Trying to simplify/reduce costs of my feed room...

Start by looking at the hay. There is not that big a price difference between Really good hay and really poor hay yet so many people feed poor hay.8 kg of poor hay (at say 7.5 MJ/kg ) compared with 8kg at 9.5 kg is equivalent to an extra energy intake of 16 MJ . Factor in the fact that horses eat by dry matter weight rather than energy content and you find that by simply giving good hay ,you get the benefit equivalent to a couple of KG of a competition mix or cube. Adding chaff to the ration merely reduces the overall energy content per kg back to that of the hay . Hay is an awful lot cheaper than hard feed. If you need to boost energy levels , feed a small amount of oats in as many small feeds as possible ,or feed the hay loose and sprinkle oats on it . This small amount of readily available carbohydrate boosts digestion in the earlier stages of the gut and increases the available energy out of proportion to the actual amount because it enhances the digestion of the hay.
 
Regarding ERS pellets, they are a specialist feed - they are VERY high energy (it's a racehorse feed!!) so can blow minds very easily IME, and They also contain higher than normal levels of selenium, vitamin e, chromium and other micro nutrients designed for horses with muscular problems like RER and EPSM - and that can have an impact on the hoof quality of horses who don't need the additional minerals. Try a non-heating conditioning feed like D&H stay power cubes or something that isn't designed for a medical condition!!!

I chatted to a D&H nutritionist who said that ERS pellets weren't even really suitable for my poor doing, EPSM TB in medium work over winter as they are designed to be equivalent to the rocket fuel most Tb racers get!! She encouraged me to change to stay power, and they were much better in terms of brain-blowing...

These days, I feed alfa a oil chaff, baileys stud balancer and keyflow key plus (an extruded rice bran supplement). He does ace on this, and I'm £60 a month from £30 a week on the ERS.
 
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Thanks again everyone. I think I am going to try cutting out the chop then as he won't eat the alfa a range so probably not much point feeding this? Or maybe try dried grass?
I will stick with a cube for now as horse 1 is really not a fan of beet feeds. Horse 1 I think I will try cubes (reduced amount to 1/2 scoop per day), micronised linseed (2 mugs a day), salt and pro hoof, split into 2 feeds and wet down and see how we get on. Horse 2 same without the pro hoof and I will look for a cheaper balancer to feed Horse 2 and 3. Horse 1 is on pro hoof as he has thin soles and can get sloppy poo if not fed some sort of pre/probiotic. He was fed topspec comprehensive balancer until early this year but his feet were worse then and at £37 a bag is now a very expensive option. I would change him to a good spec pellet balancer if I can find an appropriate one to feed all 3 as he is not a big fan of eating his powder pro hoof though he does finish it up.
I will look into keyflow key plus too :)
They all do really well on the haylage and when the grass is gone I will feed in the field during the day as well :)
 
Not sure if this will help but I use Countrywide brand conditioning cubes, pretty much the same as Spillers brand but less than half the price. I have no idea if it would be similar to Topspec but it's worth a look.
I also use their alfalfa chaff which is cheap and cheerful, plus they make lots of other types of cubes/chaff/mixes.

Sometimes you can find branded feeds without the packaging for a lot less money, you just have to look for it.
 
The_Dappled_One. said:
Not sure if this will help but I use Countrywide brand conditioning cubes, pretty much the same as Spillers brand but less than half the price. I have no idea if it would be similar to Topspec but it's worth a look.
I also use their alfalfa chaff which is cheap and cheerful, plus they make lots of other types of cubes/chaff/mixes.

Sometimes you can find branded feeds without the packaging for a lot less money, you just have to look for it.
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Thanks I am going to have a good nosey at whats stocked in my local feed shop and decide where to go from there x
 
BarneyTheChestnutOne said:
Thanks again everyone. I think I am going to try cutting out the chop then as he won't eat the alfa a range so probably not much point feeding this? Or maybe try dried grass?
I will stick with a cube for now as horse 1 is really not a fan of beet feeds. Horse 1 I think I will try cubes (reduced amount to 1/2 scoop per day), micronised linseed (2 mugs a day), salt and pro hoof, split into 2 feeds and wet down and see how we get on. Horse 2 same without the pro hoof and I will look for a cheaper balancer to feed Horse 2 and 3. Horse 1 is on pro hoof as he has thin soles and can get sloppy poo if not fed some sort of pre/probiotic. He was fed topspec comprehensive balancer until early this year but his feet were worse then and at £37 a bag is now a very expensive option. I would change him to a good spec pellet balancer if I can find an appropriate one to feed all 3 as he is not a big fan of eating his powder pro hoof though he does finish it up.
I will look into keyflow key plus too :)
They all do really well on the haylage and when the grass is gone I will feed in the field during the day as well :)
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So I went and had a nosey at my local feed shop. They didn't have much choice with regards to unbranded chop so am thinking I can either go the dried grass or speedibeet route?
Will then feed horse 2 and 3 with the above, lo cal balancer and 75ml scoop each of micronised linseed and salt.
For horse 2 I will feed 2 mugs linseed/ 1/2 scoop same cubes for now/ salt/pro hoof alongside whatever I try and go for from above, split x2 feeds ? I can then drop cubes if gaining too much weight or swap to oats/keyflow plus if still require extra calories.

With regards to balancer I am unsure If to swap horse 1 to lo cal too, or keep him on pro hoof? I am not sure if lo cal has the required vits/mins in it to keep his feet/gut in good condition as pro hoof currently does :\
 
If they need a bit extra energy/calories, you can always add oil. You can get veggie oil in big bottles and it's not very expensive. You can feed up to a cup of it a day as needed.
 
If you want really simple then start by looking at your forage and use a vits and mins supplement to complement it. A good quality supplement, like the ProHoof you are using may be expensive but will ensure that the horses are getting the right minerals and are likely to then be utilising the food they do get efficiently.
On top of that I would use just soaked grass nuts, linseed and perhaps oats if needed, in various quantities depending upon the horse (yes, even my good-doer natives get linseed and soaked grass nuts - just in very small quantities). None of these will mess up your minerals too much, you can change quantities depending upon work fairly quickly without the hassle of introducing new feedstuffs etc - oh and all these straights are reasonably priced. The other useful additive for most horses is plain old salt (from the supermarket at a few pence per kilo)
 
catkin said:
If you want really simple then start by looking at your forage and use a vits and mins supplement to complement it. A good quality supplement, like the ProHoof you are using may be expensive but will ensure that the horses are getting the right minerals and are likely to then be utilising the food they do get efficiently.
On top of that I would use just soaked grass nuts, linseed and perhaps oats if needed, in various quantities depending upon the horse (yes, even my good-doer natives get linseed and soaked grass nuts - just in very small quantities). None of these will mess up your minerals too much, you can change quantities depending upon work fairly quickly without the hassle of introducing new feedstuffs etc - oh and all these straights are reasonably priced. The other useful additive for most horses is plain old salt (from the supermarket at a few pence per kilo)
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Great thank you I think I will stick with the pro hoof for horse 1 at least and maybe drop the cubes for oats? I will have another visit to the feed shop soon and see if they stock these and grass nuts. Is dried grass similar to the nuts? As I have a fussy horse who may not eat the grass nuts soaked so was thinking of trying the dried grass instead?
They all get linseed and salt already x
 
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