why do people buy...

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horsey mad matt

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why do people buy special brand horse feeds when there are cheaper alteratives?? (i'm not critisising i do the same) for example buying dengie hi-fi lite wrather than unmollassed chaff which is practically the same?? also another one is people buy hi-fibre nut at about £8-£9 where as livery pencils which are practicallly the same for £6??
 
I don't tend to buy the unbranded ones because I don't know what's in them... But it's silly, I'm sure it's all the same stuff.

*toddles off to browse the net for suppliers of cheap, generic unmolassed alfalfa, grass nuts and instant linseed*
 
I admit to being a brand name person... I convince myself that D&H is better quality.

Especially after reading an article about a lady who bought cheap food that was analysed and found to be mouldy.
 
BigRed said:
I admit to being a brand name person... I convince myself that D&H is better quality.

Especially after reading an article about a lady who bought cheap food that was analysed and found to be mouldy.
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Yep!!! I'm a total food snob. I'm really fussy and picky, and have got it into my head that the better quality the more expensive the 'safer' it is....
 
horsey mad matt said:
also another one is people buy hi-fibre nut at about £8-£9 where as livery pencils which are practicallly the same for £6??
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I buy Spiller's High Fibre Cubes for my Cushings veteran as it has a significantly lower starch content than own brand nuts, so much less likely to trigger laminitis in her.
 
TGM said:
I buy Spiller's High Fibre Cubes for my Cushings veteran as it has a significantly lower starch content than own brand nuts, so much less likely to trigger laminitis in her.
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ok for something like that it's not worth taking the risk but in other cases to save a few pounds i think it is :)
 
I think with the well-known brands it is much easier to find out information about the feed, as they tend to give the nutritional analysis on their websites. There was a case of someone on here who was feeding an 'own brand' conditioning cube to their horse and wondering why their horse wasn't putting on weight - it turned out the 'conditioning cube' actually only had a calorie content of 9 MJDE/kg, whereas most 'known brand' conditioning cubes are at least 12 MJDE/kg.

If you are relying on an 'own brand' compound feed to supply vitamins and minerals, then you need to check what rate you need to feed to supply the full dose of vit/mins. Some own brands have a lower rate of vit/mins supplementation, so you would have to feed more of the feed to get the whole dose. Another thing to note when comparing feeds, is that although some feeds may have similar ingredients, the proportions of those ingredients may be different, often the cheaper brand having a higher proportion of the cheaper ingredients, and less of the more expensive ones.

That said, there are some decent own brands around which are worth feeding if you are trying to keep costs down, but you do need to do your homework first!
 
TGM said:
I think with the well-known brands it is much easier to find out information about the feed, as they tend to give the nutritional analysis on their websites. There was a case of someone on here who was feeding an 'own brand' conditioning cube to their horse and wondering why their horse wasn't putting on weight - it turned out the 'conditioning cube' actually only had a calorie content of 9 MJDE/kg, whereas most 'known brand' conditioning cubes are at least 12 MJDE/kg.

If you are relying on an 'own brand' compound feed to supply vitamins and minerals, then you need to check what rate you need to feed to supply the full dose of vit/mins. Some own brands have a lower rate of vit/mins supplementation, so you would have to feed more of the feed to get the whole dose. Another thing to note when comparing feeds, is that although some feeds may have similar ingredients, the proportions of those ingredients may be different, often the cheaper brand having a higher proportion of the cheaper ingredients, and less of the more expensive ones.

That said, there are some decent own brands around which are worth feeding if you are trying to keep costs down, but you do need to do your homework first!
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sound bit of advice i know who to go to wanting feed advice!! agree with this!!
 
I can't comment on horsey foods but I had the worlds most fussy dog. I spent hundreds going through every brand of food at Pets at Home until she finally settled on the Pets @ Home own brand stuff. Same as the cat, turned her nose up at Whiskers and Felix and prefered Tesco's own brand.

My cupboards are full of Asda super saver tins, cost pennies and are delicious but I am a snob when it comes to toiletries and make-up! I can't understand myself so no chance of understanding why others do it too :D
 
On a horse that is not difficult to feed I have no problems with feeding non-branded feed, but I do make sure I know who manufactures them For instance my current horse is just fed 'easy cubes' they are made by D&H who were more than willing to run through the ingrediants when I telephoned them.

One thing to be aware of is that many unbranded/budget ranges are not guarenteed free of FEI substances. So for a comp horse that is likely to be tested you would probably want to avoid them just in case.
 
I don't know but I do the same, I suppose a well known brand gives you a sense of security. I remember visiting a margarine factory once (I''ll never forget the awful smell) and I watched as the line was stopped to allow the packaging to be changed from a well known brand to a store brand. It was exactly the same stuff but would be priced much more highly in the well known brand's containers >g<
 
Well the branded foods that we buy aren't available un-branded if that makes sense.

Also I tried cheapy Alfa once before and thought it was really sticky (un-mollased) and I was worrying about choke. I feel happier feeding branded products because you know they have a good reputation and I just feel happier about it.
 
The nutritional analysis is usually much easier to find and understand with the bigger brands, and I tend to 'trust' it more, as I'm sure there would be things online criticizing the brands if what they claimed wasn't true which I'd find when researching the food. As IHateWork mentioned, this can be vitally important with drug testing or health problems, I'm sure people have blamed FEI eliminations of foodstuffs before, but I don't know if anything was proven (off to google I go!). As well as this, they have plenty of info on their own websites or through feed hotlines, not just pushing their own feeds, I've had competitors suggested before as they thought it would suit my horse better.
Also, the bigger brands tend to be of a higher quality overall (just my experiences!) and if you do have a problem customer services can deal with it and will usually offer reimbursement or freebies. Some smaller firms, not just in horse feed I hasten to add, seem not to understand the importance of customer service or clearly publishing what's in their feed.

Also, he's a fussy little devil! :p
 
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BigRed said:
I admit to being a brand name person... I convince myself that D&H is better quality.

Especially after reading an article about a lady who bought cheap food that was analysed and found to be mouldy.
Click to expand...

I bought some mix made up by a local feed merchants. It was half the price of D&H, the horses ate it and did well off it. In winter I like to have a couple of bags in in case we are snowed in. When I opened the second one it was musty and not good. Had to throw it away! Now back on D&H!
 
When I first moved to my yard I was working out my boys rations (feed supplied by yard). They were feeding a own brand food and I couldn't find the analysis anywhere. I contacted the own brand company and they put me in contact with their supplier at a VERY LARGE feed company :D The own brand food is £5.50 a bag.

Sadly my boy needed to go onto Calm and Condition (no own brand version) this winter. But nearly all the other horses are on the own brand still (have been for years!)
 
brand as you know what is in it. They keep the same ingredients regardless of raw good cost price or supply. It's generally less dusty and the quality is assured.
 
Because the budget brand mix and nuts have a higher proportion of the cheaper ingredients which are not as nutritionally high.

Many of the budget mixes are made by the larger feed manufacturers and are what is left after they have made their 'real' mixes.

It is possible to save money on feed by buying a decent quality less well known brand, for instance Badminton's Classic and the Youngs Sweet Meadow ranges are both very economical at around £8 per bag for a cool mix as opposed to nearly £12 for D&H Pasture Mix. I pay £7.50 for Sweet Meadow Horse and Pony Nuts, nutritionally very similar to D&H Pasture Nuts which are about £10!
 
Most feeds I see in our feed shop are branded - there aren't that many un-branded ones out there are there? We do buy the shops own basic coarse mix for the ones we have who don't have any specific need for feed - they just get token feed. They seem to like it though and there is an ingredients label on it. I believe it is actually Badminton horse feed but it doesn't state that on the bag. Whatever happened to Badminton Feeds anyway - do they still exist??
 
I thought the same! I gave myself a big pat on the back for buying own brand meadow nuts for £5.95 compared to D&H fibre nuts at £7.90 and saving 2 pounds!

My horse was doing fine on them and had been on them for a few weeks untill this morning.. I still had 1/4 a sack left and was rummaging around getting handfuls out for his treat ball when I decided to actually *look* at the nuts and smell them... Ewww!! They stank and some were covered in green mould!! They went straight in the bin! So that £2 I saved I didn't actually save as I chucked lots away.

I'll stick with branded now, at least they last longer!
 
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