The cost of living crisis is not only impacting people. It is also making it more expensive to be an animal owner. As a result, many are looking at ways to optimise feeding to ensure they don’t waste anything. One thing to look at if you own horses is optimising forage. If you do it well, you can save an impressive amount. Let’s look at what you should be doing to get the best with horse feed.

Pasture

The most cost effective solution is to let your horses forage freely in a suitable pasture. Just make sure the grass is long enough and will provide sufficient nutritional value.

Hay

Sadly, if you don’t have a suitable pasture, buying forage is the only option. One thing you should never do though is choose the cheapest hay. It will likely be very poor quality. This means your horse likely will reduce intake and not get the full nutritional benefits. Plus, it can result in more of your money going to waste.

If good quality hay is too expensive, it can be a good idea to use an alternative such as pelleted or cubed products. They can be more costly if you compare, but you can ensure there is little waste and make sure your horse has consistent intake.

Weighing

Another thing you need to do to optimise the feeding and costs is to weigh horse feed. Most owners aren’t very precise here. Even those that try to be might not be weighing as effectively as they should. It is likely they use a scoop. However, they can vary in size and don’t get the most accurate measurements.

The best thing to do is use a scale, ensuring it is calibrated to offer accurate measurements. You can then weigh forage and other feed to ensure accuracy. This also helps to ensure consistency and it can stop horses from overeating if you offer good quality hay.

Calculate costs effectively

Finally, make sure you do an accurate calculation to be clear on the costs. You shouldn’t look at it as price per bag or bale. What you actually need to do is get a figure for the cost per feed. Look at how big each one is by pounds. You can then work out exactly how many feeds you will get per bag or bale. If you find cheaper products, make sure the reason isn’t because they are smaller.

Do you need help with horse feed?

If you are careful, you can optimise forage and feed to ensure your horses will be healthy. You could also potentially reduce the cost.

JS Hubbuck Ltd would also be happy to help if you need some support. We stock a range of high quality products, including horse feed. As a result we can supply you and provide details about each of them. Simply get in touch and ask us.