Price of feed :eek:

I spend about £90 every 3 weeks to feed 3 large hunters. They get fed twice a day and have adlib hay. I use Charnwoods own feeds; just nuts and oats with chopped oat straw and Alfa A.
 
I'm glad I've got a good do-er!

A bag of Dengie Good Doer last us a few months, and a bag of Baileys Lo-Cal lasts around six weeks. The Lo-Cal doesn't seem to have gone up in price for the last couple of years, I still get a few pence change out of £25.
 
My feed bill is ridiculous! But I do have a lot to feed! At the mo the prices are as follows:

Hi-Fi Original (for the natives) - £10.95
Alfa A Original (tb's) - £12.50
Flaked Barley (natives) - £10.50 (own brand too!)
Bailey's No. 4 (tb's) - £12.95
D&H Mare & Youngstock Mix - £13.49 (luckily only 1 yearling on 1/2scoop a day!)
Speedibeat - £11.50
 
i would try and find a different supplier OP- is there no where else in driving distance. i was going to scats, as it is nearest me and the supermarket i use, but found agricultural store not that far away (fronteir) which was barely advertised so never realized it was there! if i buy 10 bags it is wholesale cost of about 10%, about £1 off a bag. i am also feeding straits, which are cheaper and my guys are keeping their weight on far better than they used to on concentrates. i used to spend a fortune on conditioning cubes which didn't work. i agree on ad-lib forage, when in mine never run out of hay, but find they do need hard feed in the winter or they drop off too much. i switched from speedi beet (£11) to trident equibeet £5.50 wholesale, just has to soak for longer. oats which are really cheap, micronised linseed (which you don't need that much to keep weight on) and i now feed alfalfa pellets, as only need a small amount.
chaff slows them down,but it just chopped straw and sugar!- i would rather mix in my own hay and chopped up straw- much cheaper!
 
It's interesting reading what people feed and pay for their feed.
I work in my local feed/equestrian shop and believe it or not there is little profit on feed, and so many people double up and waste money on different feeds. My advise is always fibre first but owners love to feed their loved ones. Feeding is a nightmare out there for owners but more would do better with going back to basics
 
And out of interest the healthy tummy where I work has been on offer since the product was lunched and is on running until the foreseeable.
 
Our local guys deliver and are pretty reasonable
Speedibeet - 10.95
Conditioning cubes - 9.20
Ossi Chaff - £8
Cool mix £7.20

Obviously you can pay a lot more if you go to the fancy tack shop but if you shop around prices are OK
 
Unfortunately no one else in the area, by the time I drive to them I'd probably be spending the same on fuel!

My boy has a very fibre based diet. I spent the last year doing lots of research into feeds as unfortunately he came down with laminitis for the first time last year so I do a lot of research and comparing before buying.

As a winter regime, Basically as it should, his main bulk is hay , and he also gets turnout daily for 6hours albeit more to stretch his legs as field only has a few sprouts of grass! As a hard feed, breakfast and dinner, he gets his unmollassed chaff and a small measure of high fibre cubes in a toy to play with . For winter only he gets a small scoop of soaked speedi beet which I have since changed to fast fibre as sugar seems to be half of what it is in speedi beet and fibre is double. Fast fibre seemed to be surprisingly the cheapest at £10!
 
Pamfyson said:
Feed is a ghastly price. I have made considerable savings by shopping online. also we make our own chaff with a modified garden shredder. This has saved us pounds. For example a slice of hay shredded makes enough chaff for two horses for a week. Quite a saving for a bit of effort. Grass nuts cheaper online than locally. Straights are the way to go I think.
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I was wondering about making my own chaff. How did you modify the garden shredder/what make/more details please!
 
martlin said:
Many people just don't feed enough forage, then they end up buying more and more bucket feed and spending fortune. There is no need to feed expensively, providing that we feed them smart :)
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Dunno, but even when I was riding loads, I didn't feed tons, he was never in even 'medium' work according to the feeding guidelines. I'm amazed at some people I know who feed as though their horse were out hunting daily! Bonkers!

My advice-get a cob who's a fab good doer!
 
I think to be fair, if you were a novice as such , some of the feeding guidelines are ridiculous. If I went by the heights and weights on the back of a feed bag I'd probably have a rather obese horse pooing it onto the muck heap and a rather empty bank account !

For example, I know of someone who feeds her horses ad lib hay, and expects three feeds per day each consisting of one large Stubbs scoop chaff, one large Stubbs scoop competition mix and a large Stubbs scoop of some other mix...... Crazy.
 
I had to cut what my two get right back to the bare minimum and give extra hay, as it's just SO expensive.

The Arab is hacked for just over an hour five days a week, with a schooling session one day and one day off.
The Shetland is either walked out in hand for an hour (with or without my son on board!) or lunged in the school, she too works around 6 days a week. Where I live is very hilly so they get good exercise.

I'm pleased to report they haven't wasted away to nothing and are not poor, starving souls :)

Roll on the grass growing and I can take their bucket feeds away completely!
 
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Pamfyson said:
Fm also we make our own chaff with a modified garden shredder. This has saved us pounds. For example a slice of hay shredded makes enough chaff for two horses for a week. Quite a saving for a bit of effort..
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Ooooo, how? !

I read this and think how lucky I am. My lots live out 24/7 with a bale of good quality haylege in front of them. They get a handful of chopped oat straw and speedibeet with their hoof supplement. The chaff is £10 a bag and lasts lasts months, the speedibeet about the same and it's lasted so long it's now out of date. That included my large IDXTB. I occasionally think that it'd be nice to feed them taste stuff from pretty coloured bags, then I look at the price.
 
Do you have more than your welshie youngster C&M?

Frank would probably maintain condition on hay but is in medium work and is generally a more pleasant ride with oats :p and I feel it only fair to provide sufficient energy for the work I am asking for him.
 
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