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Veteran
Posts: 193
 
Location: TEXAS | I'm tired of every time I go to the feed store the price is always higher than before. I feed Patriot 12% pellett have for a long time its a great feed. But, I am considering other feeds. Purina feeds are not my first choice. Any other pelleted feeds out there comparable to Patriot? |
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 Midget Lover
   
Location: Kentucky | Just a few years ago TC Senior was $16 a bag, now it's almost $24 a bag. |
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  That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| It all political, everything is downstream from someone. |
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 I Chore in Chucks
Posts: 2882
Location: MD | id rather spend my money on more quality hay than grain. so glad I did. while my hay bill got larger, I only have a $120 grain bill now vs my 450ish bill, and my horses are looking a helluva lot better than when I was feeding so much grain! |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1066
| This is why we feed good hay, and they each get Beet Pulp with whole oats, flax, and mineral... it's more of a pain to soak and mix up, but they look as good as the horses on the super expensive pelleted feed, and we KNOW what they're getting. |
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 Forever Young
Posts: 6768
Location: relocated to Texas | I honestly don't know why people buy pelleted feed. Look at the ingredients in most of them and they are fillers. Also they can use whatever crap grain in the pelleted feeds and the buyer has no idea. I don't feed any processed feed. I mix oats, barley and corn, feed just 2 1/2 - 3 lbs twice a day and Dynamite minerals. That and good grass hay. My whole grains average about $13/bag and I can see the quality (Woody's brand is what I buy most of the time).
Edited to add: Just because it's expensive, doesn't mean it is a good feed.
Edited by Hollywood's Fan 2014-02-11 12:27 PM
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 Hog Tie My Mojo
Posts: 4847
Location: Opelousas, LA | Have you looked in to a local mill? The local mills usually will have fluctuating feed prices according to what they are paying for the bulk ingredients. The prices will go up sometimes, but they come down just as fast. Your big feed companies will go up, but they rarely come down much, plus you are having to pay to have the bagged feed shipped to the store.
We feed a mix that is a dry COB with alfalfa pellets and a basic vitamin mineral pellet added it is a 14/7. It runs around $13.25 a bag, down from $15.65 when we first started feeding it almost two years ago. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2276
Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | That's why we switched to the feed mill. All of mine have done excellent on it which I was worried. Except my older gelding and Hemi but they get alfalfa pellets. We were feeding expensive bagged feeds and it wasn't justifiable anymore so we went there. I pay $120 for 500 pounds and it lasts about a month. I used to spend at least double that. |
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Veteran
Posts: 177
Location: mn | Yes they have. The best thing I did for my horses was switch them to a forage diet and eliminate processed grains. I am not saving much monney as I am buying more in high quality hay, but it has been worth it. I was getting rather frustrated at the inconsistancy of feed I was getting, yet paying higher prices.
My gelding who I almost lost last summer due to an ulcer related issue is 17 this year, and after pulling him off grain he honeslty looks the best he's ever looked. I'm glad i'm not paying ridiculous grain prices anymore. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1094
Location: Idahome | Hollywood's Fan - 2014-02-11 11:26 AM I honestly don't know why people buy pelleted feed. Look at the ingredients in most of them and they are fillers. Also they can use whatever crap grain in the pelleted feeds and the buyer has no idea. I don't feed any processed feed. I mix oats, barley and corn, feed just 2 1/2 - 3 lbs twice a day and Dynamite minerals. That and good grass hay. My whole grains average about $13/bag and I can see the quality (Woody's brand is what I buy most of the time).
Edited to add: Just because it's expensive, doesn't mean it is a good feed.
100% agree! Horses were not made to digest the pellets either.
This another reason why I love whole oats. I buy from the local mill and they are clean, not dusty. Costs around $20 for 100 lbs. That usually lasts 2 months with four horses. |
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Red Hot Cardinal Fan
Posts: 4122
| Hollywood's Fan - 2014-02-11 12:26 PM I honestly don't know why people buy pelleted feed. Look at the ingredients in most of them and they are fillers. Also they can use whatever crap grain in the pelleted feeds and the buyer has no idea. I don't feed any processed feed. I mix oats, barley and corn, feed just 2 1/2 - 3 lbs twice a day and Dynamite minerals. That and good grass hay. My whole grains average about $13/bag and I can see the quality (Woody's brand is what I buy most of the time).
Edited to add: Just because it's expensive, doesn't mean it is a good feed.
I completely agree with this! |
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Fire Ant Peddler
Posts: 2881
| I feed Lonestar Super Glo 3 to all of my horses. It is made in Nacogdoches TX. It has been $13.50 a bag for a couple of years. !4% protein. My horses look great and perform at world champion levels. Actually I think it went down about a dime.
very good quality and consistent feed.
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Hungarian Midget Woman
Location: Midwest | For those of us that board, we are limited in our options due to space and convenience needs of the boarding stable.
I feed TC, but only having one horse, it is not a huge deal. I don't feed an extreme amount of it either. My horse looks and feels great. If I were on my own property, I might do things differently. We are working on that, lol |
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 I Don't Brag
Posts: 6960
| countrygirl2006 - 2014-02-11 1:01 PM
Hollywood's Fan - 2014-02-11 12:26 PM I honestly don't know why people buy pelleted feed. Look at the ingredients in most of them and they are fillers. Also they can use whatever crap grain in the pelleted feeds and the buyer has no idea. I don't feed any processed feed. I mix oats, barley and corn, feed just 2 1/2 - 3 lbs twice a day and Dynamite minerals. That and good grass hay. My whole grains average about $13/bag and I can see the quality (Woody's brand is what I buy most of the time).
Edited to add: Just because it's expensive, doesn't mean it is a good feed.
I completely agree with this!
I would have agreed with you until about 4 years ago, when my mare was suspected of having PSSM (this after years of trying to figure out WHAT was going on with her...inconsistent and vague to severe lamenesses with no apparent cause.
She cannot have anything with corn, oats or any kind of grain or we will both suffer the consequences. I switched her to a feed low in NSCarbs and she did so well I switched the whole herd to it (AMD's GroStrong Ultra Fiber). Even adding oil it costs me less than the sweet feed I was having mixed...even cheaper than Sam's Club sweet feed.
All my horses look great but keep in mind I feed 1st cutting alfalfa. An added bonus is if and when they break into the feed area to have a buffet meal, I no longer have to worry about founder in that circumstance.
In all reality horses were meant to graze for forage, NOT eat concentrated amounts of grain. There WERE no areas of concentrated grains in the wild. We humans have feed them because of the ease of storage and transportation. But I will not criticize anyone's feed program as long as their horses are healthy and in good weight.
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 More bootie than waist!
Posts: 18425
Location: Riding Crackhead. | rodeoveteran - 2014-02-11 1:13 PM countrygirl2006 - 2014-02-11 1:01 PM Hollywood's Fan - 2014-02-11 12:26 PM I honestly don't know why people buy pelleted feed. Look at the ingredients in most of them and they are fillers. Also they can use whatever crap grain in the pelleted feeds and the buyer has no idea. I don't feed any processed feed. I mix oats, barley and corn, feed just 2 1/2 - 3 lbs twice a day and Dynamite minerals. That and good grass hay. My whole grains average about $13/bag and I can see the quality (Woody's brand is what I buy most of the time).
Edited to add: Just because it's expensive, doesn't mean it is a good feed. I completely agree with this! I would have agreed with you until about 4 years ago, when my mare was suspected of having PSSM (this after years of trying to figure out WHAT was going on with her...inconsistent and vague to severe lamenesses with no apparent cause. She cannot have anything with corn, oats or any kind of grain or we will both suffer the consequences. I switched her to a feed low in NSCarbs and she did so well I switched the whole herd to it (AMD's GroStrong Ultra Fiber ). Even adding oil it costs me less than the sweet feed I was having mixed...even cheaper than Sam's Club sweet feed. All my horses look great but keep in mind I feed 1st cutting alfalfa. An added bonus is if and when they break into the feed area to have a buffet meal, I no longer have to worry about founder in that circumstance. In all reality horses were meant to graze for forage, NOT eat concentrated amounts of grain. There WERE no areas of concentrated grains in the wild. We humans have feed them because of the ease of storage and transportation. But I will not criticize anyone's feed program as long as their horses are healthy and in good weight.
I get plain oats in bulk. Sadly I have 1 horse that can't have it so I have to buy bagged feed for him. |
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I Really Love Jeans
Posts: 3173
Location: North Dakota | I remember when hay was $1.50 a bale in the pasture and oats was around $4.99 a bag!! But gas was also $0.99 a gallon when I was in college! Now hay is $12.50 a bale easy and most feeds are $22.00 a bag!!!!!! But I guess thats because gas is $3.50 a gallon now !!! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 393
| Tys-ol-lady - 2014-02-11 11:20 AM
This is why we feed good hay, and they each get Beet Pulp with whole oats, flax, and mineral... it's more of a pain to soak and mix up, but they look as good as the horses on the super expensive pelleted feed, and we KNOW what they're getting.
Where and how do you buy Flax? |
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 BHW Resident Surgeon
Posts: 25352
Location: Bastrop, Texas | I am overall pretty happy with the local elevator feed. It's mostly whole grains and it's fresh. $15 for an 85 lb bag. Over this past winter, the horses haven't been working or competing.....just ride easy when weather permits.
Because of that I have been sticking to only grass/alfalfa, and they look good. When I start getting them back in shape and working them, I will probably stick with the elevator feed. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1066
| SassyPirate - 2014-02-11 12:46 PM Tys-ol-lady - 2014-02-11 11:20 AM This is why we feed good hay, and they each get Beet Pulp with whole oats, flax, and mineral... it's more of a pain to soak and mix up, but they look as good as the horses on the super expensive pelleted feed, and we KNOW what they're getting. Where and how do you buy Flax?
We buy milled flax from our local feed store... I believe it comes in a 50 lb bag, and we feed 1/2 cup am&pm. It looks expensive at first glance (I think we pay $28/bag) but a bag lasts us a looong time.
Here is some info on the brand we're currently buying (because it's what's available to us): http://www.admani.com/canada/equine/equiglo.htm If you click on the FAQ at the bottom it gives you quite a bit of info
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 448
Location: lone star state | Many times local feed mills will let you buy in bulk and pay a locked in contract rate. Ask. Some even allow contract rates on bagged feed. This is not the time of year to contract your feed as prices are higher in winter months. But its certainly worth asking so you can plan to pay upfront this summer for what you will use next winter. |
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 Damn Yankee
Posts: 12390
Location: Somewhere between raising hell and Amazing Grace | I buy an MFA feed from the local MFA....WAY CHEAPER then any other brand I have ever purchased and I have to say I'm impressed with it so far. |
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My Heelers are Heroes
Posts: 4685
| Many years I also fed COB with first Dynamite and then Platinum Performance. Barley and clean oats is the hardest thing in the world to find here. Found oats a hour away. Found barley another hour the opposite direction for $20 a bag.
Due to work and cost that was no longer working for me.
My next choice was ADM. I fed the Power Glo for years and felt comfortable with it. Problem is this store sold and the new owner will not keep it ordered for me. I'm the only one dumb enough to pay $27 a bag. No store with in 100 miles of me keep the feed in stock. I don't want to special order because when they run out they are out until they can make a full order.
Since every horse here is over the age of 10 I just started feeding Equine SR to all. It's easily available and during this bitter cold everyone has been drinking really well. Which is something I always worry about. |
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 Night Watchman
Posts: 5516
Location: Central Montana | We also don't feed much for bagged feeds but do feed hay all year round. Our hay was up to $240/ton this past year. When we need 15-17 ton it adds up fast. I'm afraid soon I won't be able to afford to have a horse any more. |
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Industrial Srength Barrel Racer
Posts: 7268
| GEEZ - I JUST switched from the feed mill feed to pellet - guess I'm not in the "in" crowd - always a day late and a dollar short - BUT, the ADM feed I am feeding is cheaper than the feed mill feed. So far, I am happy with it. |
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 Ms. Potato Head
Posts: 9162
Location: BFE, Idaho | GoinJettin - 2014-02-11 8:57 PM We also don't feed much for bagged feeds but do feed hay all year round. Our hay was up to $240/ton this past year. When we need 15-17 ton it adds up fast. I'm afraid soon I won't be able to afford to have a horse any more.
I agree, around here it is the hay that is now killing me, good clean hay grass or alfalfa or a mix it does not seem to matter anymore. All run around $200 a ton.
I have two horses but my daughter is selling her mare, she is off to college I really do not have the money for two horses anymore (at least to do it the way I want to).
I Feed 3-way mix from mill for around $12 a 50lb. bag, only add a general vitamin mix around $14 a month. But it is only a nibble in the winter a bit more when he is working. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2258
| I am in Montana and I can tell you that our biggest issue with feed cost is shipping . It will cost 3-5 per bag to get it shipped here on a full semi . We have several local mills but they are running pretty close in cost to the name brand feeds. I can get bulk oats which I feed to most of the horses along with a good vit/min and a few other things for some of them. My old horse has to have senior in the winter . |
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I Need a Xanax!
Posts: 2774
| I don't know how people can afford to feed $16-$20 bags of grain to their horses especially when a lot of them go through that bag in 1 week! I feed mine really good free choice hay and DAC Oil mixed with their minerals and a cup of ground flax per day and mine look great. The worst my horses have ever looked was a few years ago when I was feeding them $18 grain and they went all kinds of crazy too! |
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 Roan Wonder
Location: SW MO | We had fed our foals feed that cost $18 a bag then it went up to $21 a bag & it was hard to get the feed store was always out of it, so we switched them to a mill mix our local feed store makes. I was really worried about it because they had done really good on the other feed. We added rice brand pellets to the mill mix and our weanling foals fat & slick
Here is a photo of them
 (foals2013120142.jpg)
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 foals2013120142.jpg (48KB - 292 downloads)
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BHW Resident Surgeon
Posts: 25352
Location: Bastrop, Texas | crossspur - 2014-02-12 10:57 AM We had fed our foals feed that cost $18 a bag then it went up to $21 a bag & it was hard to get the feed store was always out of it, so we switched them to a mill mix our local feed store makes. I was really worried about it because they had done really good on the other feed. We added rice brand pellets to the mill mix and our weanling foals fat & slick
Here is a photo of them
They look fat and happy! The buckskin is a looker! |
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Location: northeast | Tell me about it! Everything's gone up but my salary! I feed strategy with beet pulp and alfalfa pellets! Its ok i think he could look better!There are no feed mills near where I live! But, the racetrack is not far from where I work so I can get oats and stuff! Thinking about making my own mix! Probably sound silly,But hesitant on feeding oats because of starch content! Anyone have better feed ideas I'm all ears! |
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 Veteran
Posts: 292
Location: Northeast Nebraska | I can only get over to where I keep my filly once a day, so I can't be dumping 10 lbs. of grain on her. She gets grass hay free choice, and I give her a couple of flakes of alfalfa and 3 lbs. of Enrich Plus ration balancer. I have been putting 1 cup of canola oil on it. She has water and a salt block 24/7. She is doing fine. She will be 10 months next week. |
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Expert
Posts: 1695
Location: Willows, CA | This is where Renew Gold fits into your budget. If you feed four pounds of feed or more per day of conventional feed, RG at $30 to $35 per month per horse is usually less money at the end of the month. |
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