livery/feed/bedding cost comparisons?

[MitchyInge]

been a while since we had one of these, please cheer me up - just worked out feed costs for winter and in some ways would be better off on full livery with all feed included, but has been a long time since I worked out £ per pound costs

but unlimited great quality hay £5 a week makes up for a lot

so DIY grass weekly for me:

£25 per horse for field, hay, water, electricity
£23 feed pony
£35 feed horse (weeps)

large bale shavings £7.50, if put shelter up, no immediate risk of that

all seems very £££y for DIY, even with use of one normal sized outdoor school and a cross country course plus great hacking

Well the hay situation is good, but I can't see how you are spending that much on feed. I've got that right have I, you are saying that is for a week?????

Yeah, it's possible haven't worked out weight properly -everything has to be soaked so have worked out dry weight minus a third, or half, would rather overestimate.

Pony is on scoop each of calm and condition, fast fibre, bran and sugar beet twice a day. Horse on same but 'veteran vitality' and extra half scoop sugar beet, so not massive feeds. We have to (it is a New Law) buy feeds from yard, about 20p more per sack than retail but obviously benefit of not transporting them etc., hope have gone wildly wrong with calculations!

I've never used fast fibre so not sure exactly what you are using it for, but do they really need it if you can give unlimited hay and they can also pick at whatever is in the field? Same goes for the bran, and I'm not sure I'd want to be feeding that every day anyway as I've read that it affects the absorbtion of calcium. I can see you probably want to carry on with what they've been having but if you are looking to cut costs you might want to tweak things a bit? The hay is the main thing that will keep them happy and warm and you say you have plenty of that.

I'm interested in the veteran vitality though. I've just looked it up and it might be something my sister could try as her pony has shown signs of weight-loss for the first time this year (he's 21). He's picked up again now with some extra hay and speedy beet but it's worth bearing in mind.

I definitely do want to tweak feeds, but only moved to A&P feeds in recent weeks (before all this kicked off) so was thinking not ideal to make more changes - but obviously level and type of work will change (hurrah) as well as living out.

Think bran is much maligned, remember it coming up on exam and thinking 'but we have fed horses bran for centuries'!

nah mitchy - bran is just a filler - little feed value and affects Ca absorption - what's the fast fibre? a chop? seems a lot for hard feed tbh

Mitchy - we have fed bran for centuries, and bran disease was well known!

My mare is good doer thankfully, she exists on
adlib haylage (big round bales £30 each)I share these but prob use 1 a month
HiFi lite £10.50 a bag, atm using 1 every 3 weeks
Vit and Min supplement I buy a massive tub that lasts a year, cost about £100. Currently she has a sprinkle of coarse mix in with her feed to make it a bit more interesting as it was going spare on the yard but she doesn't really need it.

If she was losing any condition I would add unmollassed sugar beet and or ground linseed. In the summer I sometimes use Bailey LoCal to provide a few extra calories when she is working a bit harder.

In the winter she is out in the day, in at night and out full time the rest of the year.
She is 24.

Sorry should have also said DIY livery £20 per week regardless of living in or out.

Bedding, Liverpool Wood Pellets £2.30 a bag using 2 a week at the moment but should go down to just 1 when she is not in as much. I also have rubber mats.

Well I dropped bran straightaway anyway, and seriously wondering why we need fast fibre and sugar beet since they are pretty similar - beet is much cheaper but have never prepared it in such small quantities and it either freezes or goes off.

This is fast fibre, I just think of it as extra bulk and calories. Am pleased so far with the calm and condition and the veteran vitality but the feeds just seem so wet, feel like want to add loads of chaff or something.

Very interested to hear suggestions and ideas - their level and type of work has changed dramatically, but B is of course suddenly wintering out for the first time in years so don't know where to start with changes.

Oh forgot soya oil and cortaflex. Miss blue chip but am too poor and they seem ok without it.

you can prepare beet in small quantities - i mix molasses free beet with grass nuts, and soak enough for two feeds at a time. to try to stop it freezing i place the soaking bucket inside another bigger bucket, then give it a blanket of an empty feed sack - reasonably effective down to about -6/-7 not so much below that.
cortaflex is supraexpensive - i've stopped feeding it and not noticed any differnece but still fret as to whether i might be storing up problems.

Blue chip is unecessary unless your horse is seriously lacking in topline or needs to be in show condition. Use a basic vitamin and mineral supplement of you are not feeding the recommended levels of hard feed otherwise you don't need that either.

Wet feeds are good as they stop them bolting their food so are less likely to colic also at this time of year they often won't drink enough as the water is icy and cold so adding extra water to their feeds ensures they keep their fluid intake up. I would say fast fibre is more for older horses that have trouble chewing or for laminitics as it is low in calories. You might be better with a chaff like Dengie HiFi. Best thing to do is ring the helpline on the bag and they will tell you what to feed.
If you want more independent advice, try ringing TopSpec, they have their own range of feeds and balancers (like blue chip) but are very knowledgeable about other feeds and give great advice and send you useful fact sheets!

Something like equivite for vitamins? I have a tub somewhere but is probably out of date.

I might try topspec people then, oddly the allen and page man said we should use sugar beet instead of fast fibre (especially as 25kg only £7 from farmer) and this alone should help - I just need to get the hang of soaking small amounts.

Will try your antifreeze method loshad, although it gives me an excuse to add hot water from kettle and imagine they have something warm in their tummies.

Ours all just have Equilibra (feed balancer) and apple chaff (or sometimes herbal for variety!) and then in the winter we add fibrebeet or speedibeet depending on what's available. That's it apart from some apples/carrots etc (plus hay obv) and they all keep very well on it. We don't really spend much on hard feed at all, the most expensive thing is the Equilibra and they only get a cup each so it lasts ages.

Our beet is unfrozen atm because It's in a lidden bucket inside one of those hessian shopping bags that you get from Tesco (it had torn on the bottom, shame to waste it!), with hay stuffed in around and underneath it. Works a treat.