it on a two day system.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just chuck mine in alongside the sugar beet to soak - but then I just do it to soften the husk of the oats. No soaking = whole oats in dung, soaking = no oats in dung so must be fully digested!

[/ QUOTE ]

No problem with the digesting bit - it's the enzyme change from grain to plant that stops the heating effect. To be honest my two will eat plain dry oats and be as laid back as they come, but they get different nutrient from soaked oats.

I've lifted this from one of Papa Frita's old threads but it's exactly the same fact sheet that I have. And I just realised I put 36 hours to soak when I do it for 24 hours and drain for 12 hours - my brain is not what it was

"This is a diet I reccomend for all horses but especially for horses that are not 'doing well' or showing dietary problems like spots or sweet itch or just simply being 'hyper'. It suits all horses and is much more cost effective as well as healthier.

OATS are classed as both as a herb and a food, they are a strength-giving, low in starch but high in minerals. Also rich in Vitamin B, they contain alkaloids, glycosides and fixed oils which are an important source of vitamine E. They are a nerve tonic and bone building and contrary to modern day thinking, are the best possible feed for horses that are in work. The best way to feed them is soaked as explained here.

Soaked whole oats, soaked for 12-24 hours in cold water, this makes the oat a living enzyme again, which enables the horse to digest them more easily. Because they are now a living enzyme and easier to digested, the energy is released into the system quicker and without any build up of lactic acid, so no tying up, and also the horses hold their weight better, also as the starches are broken down easier it does not affect the temperment, also the benefits of soaking inclunde the fact that any chemical residue from sprays etc...are washed away, but not the goodness of the oat, also as vit E is in the outer husk of the oat, after soaking it becomes absorbable. The oats should be drained if possible overnight or for at least 1 and a half hours before starting to feed, and enough can be put up to last a whole day. If they are put up for example at 5 pm and drained at 5 pm the next evening, once a routine is established it is very simple, all you need is a hessain sack and a spare dustbin.

In light work I would suggest approx 2 to 3 lb of oats twice a day with alfalfa (weigh soaked oats not dry) and of course good hay. The amount can be increased gradually if and when work increases.

Carrots are excellent for the liver and the digestive system and full of calcium. Always make sure they are sliced sideways to avoid choke, another good vegetable that horses like is turnips or swedes, cut half a turnip into the feed trough twice a week to let them play with it, it is very nutritous.

The best supplement to feed in seaweed, one 15ml measure once a day, it is high in minerals and trace elements. It is rich in copper iron magnesium and phosphorus silicon and sulphur. The iodine content, which is a supreme gland builder and conditioner, reduces excess fatty tissue and removes toxic elements, along with iron which of course is premier importance to the blood, promoting oxygen absorbtion and building red corpuscules.

Alfalfa is classed as a herb cos it is very deep rooting, it is a rich source of calcium and also contains chlorine, magnesium, phosph.. potass.. sodium and sulphur..it is also rich in vits. It is high in protein, it is also a diuretic and more importantly it has 8 digestive enzymes in it which stimulate the digestive system, enabling the proper assimilation of the nutrients provided. It is a very good 'balancer' to be fed with oats, although it is a complete feed in its own right. To add to the oat diet add a double handfull mixed in with each feed.

Sugar beet, prefably unmolassed helps to keep condition on, it is also good for keeping bowels working, and is high in calcium.

A bran mash twice a week with a small handfull of epsom salts to keep their system clean, this has become unfashionable due to modern day nutritionists, however it is as good for horses nowadays as it was in the past. Cider vinegar internally, is good for them, an egg cupfull daily, this is also excellent used externally for any sore and inflamed joints.

Salt should be available, the best source is rock salt, not the man made licks but the rock salt that is dug out of the ground and many feed merchants sell it.

For those horses that need to put on weight or hold condition boiled barley linseed and flaked maize are all good fattening foods.

And finally but equally important is good quality hay. If you have to feed haylage for some reason than feed good quality oat straw to bulk them up.

I realise that this diet is 'old fashioned' and that the modern day nutritionists say that it is bad for horses, however, as it was all that horses were fed in the past, and the horses were far fitter, healthier, les colics, ulcers, hardly any sweet itch, fewer cases of tying up, fewer cases of fractures and bursting, far less cases of laminitis, it think the evidence speaks for itself, and I am confident that you will be delighted with the results, apart from the fact that it will save you a lot of money!!

 

[marlyclay]

Thanks for that chico that is a very interesting and informative reply.I shall be trying the soaked oats and i have always thought of bran to be a useful feed to add bulk.Just not too much due to the high phosphoros low calcium content .i shall definately be going back to basic straights for all my neds.

 

[ester]

coffee bean my sugar beet comes from the south west phenomenon that is mole valley farmers

. Its molasses as its whatever gets fed to the cows and sheep too.- its in a white bag with blue and red writing! it might be a bit more than that but goes a damn site further than speedibeet.

Frank only gets it when he is working hard but its fab for keeping weight on the anglo without sending her silly.

 

[Flibble]

Oh God I have my horse on WE at £12 for a 15kg bag that lasts 4 to 5 days. Its the only feed I have found that keeps his temperament nice he seems to go ballistic on everything else I tried.

 

[marlyclay]

Sorry Fibble if i am being thick,but what is WE?