Drought conditions throughout much of the country this year have dramatically increased the cost of feeding our horses. Both hay availability and the grain used in most concentrate feeds are either hard to find, more expensive, or both. As the issues of the current economy put pressure on many horse owners day to day lives, increases in feed costs, for many, are just one more impossible issue with which to cope.
When we introduced Renew Gold™ to the equine market, in the Fall of 2011, a lot of horse owners looked at the $30+ price tag for a 30 pound bag of feed and quickly moved on to what they assumed were less expensive feeding programs. Before you do that, let’s take a look at just what a Renew Gold program costs compared to a popular conventional feeding program.
We will use a popular performance horse feed from one of the largest feed companies in the US for our comparison. We will call it Brand X. This product has been around since the early 1990’s and has a large following. This article is not intended to pick on Brand X. The product is not unique in the industry, and any number of performance horse feeds could be used for this comparison with very similar results. We will use Brand X simply because so many horse owners use this product.
According to the feeding instructions found on the Brand X tear tag; a 1000 pound horse in moderate work should be fed 12 pounds of hay, and 9 pounds of Brand X per day. At an average cost of $18 for a 50 pound bag, that equates to $0.36 per pound, or $3.24 per day. That seems like a lot of feed concentrate to me, and although a significant number of people may feed that much, many of the horse owners that I talk to across the country feed closer to 6 pounds per day and use more (we will use 16 pounds) hay. To be fair, I will give you the figures both ways.
6 pounds of Brand X @ $.36 per pound = $2.16 per day
9 pounds of Brand X @ $.36 per pound =$3.24 per day
12 pounds of quality hay @ $.18 per pound = $2.16 per day
16 pounds of quality hay @ $.18 per pound = $2.88 per day
Looking at the above numbers we can see that using Brand X and hay to meet the basic energy needs of a mature horse in moderate work will cost somewhere between $5.04 and $5.40 per day.
Let’s compare the Renew Gold feeding recommendation for the same horse.
A mature horse in moderate work should be fed 1 to 1 1/3 pounds of Renew Gold per day. Total cost $1.00 - $1.33 per day.
We would recommend 15 pounds per day of quality hay. Cost? $2.70
These number show us that using Renew Gold and hay to meet the basic energy needs of a mature horse in moderate work will cost somewhere between $3.70 and $4.03 per day.
Renew Gold provides a savings, on average of $1.35 per day, per horse. This translates to $40.50 per month or $486.00 per year, per horse. How many horses do you feed?
If you are one of those people who add additional supplements for hoof condition or coat condition, or you add pro-biotics or perhaps herbs for attitude adjustment, Feeding Renew Gold allows you to take those out.
This can save you another $2.00 to $5.00 per day. These are real numbers, and they make a real difference at the end of the month.
Ok, you say, that is all well and good, but aren’t there things in Brand X that are not in Renew Gold? Yes, but that may be a good reason to feed Renew Gold. If you read the ingredient list on the Brand X tear tag, or just about any feed bag with a tear tag, it is hard to tell just what is in there. The first four ingredients on the Brand X ingredient list are “by-products” so what they really are is hard to say. One is Forage by-products, I don’t even know for sure just what that is!
In past articles I have explained the advantages found by normalizing efficiency in the digestive system with Renew Gold in your feeding program. Those articles can be found on the renewgold.com web site, so I will not go into that here. I would, however, like to make a point about quality.
Renew Gold is fixed formulated. Our ingredients are actually printed on the bag, not a tag that can be changed from lot to lot. We make it the same every time, from the same ultra-premium quality ingredients, from the same ingredient suppliers, and guarantee that Renew Gold contains no GMO ingredients. A statement that no other maker of blended horse feeds in the US can make.
If you would like help in understanding your feeding program, and how it can be both more efficient, and more economical, email or just give us a call. Let us help you find the horse that you thought was in there all along.
If you have questions contact us today.
Flax is best known as a significant source of Omega 3 fatty acids and can help to optimize the balance of Omega 3 and Omega 6 in a formulation. Flax is also an excellent source of vegetable fat and quality proteins. This third source of low starch digestible energy rounds out the Renew Gold formulation.
