I am moving my guys to a new boarding barn March 1st and they have asked that I provide his feed and supplements pre-mixed. I don’t mind doing this, but am looking for ideas on the best way to do this. Right now I’m thinking small plastic tubs with the feed/supplements mixed inside and maybe plastic drawers to store those? Or shelves? I have two horses and want to make it easy for them to feed my horses and also keep their feed straight (they get different supplements and one horse is crazy without his supplements, lol).
How much grain are we talking?
I’d probably just get four or five (or more, depending on space and how frequently you are at the barn) of these per horse, stick to one color per horse: http://www.statelinetack.com/item/fortiflex-2-gallon-utility-bucket/SLT310287/
Ideally, each bucket will be the exact same, so that there is no need for them to worry about what they are grabbing, just grab and go.
I did this for quite a while when I had my mare at a co-op barn where lots of different people were regularly feeding. I just made up a big stack of buckets that were all identical; yes, even if that meant supplements were broken into half tablespoon doses. It was easiest.
At one point, I had to drastically reduce the size of her breakfast, and increase her dinner, because she wasn’t able to finish in time. At that point, I just bought another set of buckets in a lighter color, so that someone could grab a bucket from the light stack in the am, and the dark stack in the pm. Very intuitive.
I cannot even say why, but for some reason it never worked to alternate buckets in a single stack! She would always have been fed (ie, the number of used buckets worked out) but never correctly. I don’t know what would prompt people to remove the first bucket and grab the second, or pull from the bottom of the stack, but in my experience it just never worked.
I used a large tote and gallon baggies and set up a week at a time. AM on the right am PM on the left, also labeled.
I use a storage bin like this
I prebag up my grain a week at a time. AM & PM servings are identical to make it easier and place into the bins. It makes it super easy to people to reach in, grab a sliding ziplock bag, dump it in the feed bin, and put bag back into the box. Rinse and repeat. 
When my horse was out for training, I used gallon ziploc bags. I split his daily supplements between two bags so that all bags were the same (all bags good for morning or evening feeding). I prefer the gallon bags because they use much less space than plastic containers. You can put your bags inside whatever type of basket, tote, etc., that fits nicely in the space you are allotted for your feed storage.
Can you just set up the feed and put the supplements in baggies but not mixed? I would be loathe to premix feed and supplements and let them sit overnight. It may not matter but some of the supplements might break down or be less effective.
I use ziplock baggies. The gallon sized bags for feed and the quart sized bags for supplements. I give supplements with the am grain and just grain for pm. I will bag up anywhere from 1-3 weeks of feed at a time. I store the bags in a rubbermaid tote.
I started doing this when I was at a co-op barn to ensure that my horses were getting the correct amount of feed. It seems everyone has a different idea about what a scoop of feed looks like. I have continued to bag my feed even though I at a self care barn. It makes feeding go really quickly, and the bagging of feed and supplements doesn’t take too long especially when I get the assembly line going.
I am at a coop barn. We all pre-mix and store in gallon ziplock bags. I don’t feed any supplements that would break down if stored with grain (MSM, probiotic, etc…). AM/PM feeds are the same right now but we’ve had people who fed different amounts and if everything is labeled it’s not a problem.
I have done this for years and I go with the rubbermaid container and the gallon bags. Keep it simple.
At the barn where I board they will scoop up the grain, but my friend and I bag up our supplements. All supplement baggies have the same whether am or pm, so it is easy for the barn help to just grab a baggie and dump. We keep them in supplement buckets labeled with our horses’ names on them.
Thank you so much everyone!
A new question…how do you determine if a supplement will lose potency if premixed with feed?
Or, if anyone knows…I feed magrestore, powdered vitamin e, acetyl l carnitine, salt, and Lysine.
I definitely have to premix feed and supplements, I am doing semi-self care and want to make it as easy as possible to get my guys their stuff. One of my geldings has PSSM (hence all the supplements) and it is vital that he eat them every single day.
Oh, and starrunner…I just ordered those bins, than you so much for the suggestion!!!
Interesting. I haven’t really heard or had issues with losing potency, but I certainly could see with exposure to air and heat it could happen.
I just weigh up a week at a time and go from there. Don’t really see that as different from weighing up from a container that is uncapped and recapped.
I know my feed has MSM already added in it, so I don’t think it would be the mixing per say, but maybe just the air exposure?
Bogie-know anything else with what potentially breaks down?
No problem on the bin suggestion. They have held up well and they stack really easily too.
Interesting question. From what I’ve been able to find out, it’s the fatty acids that break down the most quickly. I already knew that – it’s one of the reasons why I feed whole flax rather than ground flax. As soon as it’s ground it starts to degrade – in fact, the ground flax meal left in the grinder can go rancid pretty quickly. Vitamin E also degrades. I feed vitamin E because my horse showed a deficiency in his blood test, but I feed human gel capsules individually every day to supplement what’s in their feed.
Here’s a blog posting from SmartPak on the subject. It doesn’t add much to the summary above.
