Ep. 106: 5 Ways Horse Owners Waste Money on Feeding

Episode Notes

Feeding horses isn’t cheap but are you unknowingly wasting hundreds (or more!) of dollars a year on your feeding program?

On this episode of the Feeding Fumbles & Fixes series of Beyond the Barn, host Katy Starr chats with Dr. Kelly Vineyard, PhD equine nutritionist, to break down the five most common ways horse owners waste money on feeding and how to fix them without compromising your horse’s health, including:

• The everyday feeding habit most horse owners rely on and why it often backfires
• A common hay feeding practice that can lead to significant waste over time
• How “budget-friendly” feeding choices can actually cost more money in the long run

Dr. Vineyard shares practical, research backed insight to help horse owners rethink their feeding programs, avoid unnecessary expenses, and make confident feeding decisions backed by science.

🎧 Listen now on the Beyond the Barn podcast

Have a topic idea or feedback to share? We want to connect with you! Email podcast@standlee.com

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Episode References – 

~8:14 - Round-bale feeder design affects hay waste and economics during horse feeding – research by Dr. Krishona Martinson and others

~17:42 - National Animal Supplement Council (NASC) – a nonprofit trade association with a mission to promote the health and well-being of companion animals and horses given animal health and nutritional supplements by their owners and to protect and enhance the animal supplement industry.

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Resources to Learn More – 

More about wasting money or saving money:

• Podcast - Ep. 091: How Many Times a Day Should You Feed Your Horse? Here’s What the Research Says
• Podcast - Ep. 047: How Properly Balancing Your Horse’s Diet Can SAVE You Money in the Long Run!
• Podcast - Ep. 045: Why Skipping a Hay Analysis Could Cost More Money in the Long Run with Sarah Fessenden
• Podcast - Ep. 025: How to Plan for Hay Needs and Useful Storage Tips to Avoid Hay Loss

More about mistakes horse owners make or lessons learned: 

• Podcast - Ep. 059: What I Wish I Would’ve Known as a First-Time Horse Owner
• Podcast - Ep. 050: Top 10 Most Common Feeding Mistakes Horse Owners Make

More about feeding the right type of hay: 

• Standlee Forage Finder®
• Podcast - Ep. 016: Am I Feeding My Horse the Wrong Type of Hay?
• Blog Post – What Type of Hay Should I Feed My Horse?
• Webinar - What Type of Hay Should I Feed My Horse? Pros & Cons of Alfalfa, Timothy, Teff, Orchard and Bermuda
• Live Q & A -What Type of Hay Should I Feed My Horse? - Horse Nutrition Live Q & A w/ Dr. Tania Cubitt

Product Solutions Recommended by Dr. Kelly Vineyard – 

• Standlee Timothy Grass Mini Cubes
• Standlee Alfalfa Pellets
• Standlee Alfalfa Timothy Chopped

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*Views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of Standlee Premium Products, LLC.*

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Read full episode transcript

Katy Starr (00:01):

Hi, I'm Katy Starr and you're listening to Beyond the Barn. Join me on this journey as we bust equine and livestock nutrition myths and sit down with some of the most intriguing experts from across the country. We'll also take you behind the scenes of how premium western quality forage is grown and brought to your favorite Farm and Ranch retail store. I'm so glad you're here.

 

Katy Starr (00:27):

Welcome back to the Beyond the Barn Podcast. We are back to our feeding fumbles and fixes series. It's all about learning from real life feeding mistakes and experiences and finding simple practical ways to make improvements for your horse ownership journey. In this episode of the series, we're covering common ways horse owners waste money on feeding and how to feed more efficiently and effectively to keep more of that money instead of the things you enjoy, like a new saddle pad or new show clothes. Here's a reality check for horse owners. When a round bale of hay is fed off the ground without a feeder, close to 60% of it never gets eaten and instead gets trampled, contaminated, or wasted. Even with good priced hay, depending on how many horses you're feeding, if you're feeding a few tons a year and wasting half of it, that can add up to hundreds of dollars a year down the drain.

 

Katy Starr (01:21):

And most of us don't even realize how much we might be wasting because somewhere around oh 80-95% of owners tend to feed by scoops or flakes and not by weight. We're all guilty of that. That generous scoop or toss of a handful of flakes can mean very different things, and chances are you've either fed too much or too little and spent more than you actually needed to. In this episode, we are going to dig into how feeding smarter, not more can save you money while still providing your horse with the nutrients they need to stay healthy. We are talking about five ways horse owners waste money on feeding. And we all know horse ownership is not cheap in general. So, the goal of this episode is to help find the most efficient ways to feed your horse without cutting corners that could end up causing more problems down the road. So, Dr. Vineyard, thanks for being on here today to talk with us about these.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (02:19):

Thank you. Good to be here.

 

Katy Starr (02:21):

So, Dr. Vineyard, our way number five that we're going to talk about is feeding by the scoop or flake. So, in other words, feeding by volume and not by weight.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (02:33):

Sure. So, I would venture to say this is something that we all do in some way. You know, it's very easy to eyeball it when we're using the scoop. We just use the scoop in the bin or and make an educated guess on what our horse needs just sort of based on their body condition at the time. And you know, the longer that you have been around horses and have cared for horses, you can get pretty good at this sort of eyeballing it. However, that being said, every concentrate feed, say from like a commercial concentrate comes with feeding instructions on the bag and knowing what your scoop of that feed weighs helps keep you kind of within the guidelines to make sure you're not either underfeeding or over overfeeding, both of which can kind of be wasteful. And really the same thing goes for your flake. I mean, there's a huge variability in the weight of hay flakes and it's just really easy to kind of skip that step of knowing what they weigh.

 

Katy Starr (03:32):

Right. Honestly, like we're talking about ways that we waste money when we're feeding, right? So, if we're eyeballing it, what's ultimately going to happen there for us or potentially could happen I guess?

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (03:43):

Sure. So, really it's, there's two things that can happen. Either you're going to underfeed or you're going to overfeed, both of which can be wasteful. So, underfeeding can lead to nutrient deficiencies specifically. Like if you're underfeeding concentrate or loss in body condition. You know, if you're underfeeding hay. And that may in turn lead to decreased performance, maybe possibly increased vet bills. If you call your vet out and say, my horse isn't doing well, he is losing weight. Oh, it's just because you were underfeeding, like that would be something you want to avoid. And on the flip side, if you are underestimating what your feed weighs or your hay and you overfeed, you're just turning that feed into extra fat , extra calories turns into fat. And that can lead to obesity and other associated health problems, which can result in certainly in vet bills. And also, if you overfeed hay when you're not really keeping track of that, you know that hay ends up getting trampled on the ground and it never gets eaten.

 

Katy Starr (04:43):

Right? And when we think about, I mean, I know this is how feeding horses livestock, anything, the largest cost in ownership generally is the feed bill . And so unless you have something else come up, or if you're doing horse shows or something like that, and so making sure that we're being the most efficient that we can be with our concentrate and our hay is going to be a lot more helpful for us in the long run. So, thinking about this then, from the perspective of how do we balance this with what's realistic mm-hmm . In our everyday life, how can we find a solution to this and making sure that we're doing our best to feed our horses exactly what they need, not underfeeding them and not over feeding them?

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (05:25):

Well, first of all, you always want to feed according to your horse's body weight and body condition score. You know, you can estimate body weight with a weight tape. And then you read those directions on your feed bags, at least to know how much concentrate you need to be feeding. And then you have your body weight estimate when you're thinking about a percentage of body weight for your how much hay or forage you're feeding. So, what I like to recommend, you can get a very inexpensive fish scale or a luggage scale or even a postage scale, have it in your feed room and whatever scoop you're using to scoop out your feed, just know what that scoop weighs. And you know, maybe it's three pounds, jot that three pounds of whatever grain it is you're using, jot that down on your chalkboard or your dry erase board in the tack room or the feed room.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (06:11):

And you only have to do it once we know it. This is what a scoop weighs. Anytime you change feeds, maybe you're going to do this again. And then you're going to do the same thing with your flakes of hay. And I like to use same fish scale or luggage scale. You can put a flake of hay in a garbage bag, like it's just a plastic bag, plastic garbage bag, and you can weigh your flake. I usually like to recommend maybe weigh three or four flakes and get an average because it's always going to be a little bit different, but maybe your average is four pounds for a flake. Maybe it's only two, maybe it's eight pounds if you have a really dense hay. So, it can vary widely, hay can. And so get an average flake weight, jot it down, then you know, a flake is two pounds, I want to feed 10 pounds, so that means I feed five flakes. And then you don't have to weigh it every day.

 

Katy Starr (07:00):

Yeah, that's great. That's great, great advice. Yeah. So, how about way number four, not using a hay feeder?

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (07:08):

So, feeding hay from a round bale, especially in the winter or when there's no pasture, is a pretty common practice, especially when you're managing a larger herd or when pasture is scarce. But if you've done this, you know it can be messy and it creates a lot of waste. Horses throw hay around, they trample it, they poop on it, they waste it.

 

Katy Starr (07:27):

And so, when they trample on it and everything, then we end up wasting hay, which means then we have to buy more hay in order to feed them what we need to through the winter. We could run out things like that. So, how do we solve that problem then?

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (07:41):

Sure. Well, there's actually some scientific studies in this area about conserving hay using a round bale hay feeder. And there's a lot of different types on the market, but depending on the type of feeder that's used, you can reduce hay waste down by 5-33% compared to that same study showed that not using a hay feeder, you actually waste over half of that hay gets trampled, 57% waste. And you know, if you're interested in looking up that study, it's published in the Journal of Animal Science, Dr. Martinson did that study, it's from several years ago, 2012. She looked at all these different types of round bale feeders. The nice thing about using a feeder, it will pay for itself depending on the one you purchase, you know, within as little as 3 months or as long as 12 months. But these things are designed to be used for years and years. So, you can really cut down your hay cost by use if you're feeding round bales by using a round bale feeder.

 

Katy Starr (08:39):

And we'll make sure that we link that study in the show notes too. So, if anybody wants to find that quicker, but that's great. So, way number three, feeding cheap horse feed.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (08:49):

Yes, I like this one because it's a little counterintuitive, but you know, I think horse owners are often surprised to find that the cheapest bag of horse feed is almost always the most expensive feed to feed in the long run. And that's when you go in further and calculate the cost to feed per day. And the reason this is, cheap feeds are cheap for a reason. , they're using lower quality ingredients, they usually don't contain a lot of energy dense fat ingredients, and so they're going to require a higher rate per day to maintain the body condition you're looking for. And then they also are usually very under fortified, especially with essential nutrients like zinc and copper and things like that. And so you're going to have to add supplements anyway to meet those nutrient requirements.

 

Katy Starr (09:38):

And that's so good to think about because I think oftentimes we might look at ingredient by ingredient when really we should be looking at the full picture of like the full diet, right? As a PhD equine nutritionist, that's how you help horse owners is you look at the full picture, what are we going to be feeding in the entirety, right? Starting with our hay build off that and then fill in the gaps from there. And so, by doing that, I don't think we realize that in the long run when we're having to compensate for other things because the X, Y, Z product isn't giving our horse what they need, it will cost more money. So, that's such a great point. And the consequence of that is,

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (10:18):

Well yeah, the consequences, again, so either you, you're underfeeding the cheap feed and your horses lose weight, then you earn a situation, well my horse is losing weight, so now I'm going to go buy a fat supplement, I'm going to buy some rice bran, or I'm going to buy some oil and I'm going to start feeding this. Well now their coat looks a little dull, I need to go buy a vitamin mineral supplement. So, then you're starting to add that on top and before you know it, you're sitting there spending more money on this feed and supplement combo, then you would be, if you switch to a higher quality, maybe more calorie dense, you know, fat added feed more premium, that doesn't need all the supplements and it, it's providing more nutrition per bite and you can actually feed a lower feeding rate.

 

Katy Starr (10:57):

And I wonder if people also look at it from the perspective, and I don't know if this is like perception, but when you think about some of these supplements, they're smaller amounts rather than spending a bigger amount on something else that's going to give you everything you need kind of a thing. But they see the smaller amounts and it instead of like adding it all up, they're just like, oh, this is only this much money, this is only this much money. But then when you go back and look at all of it and you're like, oh my gosh, in total it's this much money, I wonder if it's more of a perception thing too.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (11:23):

I think it's really easy to discount what you're spending per day on supplements. So, I really encourage people to figure that out. You get your supplement tub or whatever it is, figure out how many days worth of supplement is in there and then divide that by your purchase price and then you can find out what does this cost per day and some will shock you. I've seen supplements three, four, five dollars a day and that's more than what a good quality feed costs to feed per day. Right. And then on the flip side, a lot of these horses you maybe you're only feeding a half a scoop of cheap feed just because they're need something to eat, but they're in good body condition because they're easier keepers on that end, you'll be much better off just switching to a ration balancer, which is designed to be fed at one to two pounds per day. And that way you're getting all the nutrition they need and it's still at a low feeding rate and it lasts a long time. Those ration balancers will when you feed it at that low feeding rate.

 

Katy Starr (12:16):

Excellent. That's great. And so ideally there are kind of our solution for that is choosing a ration balancer if that's all you're really needing. Mm-hmm . Or maybe taking a better look, doing a little bit more research into some of those concentrate feeds and seeing what's going to fulfill the needs for the horse.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (12:34):

Yeah. If they have higher calorie needs and need to concentrate, it's a good investment to invest in a quality product.

 

Katy Starr (12:40):

Excellent. And so way number two that we waste money feeding horses, feeding poor quality hay.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (12:48):

Yeah. So, we know forage is a foundation of a horse's diet and they eat a lot of it 2, even 3% of their body weight depending on their energy needs. So, when that forage quality is poor, the problems compound because they're eating so much of it. If you've got dusty hay that can lead to respiratory issues. If you've got overly mature hay that can increase the risk of colic. If you've got just kind of poorly digestible hay that's going to result in less calories that your horse takes in. So, that's going to result in weight loss. Not to mention poor quality hay tends to be wasted more by horses, they'll trample it more, they don't eat it as readily. So, you're just kind of throwing money away with that poor quality hay.

 

Katy Starr (13:30):

Right? I mean, not as palatable probably, I would imagine. So, okay, what can we do about that? Because when I think about feeding poor quality hay, it's almost like feeding cheap horse feed, right? We already have to feed this to our horses because they need it and they need good quality hay because you get the best bang for your buck, I guess in that sense where how can we get the most nutrients we can out of what we're already feeding them and then go from there.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (13:55):

You definitely get more bang for your buck when you feed the best quality hay you can. And even low calorie hay can still be good quality. So, I'm not saying go feed the prettiest greenest alfalfa you can find, I mean, for an obese pony, that's not going to be appropriate, right But you still want to feed good quality grass hay that's not dusty, that's not overly mature. And you know, sometimes, so you just change the variety if you need to find one that's lower calorie, but good quality hay just means that, you know it was cut at the right time, it's clean, it's free of dust, it's digestible. And then if you're in a situation where you don't have a lot of options, right? You've bought the hay for the year or you're at a boarding situation, and the hay is what you got, you can always substitute or supplement a portion of your kind of less quality hay with a higher quality bagged forage. You know, like the Standlee Forage products, you know, alfalfa pellets or chopped forage or cubes, even just five pounds a day. You can bring in some more nutritional consistency to kind of supplement your poor quality hay that's going to raise the bar on the forage program, help prevent some of these health issues that comes with poor quality hay. And it also may even reduce the total amount of concentrate you feed, have to feed to keep them in good body condition because you're bringing in a better quality forage so they can get their calories from there.

 

Katy Starr (15:17):

Yes, that's excellent. Okay. And now you've talked a little bit about this as we've been discussing, but way number one that we waste money on feeding with horse ownership is feeding unnecessary supplements. So, talk to us a little bit about that.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (15:30):

Yeah, I mean by far to me, this is the number one way you can save money on your feed bill. I would guarantee you as a horse owner, if I walked into your feed room today, I'm going to find a lot of supplements on the shelf. Now, you may not be feeding them all currently, but we love to feed supplements as horse owners. I recognize that. But I am here to say that the majority of horses really don't need a lot of supplements. If anything, they need salt or electrolytes to pair with their forage and a good quality either ration balancer or concentrate to meet their nutrient needs or a vitamin mineral supplement. After that, there's a lot of other supplements, horse owners feed that really are not efficacious. That's the other thing I'm here to say. There are a lot of useless supplements out there on the market.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (16:17):

Many of them have very large marketing budgets, . And so we're inundated with that information. I know sometimes, and it's hard not to want to believe what the claims that these supplements are making, but the supplement industry is kind of like the wild, wild west with no sheriff in town. There's very little regulation. There is no regulation for efficacy, right? So, keep that in mind and it's truly buyer beware when it comes to a supplement. So, you know, if you're feeding more than two or three supplements every day to your horses, I say it's time. Reevaluate your program, maybe work with a trained equine nutritionist, and the money that you spend on a nutrition consult with that nutritionist is definitely going to be recovered by the money you can save on eliminating unnecessary supplements.

 

Katy Starr (17:05):

Right? That's such great advice.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (17:08):

So, I know I've said a lot of negative things about supplements, but I also want to add, I am a big fan of targeted evidence-based supplementation. So, basically that means there sometimes is a time and place for strategic supplementation to meet a specific goal using proven products. So, to make sure that you're adopting this mindset, I recommend using a critical, taking a critical mindset when you're evaluating supplements. Be strategic only purchase ones from reputable manufacturers that demonstrate quality. That might mean that that manufacturer has an NASC (National Animal Supplement Council) quality seal, which identifies companies that are kind of committed to this quality program in vigilance and continued improvement. Or it might look like transparency in their ingredients and guaranteed analysis. It might look like solid science backed claims. It has data to back it up. And obviously the gold standard is data in horses. And so my best recommendation if you do fill the need to supplement is prioritize those supplements whenever you can.

 

Katy Starr (18:09):

Well, and like you said, working with equine nutritionist, PhD, equine nutritionist, somebody that is reputable in the field to work with you on that, they're going to have some really great insight into what's also going to be beneficial for your specific horses needs because we all know horses are different.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (18:26):

Absolutely.

 

Katy Starr (18:27):

Excellent. Okay. Awesome. Thank you so much, Dr. Vineyard. I appreciate your time here.

 

Dr. Kelly Vineyard (18:31):

Thank you.

 

Katy Starr (18:32):

Today we covered five ways horse owners waste money feeding and how to feed more efficiently and effectively. Here are some key takeaways from Dr. Vineyard. Estimating feed by volume can lead to underfeeding or overfeeding resulting in nutrient deficiencies, obesity, and/or waste. Take some initial weights at least by using a fish, luggage or postage scale to measure feed by weight, ensuring accurate portions and optimal nutrition. Feeding a round bale of hay directly on the ground can lead to trampling and significant waste. Invest in a hay feeder to reduce waste and save on hay costs over time. Cheap feeds often require additional supplements, increasing overall costs in the long run. Choose a quality horse feed that meets your horse's nutritional requirements without the need for extra supplements where you can. Poor quality hay is less nutritious and digestible and often wasted leading to higher feed costs.

 

Katy Starr (19:31):

Supplement your horse's diet with higher quality forage to improve nutrition and reduce waste. And finally, overuse of unnecessary supplements without proven benefits, increases feeding expenses, focus on evidence-based supplements, and consult with a qualified equine nutritionist to feed what is best for your horse's nutritional needs. If you want to dig a little deeper into common horse feeding mistakes, or how to improve your horse's diet with better quality forage, we've linked some additional resources in our show notes and we'd love to hear your feedback on our feeding fumbles and fixes series or ideas for future episodes. Reach out to us anytime at podcast@standlee.com. Thanks for listening to the Beyond the Barn podcast by Standlee Forage. We'd love for you to share our podcast with your favorite people and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite listening platform. Until next time, keep your cinch tight and don't forget to turn off the water.