Who feeds blue bonnet and anyone us BOSS, black oil sunflower seeds

I fed BOSS for a while,  but didn't notice a change.

Blue Bonnet is a good brand of feed. But so are a lot of others. Everything has gotten so expensive, my pasture ornaments are getting their "RFS" (I think that's what it's called) All Stock.  It's $11.50 a bag.  Blue Bonnet doesn't make any medicated feeds in their mills, so I'm comfortable feeding it. 

Love Bluebonnet feed. I'm just sorry I didn't start feeding it sooner. You feed less of it. My horses look wonderful. One of my mares is 26 & my vet was amazed with how well she looks. As far as feeding the seeds, I won't feed my horses bird seed. If you want a shiny coat, Oxygen has a great oil. Moms Oil 

Bluebonnet is a good feed company. There are a few of their feeds that I didn't really care for but for the most part I think they are good. On the expensive side, but that's  pretty much across the board lately. They have an economy feed called Energized.. well, it use to be anyway. Hadn't priced it lately but back when I fed to a horse that was at the trainers it was under $13 a bag. I'm sure it's gone up since then. But it's still cheaper than the intensify line by at least $10 I'm sure. 

I fed boss many many years ago. When I switched to my current feed program I tried sunflower hearts and chips instead. I really like the result. Everyone has dapples year round and their coats are super soft, slick and shiney. Since I feed mostly alfalfa hay I like that they are high in phosphorus. 

Blue Bonnet is one of the few "safe mill" companies out there. I don't know if all their formulas are fixed, but believe that, at least, the high end ones are. With prices going up due to both ingredient and freight / fuel pricing it is tempting to move to a lower cost feed. Here at Renew Gold we have felt the price hit like everyone else. We are one of the few "fixed formulation" manufacturers, and only make our products in a medication free "safe mill".  We do not change out ingredients to vague, low cost filler ingredient substitutes when ingredient prices change.  If your feed has not gone up in price in the last six months, that is the only way that a price point can be kept in the current ingredient market.  I know we lose some customers to lower cost feed, but, most of those horse owners look at the price on the bag and not what it costs per month to feed their horse. Many low cost, "least cost formulated" feeds require much higher feed rates and end up costing as much or more per month per horse while supplying very little quality nutrition per pound. What you end up getting may be lower cost per bag, but you also get lower quality per bag, a least cost formulated different product in that same bag every time you buy, and a high percentage of worthless and nameless fillers. It costs more per bag to purchase the highest quality products, because there is no cheap way to make it if it is a fully functional fixed formula with no cheap worthless fillers. The lower feed rate of a "fixed formula" offsets the higher cost, and you actually get what you pay for. 

How can you tell if your feed is "fixed formulated" or "least cost formulated"? The easiest way is look at the bag. A "fixed formulation" feed will have the ingredients list printed directly on the bag itself because they never change. A "least cost formula" will have an attached tag on the bag that can be printed differently with every production run because the ingredients have changed.

Know what you are buying.Your horse will thank you.

Every bluebonnet bag from the higher end intensify line down to the lower end economy feeds all have tags attached to the bag. I've never seen any ingredients list or guaranteed analysis printed directly on bluebonnet bags. So I'm not sure where that leaves them as fixed/locked formulas. Purina claims they offer constant nutrition versus fixed formulas. 

Constant Nutrition, another term for changing the formulation from one run to another. The may hit the same protein and fat numbers, but I have a hard time believing that this is not just "least cost formulating".. I have heard that this is because they can not get consistant quality ingredients so they use others. Any way you look at this, it means that the formula is different from one production lot to another. That is why the feed looks and smells so different while the outside bag does not change. Nice try.

Constant nutrition probably is bit more marketable than least cost. Lol

You can add chicken feathers or pig hair to increase protein to match label guarantees. That would be shown as protein by-products on the label, and you would never know. That will not benefit a proper horse diet. I am not saying Purina uses those ingredients. My point is that every time the formula changes you are feeding a different feed, even if the packaging that it comes in looks the same. This practice has become common for most feed brands.  Ingredient labels that identify those ingredients with vague discriptions make it easier to substitute  Horses thrive on quality and consistency in their diet. A well made fixed formula feed makes designing a total diet easier and, when all those fixed ingredients work together, less expensive per horse per month.

As to the OP of this thread, I did not mean to hijack it. I have always thought that Blue Bonnet feeds were pretty well thought out and safe. As to the fixed formulation question that I raised above. I guess the best thing to do would be to call and ask them if they are fixed formulations or not. 

On their website, BlueBonnet says they are a locked formula. https://bluebonnetfeeds.com/our-nutrition/

That is the information needed. LIke I said, they have always seemed to be a responsible company that manufactures in a safe mill. 

Has anybody fed the X-Factor from Bluebonnet?

Yes I've fed it in the past. I will say it has a very strong scent some horses won't like it. My horse pretty much eats whatever I put in front of him so he ate it up no problem. It's a 40lb bag not sure if you knew that or not. I don't use it anymore. It's an extruded feed so it's pretty light. I think it's a nice feed if you need very low starch and your horse will eat it. To me it smells like cotton candy, it's very sweet smelling. I had another horse that wouldn't touch it. So I think it just depends. 

I started with X Factor and fed it until ProCare came out, loved it, had a 26 year old with a constant loose stool. He did much better on X Factor. 

I like bluebonnet feeds. They don't make anything that is appropriate for my horses (one has PSSM-1 and the other is Metabolic) so I can't feed it but it's one of the better quality feeds on the market imo. As for BOSS, it won't hurt your horse but if you're trying to add weight or shine I would recommend something higher in omega-3's. BOSS is very high in pro-inflammatory omega-6's. Flax, chia seeds, or an oil like camelina, ahiflower, or flax oil would be a better choice.

What are you feeding your horses now?

The Ex-Factor is 10% NSC

Intensify Total Advantage is 11% NSC

Intensify Senior Therapy is 12% NSC

I love the Omega force, have fed it for years and like another said you feed less. 

They are locked formula so you know you are getting the exact same formula every bag... to me that is huge.  

https://bluebonnetfeeds.com/our-nutrition/

Everything has gone up in price, Omega force isn't cheap, but it costs me 1.86 a day per horse since you only feed 3 lbs

I have some easy keepers that get 2 lbs that are pasture pets, that costs 1.24

Good thing I don't have any expensive coffee, nails, or cig habits LOL

I love blue bonnet.................I order it on chewy....................being where I live there are no dealers remotely close.....................I don't care how much it costs...............