Feed experts- help cutting costs please

EquestrianFairy

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I need some help from all those feed experts that are on here:

I need to reduce my feed costs as they are the same as feeding myself and OH for a month!

Currently on:

Topspec balancer £36.00
TS cool conditioning cubes £16.00
Speedibeet
Coligone £50.00
TS calmer £25
Baileys outshine £40

This is per month as they are at the top rations due to being fed a very poor doer, I need to swap some of them but want to try and maintain the calories if I can.
It has to be a cereal-FREE diet and as low or minimal starch as possible.

Thoughts please?

The only feed company who has truly tried to help has been TS but the prices for me are just not a possibility anymore and I can't really see a huge difference when feeding a massive brand name to when I was feeding an own branded name.

Coligone can be changed as its fed as a probiotic so again, cheaper alternatives etc.

Thanks in advance!
 

MagicMelon

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I personally would cut out the Baileys Outshine as thats basically just oil so I'd simply replace it with oil, ideally soya oil (which I can get a petrol can filled up with at my local feed merchants) or just vegetable oil from the supermarket. Be a lot cheaper. Speedibeet I'd perhaps look at changing that to bog standard unmollassed sugar beet if your feed merchant does it. Its about half the price at mine (although I feed speedi-beet just because it soaks quicker). You can also get cheaper Balancers but depends if you think they look really well on it in particular. The conditioning cubes again could probably be cheaper with a different brand, think I pay about £13 for Baileys Conditioning Cubes. You've already said you've not noticed much difference with the calmer so I'd change to a cheaper one if you need one at all (not much point in feeding it if you dont notice a difference!). As you've said the coligone could be done cheaper, so have a look around - I dont feed one so cant suggest. But overall definately places you could save a bit ;)
 

kezimac

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Can i just say last winter cost me a fortune to feed my 7/8ths TB that is not a good do-er - this winter she is on Pure Easy and the last few weeks when its freezing has gone onto Pure Condition. She looks amazing!!!!!!!!!!!! - She actually needs to be cut down now as looks fantastic and is only 6kg less than her mid summer weight! -

It is cereal free, low starch low sugar no molasses - my horse cant have starch, cereal, sugar or alfalfa .- I simply now love pure feeds

They deliver - one bag lasts me 8 days so 4 bags a month and dont need to feed anyting else - It contains yea-sacc for guts and all vits and mins needed.

give them a call - i reckon you will feed a better feed and save a fortune! plus my horse has never looked so good - she has plently of energy for dressage and is still lovely and calm !!!
 

Nocturnal

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I'd swap the outshine for micronised linseed from charnwood milling. You could swap the coligone and TS balancer for yea-sacc and a mineral balancer. I think the TS cool condition cubes would be quite similar to a feed merchant's own brand cond cubes? Does the calmer work? If so, look at what mineral it's based on and buy that on its own, it'll be much cheaper!
 

Kat

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Switch your calmer to Equine America Magnitude - it is about £18 for a six month supply.

I have used normal supermarket sunflower oil to help with weight gain in the past.

Do you weigh your feed? If you work out the weight of each item per feed and the weight per bag you can work out the cost per day. I have just switched to pure feeds and although they aren't cheap as you only need one thing (it has a balancer, probiotic, pre-biotic and oil included) it can work out better than mixing lots of feeds. I worked out that my old feed cost almost as much, not including the magnitude and added oil.
 

zoon

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Buy the best quality haylage and feed ad lib 24/7. My little TB gets ad lib haylage and 2 feeds of sugarbeet with a vit/min supplement and 250g micronised linseed. And looks bloomin fantastic on it. Feed costs me very little as I use a handful of beet to mix the powders in so lasts me forever. Obviously I spend more on haylage, but still works out cheaper. And this is how horses were meant to eat - constant access to fibre.

Used to feed my old horse on vast amounts of hard feed to keep his weight on. Never really worked.

So swap -
Topspec balancer for a powder vit min supplement - I use Pro Hoof (but am not part of the barefoot taliban - my horse is shod, just happens that this balances my forage better than others!)
TS cool conditioning cubes - don't bother with these at all
Speedibeet - this is fairly cheap, but can swap for cheap beet pellets if you want to save a few £
Coligone for brewers yeast or yea sacc
TS calmer for plain magnesium oxide powder as this is the basis of most calmers and is very cheap. Or use pro hoof and it already has extra magnesium in it
Baileys outshine for micronised linseed - about £20 for a 20kg bag from charnwood millings and works better than the outshine or equijewel both of which I've used in past
 

thatsmygirl

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Alfa a oil, micro linseed, topspec conditioning cubes and pro hoof supplement. Job done. Drop all the rest. Could add yea sac if you wanted a probiotic.
 

martlin

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I need some help from all those feed experts that are on here:

I need to reduce my feed costs as they are the same as feeding myself and OH for a month!

Currently on:

Topspec balancer £36.00
TS cool conditioning cubes £16.00
Speedibeet
Coligone £50.00
TS calmer £25
Baileys outshine £40

This is per month as they are at the top rations due to being fed a very poor doer, I need to swap some of them but want to try and maintain the calories if I can.
It has to be a cereal-FREE diet and as low or minimal starch as possible.

Thoughts please?

The only feed company who has truly tried to help has been TS but the prices for me are just not a possibility anymore and I can't really see a huge difference when feeding a massive brand name to when I was feeding an own branded name.

Coligone can be changed as its fed as a probiotic so again, cheaper alternatives etc.

Thanks in advance!

Right, I cater for a similar diet requirements with:
Baileys Lo-cal balancer £25 (lasts 40 days)
D&H ERS Pellets at £11 per bag
Kwikbeet/speedibeet (lasts forever)
Magnitude £3 per month
Baileys outshine £37 (lasts about 6 weeks)
Equiform Nutrition Ration Plus £15/per month
 

Johnny999

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I'm no expert, but that sounds very complicated.
Change your beet to shreds or cubes - more planning required to soak but so much cheaper.
A good mansized squirt of oil in the beet will up the protein intake and improve the condition for pence.

What do you feed in the way of forage? Hay or haylage? Changing to haylage or mixing haylage and hay will give you extra nutrients easily for only a little extra.

With regard to the rest of the ration, what about Alpha A chaff? Or something like allen & page Sugar and Cereal Intolerance Diet at 12 quid a bag? If you need a bit more perhaps add a handful of micronised linseed.

Diets these days seem so complicated. I'm across 3 yards from show ponies to 3* eventers. Everything gets lots of forage, a squirt of oil, beet and little else. We have cushings, parrot mouths, poor doers, maize intolerance etc. Just keeping it simple seems to cope with most requirements.
 

diamondrockharvey

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Can you not just feed more hay/haylage and then a balancer to make sure he is getting his vits and mins?

Our TB is a very poor doer and in the past he has had all sorts of hard feeds etc
This winter he has lived out all winter (his 3rd winter out) on ad lib hay and Spillers Original balancer and he looks great! He has never wintered out so well!
 

Maesfen

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I'd cut the lot out as you're already doubling up on so many things and go onto ad-lib hay/haylage then add Suregrow balancer with some beet of some kind plus chaff if you like to feed it (although it's not necessary with SG). Suregrow is a normal balancer, has almost the same make up as TS or BC but at a fraction of the price; it's about £15 for 20kg so should last yours a fortnight (at 1.5kg a day for 500kg horse)
If you want you could add brewers yeast (about £9 for 1.5kg or £44 for 20 kg from Charnwood; as long as sealed tight it will keep about a year, I decant some into a tub to use daily then seal remainder up tightly again) which is a good digestive help, is brilliant for skin and hooves and can double as a calmer for some horses.
 

Waffles

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I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination but have had 4 horses who were all health - all different types (mad pony, ex racehorse TB, and 2 welsh cobs Section D). I've fed them all the same (in different quantities. This is what I feed now:

Half a scoop of cheap coolmix (about £6 - 7 per bag which lasts a couple of weeks)
Half a scoop of the ordinary molassed sugar beet (that's already soaked) - the bag lasts about 3 months and costs about £6 I think
Loads of hay
carrots
 

paddy555

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Buy the best quality haylage and feed ad lib 24/7. My little TB gets ad lib haylage and 2 feeds of sugarbeet with a vit/min supplement and 250g micronised linseed. And looks bloomin fantastic on it. Feed costs me very little as I use a handful of beet to mix the powders in so lasts me forever. Obviously I spend more on haylage, but still works out cheaper. And this is how horses were meant to eat - constant access to fibre.

Used to feed my old horse on vast amounts of hard feed to keep his weight on. Never really worked.

So swap -
Topspec balancer for a powder vit min supplement - I use Pro Hoof (but am not part of the barefoot taliban - my horse is shod, just happens that this balances my forage better than others!)
TS cool conditioning cubes - don't bother with these at all
Speedibeet - this is fairly cheap, but can swap for cheap beet pellets if you want to save a few £
Coligone for brewers yeast or yea sacc
TS calmer for plain magnesium oxide powder as this is the basis of most calmers and is very cheap. Or use pro hoof and it already has extra magnesium in it
Baileys outshine for micronised linseed - about £20 for a 20kg bag from charnwood millings and works better than the outshine or equijewel both of which I've used in past

I think I would be bankrupt using the diet OP uses. :D

I feed more or less as zoon except I use ad lib hay. I find ad lib hay and a good rug best for keeping weight on. I use equimins meta balance rather than pro hoof but they are pretty similar. I use washed sugar beet rather than speedibeet as I have a lot of horses so it is more cost effective. Magnesium can be purchased far more cheaply as either magox or calmag.
mine have: lots of hay, salt, micronised linseed, meta balance and calmag all mixed up sugar beet with a pound a day each of spillers hi fibre nuts and they all look great on it. Some a bit too great :rolleyes:
and it's an awful lot cheaper too. :D
 

EquestrianFairy

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Sorry for the late reply- re: forage..

Hayledge causes a bad tummy due to the sugars so it's hay only and ad lib hay is available when out and obviously then when in at night as well.
 

EquestrianFairy

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Oh.. And just to make it a little more complicated I cannot get any chaff in- its point blank refused and will be left in the bottom of the bucket or just refuse to eat any of the food that it's mixed with.
 

Foxhunter49

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Off course they recommend another of their products - money in their pocket!

Go to Equilibra and if more energy is needed then use the same company's Tiger Oats.
Even if your horse is in hard work and you are feeding all their products it works out at about £1.02 a day.

I have horses hunting hard and looking very well on the mentioned - very little feed by comparison to what companies will say they need.

Why feed the Coligone? Does he have a digestive problem? If not, forget it.
 

EquestrianFairy

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I cant feed oats :( has to be cereal free.
Yes coligone for digestion so i need an alternative, found settlex for £10 cheaper and lasts an additional 10 days.

Lots to read here: I guess i also need to decide whether i am going to go for a feed balancer or a powdered one?
Def going to switch to the non molassed beet as well.

*goes off to keep reading the thread*
 

sjp1

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Why don't you just keep it simple? Most horses do very well on grass. I feed my horse Simple Systems Blue Grass nuts (lower protein and DE as he doesn't need the extra energy!), and their Ruff Stuff (lower protein and DE chaff). He looks better on that than all the faddy cereals and balancers etc. that he had before. Low sugar, low protein and lots of fibre. And he only has hay as haylage I think would probably send him off his rocker. If you are worried about trace elements, I would feed a seaweed liquid balancer - have one but can't remember the name, to make sure he is having all he needs.
 

JessandCharlie

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I'd go with purefeeds, super stuff! Cereal free and high in calories, but doesn't hot them up :) I feed it with fast fibre, and I'd swap the speedibeet for fibrebeet if you can get it.

Fibre, fibre, a bit more fibre - best way to get weight on them. Fast fibre lasts forever and is dead cheap!

J&C
 

marmalade76

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Buy the best quality haylage and feed ad lib 24/7.

So swap -
Topspec balancer for a powder vit min supplement - I use Pro Hoof (but am not part of the barefoot taliban - my horse is shod, just happens that this balances my forage better than others!)
TS cool conditioning cubes - don't bother with these at all
Speedibeet - this is fairly cheap, but can swap for cheap beet pellets if you want to save a few £
Coligone for brewers yeast or yea sacc
TS calmer for plain magnesium oxide powder as this is the basis of most calmers and is very cheap. Or use pro hoof and it already has extra magnesium in it
Baileys outshine for micronised linseed - about £20 for a 20kg bag from charnwood millings and works better than the outshine or equijewel both of which I've used in past

I'd do that /\ /\
 
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