Yes, 6 months ago for me as well.
I got several quotes to insure my horse and my dog. I averaged them to get a rough annual cost by animal and invest that money into a high yield savings account as the vet fund. Monthly for the dog and quarterly for the horse. Bonus, I donāt have to worry about a limb or service being excluded due to a prior treatment/injury. One could do the same for the cost of the ColicCare supplement.
Itās not perfect, but at least I can keep the money for all the months my animals are healthy. I figure I can bridge any gap with a Care Credit plan if those funds are not enough.
Edit: I probably need to add some context here. Neither animal cost me much to acquire. We are not talking an $80K hunter derby horse. But my vet fund is slowing growing. My goal is enough to cover colic surgery and reasonable diagnostics, should I need it for the dog. It may not be a solution for everyone (looking at you $80K hunter) just another way to look at insurance.
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Thank you for the information.
I could not find my last increase email. I believe you all that it was just six months ago.
Research where the raw materials in those supplements come from. And the packaging. Itās tariffs and will affect all manufacturers.
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I canceled my Smartpaks. The increase for my one supplement that I had in Smartpaks was around 20%, which is significant. I can get a comparable Mad Barn supplement for less. It wonāt come in the convenient packs, but my barn doesnāt care if they have to scoop it vs opening a packet.
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My less interesting supplements went up $2-3 each. Succeed went up $17. I need packs for my barn, so Iām not leaving immediately but I will start shopping around.
Yeah, two of mine went up $3, SmartDigest Ultra is going up by $6! Iām going to cut one of the supps I had added as a ālets see if this helps anythingā and I havenāt noticed much difference anyway. I do want to keep the ColicCare, but theyāre going to end up with people doing what Iām doing, and cutting other things to make up for the cost increase.
Yup thatās what I did. Iād added a supp ājust to tryā and the MINUTE I got the email that my supps were going up $2, $2, $5, and $3+, I dropped the extra to make up the difference. I donāt feed any of the ColiCare! Just CuZn, E and an electrolyte.
People will absolutely continue to use SmartPaks - Iām one of them, a boarder with a need for something simple and straightforward for staff to feed. But the other horses in a different situation, and those of us with a herd to feed? Bye. Quite a lot of people use(d) SP for their customer service, apparel, and ease of use for throwing stuff in the cart. Removing those benefits and raising prices is classic private equity, but also not a move thatās going to please a lot of people.
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THIS! Supplement companies are getting hit hard with tariffsā¦and not just Chinese ascorbic acid and B12.
You can get all the soy and wheat middling ingredients for supplements and feeds in the USā¦but many of the organic ingredients, branded ingredients, non gmo ingredients, specialty ingredients come from the EU, Canada, India, Japan, New Zealand among others.
Many vitamins used in the supplement industry are made by DSM in Holland including: vitamin A, vitamins B-1, B-2, B-3, B-5, B-6, B-7, B-9, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K. Tariff from Holland: 15%
Need vitamin E for your horse?..China has the largest share of vitamin E exports based on kilograms with 77% of the market. The US share in kilos is 3.3%.
Why do so many companies buy vitamin E from China?..itās cheaper. So now the companies that donāt want to pay tariffs on Chinese-manufactured vitamin E could buy vitamin E made in the US ā¦which is more expensive than Chinese vitamin E. Ultimately whether from China or the US products containing vitamin E are going to increase in price to the consumer.
Maybe your horse needs medications. Two thirds of the APIās (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) are made by two countries: China and India. Current tariffs on products from China: 30% . Current tariffs on products from India: 50% (goes into effect on August 27).
China is also the largest producer of pumpkin seeds, producing 70% of the worldās supply.
The current 35% tariff on Canada may affect companies like Madbarn IF their ingredients are sourced from other countries like China. If the ingredients in the supplement are all made and sourced in Canada, then the supplement is exempt from tariff because it qualifies under the USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement).
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My 3 supplements went up more than $35 combined. My horseās Smartpak Combo Ultimate went up $24. That is unacceptably high. It was borderline unacceptably high to start with. Iām over it. Iām cancelling before my next order ships. I have savings to pay for colic surgery if needed anyway.
