Economy mixes versus "posh" feeds

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Patches

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I ran out of horse feed Thursday night.

As I can't drive, due to imbalance issues, there was no way Duncan was going to find the time for a trip to the big merchants.

In our local village there is a hardware shop that sells a very small amount of horse feed. We called in there to see what they had, after dropping the kids off at school.

Got my Hi-fi lite for Patches and Oliver and happy hoof for Dinker and Tweenie no problem. However, I always buy Bailey's Lo-Cal Balancer (No 14). They didn't have any of that, but did have Bailey's Economy Mix.

Duncan bought some of that. How good are these mixes or are they awful to feed? Never looked at them before as I always fed Top Spec Balancer and later changed to the Bailey's Lo-Cal.

I gave Patches and Oliver a small amount each last night (about half a mug) and they ate it more keenly than any pelleted feed I've ever fed.

I just couldn't believe how cheap it was. The Hi-fi, Happy Hoof and Economy Mix came to less than a bag of Bailey's Lo-Cal.
 
I used to feed Bailey's Economy Cubes and there is nothing wrong with them for the bog standard horse or pony. The Economy Cubes do contain some wheat though, whilst the Mix contains barley, wheat and maize so may not be best choice for a cereal intolerant horse or a laminitic.

It is difficult to compare it with the Lo Cal balancer though, as they are totally different types of feed. To get the full amount of vit/mins from the Economy Mix you would have to feed the amount recommended on the bag, which is usually much more than you would feed a good doer. So if you were worried about vit/min levels then you would have to feed a vit/min supplement or balancer alongside it.

The Lo Cal has a high concentration of vit/mins in a small quantity of feed, so it means that you can ensure they get all their nutrients without feeding lots of calories.

Edited to add - I wouldn't feed any of the mix to Oliver if he is in work, the cereals could possibly make him a bit full of himself!
 
I think they must have charged you wrong! My Hi Fi is usually £8.25 and I have been charged £6.00 per bag for Baileys Economy cubes.
I usually have D & H Hi Fibre cubes but do have the Baileys economy ones if the D & H not in stock. if you compare the technical stuff, they seem the same. They horse eat them fine anyway.
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In my opinion as long as there is good and sufficient forage then most horses cope just fine without feed - obviously this isn't always that simple!!

I feed my tb the feed merchants own mixes which costs about 1/2 what the normal mixes cost so I'd consider it an "ecconomy mix" and I have always had a happy, healthy, shiney horse. I've never fed a "supplement" or "balancer" - my horse gets sea salt after heavy exercise and garlic for the flies and thats it!

I think the important thing is to know what is in the feed and to know what that means - you need to understand why the different components are fed etc. It is also important to trust your own eye and judgement - if the horse looks happy and healthy in is the correct weight then thats usually a good indicator that you're feeding the right thing
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I bought the Bailey's Economy Mix, Hi-fi Lite and a bag of happy hoof for £22.97.

I'm sure the Bailey's Lo Cal is more than that. I was quite surprised that was all it was. He did say the Economy mix was £7+ and the Happy Hoof was £8+
 
I think most people don't realise that there isn't a huge difference between most feeds.

I started feeding Countrywide's Maintenance Nuts (£4 per 20kg bag) after I found out a top dressage yard fed all of their horses them! I'm talking grand prix horses here. Then if a horse needs a little extra they add a mug full of Countrywide's Comp mix!

It's like everything else, it's all to do with marketing and making everyone *think* that a feed is better when it's not.
 
I use the feed from my local mill and find it is less than half price compared to branded names and the ingredients are nigh on the same, horses love it and they all thrive on it so if your horses, are doing well on it why not save a few pennies
 
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I think the important thing is to know what is in the feed and to know what that means - you need to understand why the different components are fed etc.

[/ QUOTE ] That's a very important point! When comparing feeds check the ingredients list and also the analysis of how much protein, energy etc they contain so if you know whether you are comparing like for like. For example if Feed A states it supplies 9 MJDE/kg and Feed B contains 10 MDE/kg and they both cost the same, then Feed B is more cost-effective in terms of calories fed, because you will have to feed more of Feed A to get the same amount of calories into the horse.
 
I used to feed the economy cubes, and as far as I could figure out the ingredients were very similar to other standard pony nuts. Its just the word "economy" that puts me off!
 
Me too!

I've only bought it because there wasn't much option with not being allowed to drive at the moment. I always associate economy with tight fisted or even being poor. I think that by giving them a better brand it must mean I love them more!
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Maybe it just means I have more money than sense though?
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Ooohhhhh must reply to this one!!

When I got my horse he was on Baileys No.2 and No.8 and Hi-Fi. No2 is basically cubes and No8 mix. I went to my feed merchant last year and she, out of interest asked me why I fed these, I said well he looks good on it and it's what he was on when I got him. She said I may want to consider their own brand as it was made by Baileys! It comes in a plain white bag with Economy mix or Economy cubes on the packaging and that's it!

Well being the sceptic that I am i kept 2 Baileys bags and ordered 2 of the cheap ones, 2 cheap worked out the same as 1 bag of Baileys mix! I looked at the ingredients list and it was almost exactly the same except for one ingredient that was 0.02% difference (can't remember now which one)

OK so my horse is what you'd call a good doer but I haven't noticed any difference in his health or outlook since changing and it's saved me a fortune! I have recently changed his feed slightly taking out the mix at the moment as he's not doing much work and can get spooky in the winter, he has a glossy coat (poss due to the brewers yeast, although he looked good before I used that) and is a good weight for his size.

Only thing I would say about the Baileys No8 is it smells fantastic, and from a human point of view i wouldn't mind it for breakfast!!
 
Well I am usually the stingey type who normally buys whats on special offer!

However last timne I tried to feed Countrywides own nuts, I kept getting big chunks / boulders of stuck together fousty smelling nuts. Then their own brand mix (herbal / competition and light) are all very heavy on dust and light on whole ingredients.

So I started to pay extra for D&H as generally there was only around 50p in it and the D&H mixes look nicer and there is less dust in both them and the nuts.

However seeing as all the bags have been hiked by £2 I am going to have to reconsider. Think next point of call is Henry Cole and Castle brand feeds.

I know looks aren't everything, but if you are going on content, you should always by nuts and even then you are not entirely sure what is making up the ingredient list!
 
It really depends what you were originally feeding the Lo Cal for - if you were doing it to ensure they get their daily supply of vitamins and minerals, then if you feed the same amount of Economy Mix instead it won't supply the full daily amount.

Another reason for feeding a balancer is to up the protein content of the entire ration. Balancers were originally devised to be fed alongside hay, which can sometimes be low in protein. Traditionally cereals were fed alongside the hay to boost the protein levels (especially in the case of youngsters and broodmares). Balancers were formulated to be concentrated in protein and vit/mins so you could feed a small portion which made up for the deficit in the hay.

Personally, I feel if you feed good quality haylage or the horses are on good grazing you probably don't need the protein component of a balancer. If you still want the vit/mins but without the protein, then you can feed a broad spectrum vit/min supplement like Equivite Original, Top Spec Comprehensive or Benevit, which would work out cheaper than a balancer.

But if you are happy that they are receiving all the nutrients they need from their forage and grazing, and you purely feed the Lo Cal as a token feed to mix supplements with, then swapping it for Economy Mix isn't going to make much difference to their general health and condition.

However, I must stress that you are not comparing like with like - they are different feeds designed to be fed in different ways. The Lo Cal is a highly concentrated feed designed to be fed in small amounts, whereas the nutrients in the Economy Mix are less concentrated and it is really designed to be fed in larger amounts. Although many of the ingredients are the same, in the Lo Cal the amounts of some ingredients are far greater (such as the vit/mins) which is why it is significantly more expensive.
 
Thanks for the comprehensive reply TGM.

Horses are fed haylage ad-lib and have access to lush grazing. I don't feed haylage in the field because they won't eat it, preferring to eat the grass. I guess we're lucky here, having all these acres. It might be muddy, but their fields are very green apart from in the gateways.

I feed it more as a token gesture and to top up their vitamins/minerals with them being good do-ers. I'm tempted to go back to the Lo-cal balancer but have been surprised at how they seem to find the mix really palatable and are eating it far more keenly than they do their pellets.

It's a quandary. I don't like change, hence why they've had the Lo-cal for sooooo long.
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One alternative is to carry on with the mix, but if you want to be sure they get all their vit/mins you could feed a broad spectrum vit/min supplement alongside (because small quantities of the mix won't supply the full amount).

Do be aware, though, that there is barley, wheat and maize in the mix - probably won't be a problem in the small amounts you are feeding, but it could cause over-exuberant behaviour in susceptible animals.
 
I used to feed Baileys economy nuts but switched to another brand only because my local feed store were a pain when they had to order it in. She did really well on them. She was on Baileys economy mix for a while too but it made her a bit hyper so I changed it for meadow sweet.

I don't think there's much difference between economy ranges and more expensive ones tbh apart from money tho with the feed prices going up as they are I'm not sure the difference is all that big now.
 
With the economy mixes they usually not be tested for theobromine/caffeine etc so not suitable for competeing under FEI/BSJA/ Jockey club rules etc (you usually find it in the small print)
 
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With the economy mixes they usually not be tested for theobromine/caffeine etc so not suitable for competeing under FEI/BSJA/ Jockey club rules etc (you usually find it in the small print)

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Even a branded one liked Baileys?

(Not that I compete anyway)
 
My local feed merchant has own brand feeds, they look, smell wonderfull, fraction of price, am not very impressed with countrywide mix, always think it looks like sweepings of the floor.
 
Baileys supply our yard for us, so we were lucky enough to be able to benefit from a nutrientist. We had this conversation with them.

Basically, it comes down to the nutrients... the economy mix lacks many of the oils and minerals etc etc that are stuffed into the more expensive stuff. For this reason, all the competition horses are on the latter stuff, and the rest have the economy.
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In response to your later question, all Baileys feed is made within FEI regulations.
 
Wonder if that's why the Economy Mix is now called Economy Mix Plus. It has some added oil in it now.

Patches loves the stuff. Goes mad as soon as I take the lid off the feed bin...something she's never done before. I'm sure the novelty will wear off though.
 
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One alternative is to carry on with the mix, but if you want to be sure they get all their vit/mins you could feed a broad spectrum vit/min supplement alongside (because small quantities of the mix won't supply the full amount).

Do be aware, though, that there is barley, wheat and maize in the mix - probably won't be a problem in the small amounts you are feeding, but it could cause over-exuberant behaviour in susceptible animals.

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Just had a thought.

Last year Patches went through a stage of being rather "dull". After a chat with the vet, it was decided to put her on Red Cell as she didn't need the extra calories from feed....just a bit of oomph. When I tried to give her more sparkle through feed, she just got fat. Poor love is a terribly good do-er.

Sooo, does she still need a broad spectrum Vit/min supplement whilst on that? I wouldn't want to overload her system with iron etc when she's on the Red Cell already.
 
No - you shouldn't feed either a balancer or a vit/min alongside the Red Cell because you could be doubling up on vit/mins, which at best is wasting money! So keeping her on a small amount of the mix alongside the Red Cell could be a good solution long term.
 
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No - you shouldn't feed either a balancer or a vit/min alongside the Red Cell because you could be doubling up on vit/mins, which at best is wasting money! So keeping her on a small amount of the mix alongside the Red Cell could be a good solution long term.

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Excellent! I did think that, but had completely forgotten to mention she was on it.
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The thing with "cheaper" brands is that whilst levels of vits and mins might compare, they may not be of the same quality of those that are found in better quality brands or feeds for harder work. Poor quality vits and mins aren't as available to the horse as good ones so are simply passed through by the horse. At lower levels of work, this may not matter but when higher demands are placed on a horse, this is when a fully balanced diet with good quality nutrients can make a difference. You also can't rely on the ingredients in cheaper brands being cooked as well as in better brands.
 
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