I did a cost breakdown of my horse expenses and was in complete shock of my totals. I must be out of my mind. Mr Retirement would be having heart palpitations all over the living room floor if he knew what the horses actually cost me to keep above the food costs.I would have to call an ambulance, put him in the hospital on lifei support machines, and then explain to my son why he was there. It would be ugly. So by the time I added in bedding, farrier, wormers, etc. my heart was beating out of my chest, my eyes became glazed, fixed and dilated, and there was this really bad vibration coming from inside my brain. My hands were shaking, my feet became numb, and my mouth became null and void. Thus, my feed experiment:
If anyone knows anything about the way I tend my horses, I spare no expense. They always have the top of the line food, super quality hay, salt, minerals, bedding, name brand de-wormers etc. and the list goes on. I do not cut corners. Like to save money, yes. But do cheap stuff, no. I feed Purina brand and pretty much always have when available and Purina is pricey. At times I have fed Nutrena which is also pricey and sometimes just straight oats with a vitamin.Heck oats aren't even cheap. I wanted to know why in heck I was forcing myself to pay $18.00 a bag. (Purina Strategy). Seems pretty stupid when I am feeding idle horses, no breeding, no showing, no nothing. And I feed it basically to get them to come into their stalls at night with their hay and in the am so they think they are getting something for breakfast besides my big cheerful smile. I know they really don't need food at all since the basis of my program is good forage. I also offer warm beet pulp in winter and cool beet pulp in summer. I'm running an all you can eat buffet in my tack room. I also realize I am paying a premium for a pretty feed bag, a purina website, and all their other propaganda that goes with their food sales. A "lesser" company is going to have a less fancy dancy feed bag or a brown sack. But I HAD to know if feeding "cheap" was going to compromise them in any way. Would it matter?
I left most of the horses on Purina Strategy. Two horses on straight oats ($14.95) and two horses on Tractor Supply Dumor cheap junk food. The Dumor is actually Purina's economy line. I didn't feed the "all stock" which is also for goats and cows, but I bought the cheapest designated horse food they had at $10.95. I was looking at the basic ingredients and as far as oats go, what in the world can someone do to mess up an oat?So guess what the results are? Everyone still looks fine. The ones on oats and the ones on the cheap junk are fine, feeling good, coats good, can't complain and nobody died. Most of all, the weight on all of them has remained the same. More calories, less calories, no change in weight whatsoever. Fancy that.
I took into consideration about recalls and junk found in horse feeds as well, but there have been reports of nasty stuff found in many mills in many companies so that didn't sway me at all. We do have a Farmers Co-op here that is just plain rat infested and dirty and disgusting so that place was never in the running. I won't buy their product.
My conclusion is that I don't feed enough food to accomplish any of them getting the necessary guaranteed analysis of the food in the first place to matter. According to the directions on the back of the bags, I'd have to be feeding one horse approximately some 8 pounds a day of any of it to matter, but I've known that for years.
My secondary conclusion is that feeding "quality" is a problem within my brain. I've never fed cheap before and it bothers me and makes me feel guilty. That's my mother's fault for raising me like that. But to put it in another perspective, we don't exactly dine on filet mignon either, and eat a lot of spagetti and burgers. If Mr Retirement and I can eat cheap, why can't they?
The only exception is my 33 year old Quarter Horse. He has lived and thrived on oats and a vitamin most of his life. He was shown usually twice a month in usually 6 or so performance classes and a couple of halter classes per show for years. He has been on Purina Senior now for a good many years and looks amazing and for that reason, I will not tamper with his recipe no way no how at this stage of the game. And he does require a huge amount of food which is like a mortage payment but he will remain on Purina Equine Sr forever. If it ain't broke, I won't fix it. .
But as for the miniatures, if I can convince myself that its ok to feed cheaper to cut a cost, I should be able to do it and sleep at night knowing no harm is being done. I did the math and the savings would be significant. Will I go for the savings and feed cheaper to save money remains to be seen.
If anyone knows anything about the way I tend my horses, I spare no expense. They always have the top of the line food, super quality hay, salt, minerals, bedding, name brand de-wormers etc. and the list goes on. I do not cut corners. Like to save money, yes. But do cheap stuff, no. I feed Purina brand and pretty much always have when available and Purina is pricey. At times I have fed Nutrena which is also pricey and sometimes just straight oats with a vitamin.Heck oats aren't even cheap. I wanted to know why in heck I was forcing myself to pay $18.00 a bag. (Purina Strategy). Seems pretty stupid when I am feeding idle horses, no breeding, no showing, no nothing. And I feed it basically to get them to come into their stalls at night with their hay and in the am so they think they are getting something for breakfast besides my big cheerful smile. I know they really don't need food at all since the basis of my program is good forage. I also offer warm beet pulp in winter and cool beet pulp in summer. I'm running an all you can eat buffet in my tack room. I also realize I am paying a premium for a pretty feed bag, a purina website, and all their other propaganda that goes with their food sales. A "lesser" company is going to have a less fancy dancy feed bag or a brown sack. But I HAD to know if feeding "cheap" was going to compromise them in any way. Would it matter?
I left most of the horses on Purina Strategy. Two horses on straight oats ($14.95) and two horses on Tractor Supply Dumor cheap junk food. The Dumor is actually Purina's economy line. I didn't feed the "all stock" which is also for goats and cows, but I bought the cheapest designated horse food they had at $10.95. I was looking at the basic ingredients and as far as oats go, what in the world can someone do to mess up an oat?So guess what the results are? Everyone still looks fine. The ones on oats and the ones on the cheap junk are fine, feeling good, coats good, can't complain and nobody died. Most of all, the weight on all of them has remained the same. More calories, less calories, no change in weight whatsoever. Fancy that.
I took into consideration about recalls and junk found in horse feeds as well, but there have been reports of nasty stuff found in many mills in many companies so that didn't sway me at all. We do have a Farmers Co-op here that is just plain rat infested and dirty and disgusting so that place was never in the running. I won't buy their product.
My conclusion is that I don't feed enough food to accomplish any of them getting the necessary guaranteed analysis of the food in the first place to matter. According to the directions on the back of the bags, I'd have to be feeding one horse approximately some 8 pounds a day of any of it to matter, but I've known that for years.
My secondary conclusion is that feeding "quality" is a problem within my brain. I've never fed cheap before and it bothers me and makes me feel guilty. That's my mother's fault for raising me like that. But to put it in another perspective, we don't exactly dine on filet mignon either, and eat a lot of spagetti and burgers. If Mr Retirement and I can eat cheap, why can't they?
The only exception is my 33 year old Quarter Horse. He has lived and thrived on oats and a vitamin most of his life. He was shown usually twice a month in usually 6 or so performance classes and a couple of halter classes per show for years. He has been on Purina Senior now for a good many years and looks amazing and for that reason, I will not tamper with his recipe no way no how at this stage of the game. And he does require a huge amount of food which is like a mortage payment but he will remain on Purina Equine Sr forever. If it ain't broke, I won't fix it. .
But as for the miniatures, if I can convince myself that its ok to feed cheaper to cut a cost, I should be able to do it and sleep at night knowing no harm is being done. I did the math and the savings would be significant. Will I go for the savings and feed cheaper to save money remains to be seen.
