Who says everyone has the vet come to their farm? Lots of vets don’t do farm calls for routine work and people HAVE to bring the horse to the vet. Lots of people live close enough they can take their horses to the vet to save the farm call even if their vet would come to them.
So yeah, on THIS planet, someone can absolutely save that little money by DIY a few vaccines on their own.
Or they’re paying the farm call anyways for the rabies, Coggins etc.
But I’m just not seeing a ton of savings here. Based on my preliminary calculations doing my own vaxx for my two horses would save enough money to buy two bales of Teff hay. That’s not even enough to cover one of my horse’s chiro adjustments.
I have the vet do the rabies and then leave me the other vax to administer myself, spread out with a week in between each.
One of my mares cannot tolerate the R/F (even with banamine 
) and so I split them all up. I keep the relationship with the vet but still do what’s best for the horse.
exactly
Right, it’s not always a LOT of money, but some are cheap enough and are actually “I can’t believe they charge me more for the vaccine than I can get it myself online” to be that penny pincher of $10/vaccine or whatever their vet’s upcharge is. Reality is that IS why some people don’t have their vet do any, or most of the vaccinations.
Welp, time isn’t free, is it. And if someone is only seeing the vet for vaccines, there’s also an exam.
Then they have a relationship and your whole thing about only wanting to pay for the vet in emergencies is moot.
This whole caricature you’ve painted about some local yokel aw shucksing his way into a $30 dollar savings is frankly offensive. That’s not at all what anyone is talking about in this thread. 
Last year, it cost me $400 total to order the following vaccines for a herd of 4 for the whole year: EWT, Flu/Rhino, WNV, PHF, BOT.
To have the vet give those vaccines (plus rabies) to my herd, it will cost close to $400 per horse. Then when you factor in the farm call and the fact that some things, like a flu/rhino booster, have to be done at different times, meaning another farm call + another exam fee… it adds up significantly with a herd of four.
I’m not trying to be argumentative, I’m just saying the savings are significant.
No, you’ve missed the point entirely. The point is that some people absolutely do cheap-out (not talking about someone saving $300 because of how many horses are vaccinated), who never see their vet for anything because their horses are never sick or injured. THOSE people do not maintain a VCP relationship.
You claimed that NOBODY could get away with saving $30, and you’ve been given scenarios where they absolutely can - separate situation
Dude, your whole thing was painting a picture of an owner who has no relationship with their vet because they wanted to save 30 bucks on vaccinations. That was what you put out there.
That is not realistic. It’s a cartoon. And it’s pretty offensive.
I mean I run a herd of two so naturally the savings for the herd is smaller than the savings for a larger herd.
My vaxx are a bit different than yours but presuming I got free shipping on the vaxx there’s literally a ten dollar difference between what valley vet sells for and what my vet charges per jab. So 4 jabs per horse per year (outside of rabies) comes out at $40 savings per horse per year. Definitely not hundreds like in your case! Which I’m not trying to say your case is not factual just that mine is way different and the cost savings for me would be minuscule.
I’m sorry if reality of SOME situations offends you. I’m not sure why you think that nobody ever cheaps out on horse care of any sort, whether feed (because my horse is just fine on that $10 bag of sweet feed from my local mill!) to “I would NEVER pay more than $35 for a trim” to “that $200/new saddle is just FINE, my horse doesn’t mind at all”. Cheap horse owners exist, period.
And they’re the ones complaining the loudest about their vet not coming out at 2pm on a Sunday for their horse who’s choking.
That’s reality.
Yeah, and this is the situation that isn’t realistic which you seem to be totally ignoring.
Not seeing the vet at all all for vaccines saves more than thirty bucks.
The only situation you can paint with a $30 savings is one where THE VET has done some vaccines and the owner does one.
Yes, sure, there are people out there that don’t use the vet at all for vaccinations. They save more than thirty bucks. Sure, they may struggle when they need a vet.
That is literally not what anyone on this thread is describing when discussing doing their own vaccines. You attempting to draw that comparison is what’s offensive. Not the situation itself–just what you’re insinuating.
Did you really not see this?
Some add more than $10, some add less than $10. The core vaccines are rabies, WEE, WNV, EEE, tetanus. Not everyone does rabies. Not everyone does tetanus. That leaves 3 vaccines. 3x$10 = $30. It’s all laid out right there. If they do all 5, then yeah, it’s more than $30. Rabies is 1x a year though.
I’m done here, because clearly you ignored, or continue to miss the point I originally made on this. It was ONE SINGLE SITUATION where people DIY vaccinations. Nothing more.
Do you really not understand that there’s more on the vet’s invoice besides the charge for the vaccine? Really? Wow.
I thing the takeaway from this is holy crap, some people’s vets are still somehow charging literally nothing. No wonder no one wants to be an equine vet.
I haven’t seen a vet markup only $10 for any given vaccine in years. Decades, even.
Nowhere did I say anything about the rest of the invoice. One again, you’re missing the (what I thought was a very basic, easy to understand point) scenario. If the person takes their horse TO the vet, and the vet ONLY did vaccines, what else is there on the invoice? “drive in fee”?
But it’s right up there in lenapesadie’s post. That may not be typical anymore, I honestly have no idea the difference between what my vet charges and what I could get it for online. But in her case, it’s $10 difference per.
The is the cost of the time taken, the cost of the fuel, and an exam fee. Time isn’t FREE. Fuel isn’t FREE. If the horse hasn’t been seen otherwise, there’s an exam.
And sure, I’ve seen a haul in fee.
This is definitely a thing with some vets… A haul in charge. It’s less than the farm call, but it’s not free. (Some not all, before anyone wilfully misunderstands and jumps down my throat)
I mean I pay a farm call fee of course but it’s less than $100 since I’m around the corner from the hospital.
I always combine vaccines with other services. Next Friday she’s coming to do a chiro adjustment on one horse and to do a dental and vaxx on the new pony. I suppose I’d pay some sort of exam fee if all I had her out to do was vaxx but I’ve not done that in my memory so can’t say for sure.
Presumably since this vet is a part owner of the clinic she has the ability to advocate for higher pricing if she felt it was needed.
Yup. Also, do y’all’s vets not charge an “exam fee” before any vaccination, regardless of if you haul in or have them come to you?
My current one does, I don’t ever remember a vet not charging one.
I feel like I’m coming across as argumentative. I’m really not arguing anyone’s choice. As I keep saying, I have always saved A LOT of money doing my vaccines myself, no matter where I have lived or how many horses I have owned.
I don’t do it because I’m trying to cheap out on vet care, but because my horses come up with enough creative ways to create vet bills already. If I can save hundreds of dollars in the vet bill department, I’m going to seize that opportunity, especially when it works out to be a win win for my situation.
My vet’s farm call fee is only $25 more than the haul in fee. I feel like it honestly causes them to have to do more farm calls than a reduced or free haul in call.
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