I haven’t purchased premixed grain for about 5 years. I don’t feed mine any grain, they get grass, really good hay and if needed a special supplement. They look great and I don’t plan on changing my strategy for them. But, I’m setting my prices for taking in a few select boarders soon and I know some people insist their horse needs grain. I’m willing to do this (as long as horse is not obese and it appears the horse needs it and does well). So I’m trying to build in costs for grain. I can’t believe how much prices have gone up in 5 years. In many cases double what I was paying. Even beet pulp is about double. I know some local mixes will be better priced and I will do some checking at a few places here, but I’m having sticker shock! I’m glad I don’t grain mine…….
Where I live the price per bag has slowly increase, AND the weight of the bag has gone from 25kg to 20 kgs. I will say though, that the quality seems to have improved, with mills now specializing in horses.
Interesting. We are supplied entirely by local mills, no national or American brands. I have been feeding my horse the same basic recipe for almost 7 years. The price increase has been nominal for beet pulp, whole oats and alfalfa cubes. Some feed stores charge a couple dollars more for the same product.
I don’t know about the price of manufactured feeds. They have always seemed high to me.
I would tell people to pre-bag feed and supplements, and for a set fee feed that along with a hay feeding. That way the horses get exactly what the owner wants (both type of feed and amount), and makes it easy for you. Also if you want boarders try not to have a holier than thou attitude about different horse keeping strategies.
I have considered that approach. The problem with that is when people get behind on their bagging and the horse goes without feed leading to inconsistent diet… Unfortunately, it happens a lot! But I probably will have a set price that includes hay and then put together individual feed programs for each horse.
Not sure if you are implying my post was a holier than thou post? I I’m guessing it was my choice of words saying people “insist” their horse needs grain. Yes, some do need it, but in my experience, grain is overused, especially in this area. Most barns here give every horse grain, and honestly, that’s just silly. When I moved here, I had to tell them not to grain my mare, but they way they have it set up everyone gets grain…so she gets a handful… She doesn’t need it and a majority of the horses at the barn don’t. They sit around idle and are overweight. Good quality hay would do the job… That said, I do appreciate that people have different ideas about feeding, which is why I’m flexible. I do also have extensive background in horse health(managing large barns, DVM, PhD in Equine Exercise Physiology, lots of advanced training in Nutrition etc…), so my ideas do have some merit. As far as attracting boarders, this will be a pretty exclusive spot. I don’t have to fill it, but I’m guessing it will be easy given the facilities and what they are getting in terms of resources. If someone doesn’t board with me because I suggest their overweight horse doesn’t need grain, then I am happy to not have them as a boarder. On the other hand, if someone comes in with an underweight horse or a horse in heavy work, I’ll work with them to come up with a plan for feed. Boarding always works best when everyone is on the same page.
Yes. I’d provide good hay and a basic ration balancer and build in a cushion so that you could feed more concentrated calories of your choosing to a horse that needed it. This could be beet pulp or something else affordable.
If boarders want special feed they can supply at no reduction in board costs. But this gets you into the problem of where they store that feed. If they live in an apartment they can’t keep it at home. If they keep it in the tack room, you get rats. In the trunk of their car, it spoils. In your feed room, bad idea because you want that off limits to boarders. In the barn aisle, a horse will get loose, eat it, and colic.
The reason to build in a cushion is its your responsibility to keep the horses healthy. If you get a hard keeper whose owners can’t afford or won’t provide supplementary feed then you need to be able to feed it.
In general set up a feeding program that will meet the needs of a range of horses in an economical fashion and price so you are making a profit. Don’t encourage or suggest boarders supplement but have the logistics figured out in case they insist.
Edited to add: since you clearly know what you are doing re: feed, be upfront and make that into a selling point for your barn. Then you can weed out folks who want another kind of care.
One trainer I used boarded at a facility that used one shed for boarders supplements. Owner bought them. They recommended a galvanized trash can to avoid rats. They fed according to my wishes.
If I was boarding I would definitely appreciate a person with your background running the facility.
One of our old guys (30) does get grain. Senior once a day with the evening feed. He’s the only horse that gets grain.
Whatever you choose, make sure you spell it out in the boarding contract so that you aren’t on the hook for either the truly hard keeper or the owner that wants Dobbin on $$$ grain.
It is not unheard of for boarding barns to specify “up to XX lb of brand YY or ZZ feed daily; additional feed to be provided by owner.”
This seems to be very area dependent. In my area of country grain is normally included in the price of full board. It maybe be limited to the choice of 2 or 3 grains such as low starch, Senior or sweet feed and whatever brand the barn feeds. The amount is likely limited to two feedings of 2 scoops of grain. Hay may be limited to X number of flakes per day. If you tried to make a boarder provide their own grain they would likely move on to the next farm since that is not the norm for the area.
Some boarders want a particular grain that is different that the normal low starch, Senior or sweet feed such as Cavalor or another premium feed. Those boarders are generally willing to provide their own or have the BO pick it up and bill them. Generally in my area if you supply your own grain instead of using the barn’s grain you do not get a discount on your monthly board bill.
I think that a base type and amount of grain being included or not in full board is very dependent on area of the country. In mine not having any options for grain for full board is not realistic. (Self care, part board and pasture board is different)
OP- if your area is one that is expected to include grain then I would limit the included grain to be a choice of 2 or 3 locally available quality feeds up to X number of quarts/scoops per feeding limited to 2 feedings per day.(You do not want to penalize the easy keeper that gets 1 handful twice a day or supplement the ancient OTTB that needs 3 quarts/scoops 3 times per day) Calculate the highest of the 3 feed prices and add 10-15% for a buffer/convenience fee. As a boarder I would personally prefer name brand feeds such as Triple Crown, Pennfield, Dumor, ProElite rather than the local feed mill’s 10% sweet feed.
If the boarder wants something other than those 2 or 3 select types of grain you can either pick it up for them and directly put the cost on their monthly bill or make them provide the grain. If you have them provide the grain you need to decide if you will just not feed the horse grain if they run out or if you will pick it up for them and then charge them a convenience fee for pick-up. IMO make the convenience fee hurt so they don’t want to use that option too often.
At very least try to give the owner a heads up that they are getting low on grain/supplement. My previous BO just could not be bothered to let me know when I was getting low and I would occasionally run out. I don’t feed every day and don’t see it getting low. I also travel for business so sometimes I am just not there to check how much I have. My grain never seemed to consistently last the same amount of time. I think some feeders would feed a generous 1 scoop and others a scant 1 scoop so 1 bag could last 3 weeks or 4 weeks depending on who was feeding during that time. She did not have room to store too many extra bags. My current BO let’s me know when I am low on supplements and need to restock.
Whatever model you decide make sure it is clearly spelled out in the boarding contract.
My Arab x gelding currently gets minimal grain. Just enough for his meds/supplements and enough he does not feel deprived when the other horses in the barn get grain. He mostly gets a ration balancer. My OTTB gets quite a bit of grain/pellets. He is a hard enough keeper that if he does not get grain he would not maintain his weight. He might be able to get less grain if he was turned out on pastures with more grass but that is not his current situation.
I’m sure the price of feed can vary region to region, but right now I pay about $30 for 40lb of ration balancer and between $25-30 for a low NSC, high fat/fiber grain (both are Seminole). Honestly all mine really need right now is the ration balancer but I throw in a handful of the other stuff because if you have ever smelled Seminole Senior Wellness… well it’s for me as much as them!
And I get it, some horses - many horses - do really well if you are lucky enough to have good pasture. Right now mine do so well that they wear greenguard muzzles when they go out all night and I supplement with grass hay when they are in the stall/drylot during the day, so I get it.
But I also have had horses in this exact same set up, no grazing muzzles, substitute grass for T&A and they still would need more than a ration balancer, especially when we were showing (you also need to consider that even if the horse does really well on pasture, it’s not like you can take it with you for 2 weeks on the road!)
Thanks, some good suggestions here. I really don’t want to have a bunch of different cans of feed with different people filling (or not filling) at different times, but I will give people options… Each horse is an individual, and I will treat them that way… Fortunately, I am going to keep the numbers small.
Yeah, my boarding agreement will be very clear! And I will interview the prospective boarders thoroughly. I know that might put people off, having been on the other side of that equation… If I thought barn owners were too overbearing, I did not board there… But, I met my first boarder for coffee last week and we just talked about our philosophy on horses, riding, feed etc and we really clicked. We are very much on the same page so I don’t foresee too many problems… And I can easily fill the rest of my stalls (or not, as I don’t need to). And I am flexible… Since I’m mostly doing this for the company, I can be selective about who I have… 
Mostly I was just shocked at how much grain has gone up…
ha ha, I see from your avatar that you have a Fjord. My poor Fjording had to have a grazing muzzle…he was not thrilled… But he would balloon up on air, so if he wanted out (and he did) he had the muzzle…
yeah, this is an area where most of the nicer barns feed 2-3 feeding of grain a day. So it is kind of expected… I’m thinking that if they want something other than what I have, I will supply it, that way I know it is always there. I’ll add a surcharge if it ends up more than what I’ve calculated for my grain cost allowance… It’s nice when the BO reminds you about supplements, ours never does (where I am temporarily boarding)…
I wasn’t actually planning on not supplying grain, just shocked at the cost these days…
Granted, I haven’t read but a small portion of this thread. That said, I pay $22.50 for a 50lb bag of a quality feed. It’s not a basic grain mix mix. My horses don’t do well on those unfortunately. If you want to price things out you can see what your boarders are currently feeding and price with a basic feed mill grain and then a second price with a higher quality feed for horses that need that. Around here the basic allotted amount of grain is 6 lbs a day. Most of the better barns will give the supplements you provide at no additional cost. To give you an idea of differences in horse’s; I have 1 that eats 6 lbs of grain, 1 that eats 12 lbs and one that eats 15 lbs a day. The latter 2 also get straight alfalfa hay as well. You would be best IMHO to price out things in increments and go from there.
Another thing playing in to this as well is the quality of your pastures. Do you reseed, fertilize, rotations … All this makes a difference in how much you’ll need too feed as well. I’m plowing under 4 acres this fall and reseeding it with a new mix to improve the overall quality of my fields. This will help in the winters. They did good last year with the Thoroughbreds losing minimal weight over the winter.
Good luck and I hope it works out well for you!
My $.02
Truth! The amazing thing is the other one is a TB. He’s actually getting less grain than the fjord at this point!
(full disclosure, he’s retired and the fjord is in pretty hard work, but it still cracks me up that it works out this way)
My experiences as a boarder at many barns is the barn has one feed they supply. Usually a locally milled mix or oats (lower cost) or maybe Strategy. If you want something different you supply your own. No break in your cost. They all fed supplements without charge, but it had to be Smartpaks or pre-packaged.
Every barn except one skimped on hay, so you basically had to feed a self-supplied complete feed plus alfalfa pellets or your horse’s weight suffered. FWIW, the same horse at home doesn’t even need any grain, I feed her minimal ration balancer. Warmblood–average keeper.
I would so vastly prefer to just pay enough up front to make it worth the BO’s time to feed my horse enough hay than have to come up with some scheme to try to keep her in good weight. I also hate all the additional add on costs. If you are a full board facility then offer full care–blanketing, fly masks, spray, supplements. Just bill for it so it’s fair you and everyone should be happy because it is clear.
I hear you, I have been at a lot of barns in my life and most don’t feed enough hay… It’s kind of funny since hay is generally cheaper to feed and better for the horses… There will be plenty of hay available…
I think hay prices are very regional. Hay in FL is hugely expensive, in my area of SE PA it is moderately expensive, other areas of the country it is pretty darn cheap.
One of the big considerations for many barns is storage and handling of the hay. If you use rounds or the 600 pound squares you need a big enough tractor with bale spikes. For small bales you may need a hay elevator.
For a large facility you need a lot of storage space for hay for a full year supply. Best prices for hay are to buy straight from the field or at least shortly after cut. The price for hay generally goes up later in the winter as less hay becomes available. Ideally a BO would buy all of their hay either at once or maybe twice at the time of first and second cutting. So 1 or 2 big hay bills in the summer.
In my area we normally need to feed hay in the fields due to weather conditions. That adds to how much you need per year.
I have never boarded at a barn that had enough storage for a full year of hay. Most need to buy every couple of months.
The only places that I know of that do have storage for a full year have their own hayfields, cut and store their own hay. Most barns in my area do not bale their own. They need those fields for turn-out.
We are in a high property value area. You don’t want to be taking up too much of your property with hay and equipment storage because you won’t have as much turn-out. Hay is more expensive since more and more farms are becoming developments so there is less hay available locally.
we have returned to just rolled oats as none of our stock is doing anything other than hanging around to look pretty for the neighbors
Though, it’s not easy being beautiful! :winkgrin: But it’s an important job!
I use Triple Crown Complete and here it is 23.99 a bag. Unfortunately, two of mine are young OTTBs and need the extra grain. My senior Ap/Trak gets less than half of what they do. But yes, costs have gone up quite a bit since I started keeping horses at home about 20 years ago! Or I’ve started to use better feed.
