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Forageplus cost effective horse feed

How much does using Forageplus cost?

Using Forageplus means a ‘forage focused’™ approach to horse feeding where you only supplement the minerals and vitamins needed to match to the grass or hay your horse eats. 

This means you get a high-quality mineral and vitamin supplement with excellent levels of all the nutrients most needed by your horse.

Cost-effective horse feeding from Forageplus

Forageplus equine horse feed balancers are the highest quality, equine vitamin and mineral supplements. Our horse feed nutritional products are formulated using scientific forage analysis and reference to the National Research Council guidelines.

Our Winter and Summer Equine Balancers are our most cost-effective horse supplements.  We also stock balancers for hoof and skin health, horses and ponies prone to laminitis, lactating mares, young horses and performance horses in moderate to heavy work. Breeding mares can also be fed a combination of our horse feed balancers throughout the trimesters of their pregnancy.

Forageplus Winter or Summer Horse Feed Balancers

For the cost of using the Forageplus Winter or Summer Horse Balancers see the table below.

BalancerWeight
Forageplus Winter Balancer200-400 kg Horse400-600 kg Horse600-700 kg Horse700-800 kg Horse
Cost per day£0.82£1.10£1.37£1.65
Days one 5KG bag will last66.6504033.3
Forageplus Summer Balancer200-400 kg Horse400-600 kg Horse600-700 kg Horse700-800 kg Horse
Cost per day £0.69£0.92£1.15£1.38
Days one 5KG bag will last66.6504033.3

Forageplus Hoof and Skin Health Horse Feed Balancers

For the cost of using the Forageplus Hoof and Skin, Health Horse Balancers see the table below.

BalancerWeight
Forageplus Hoof & Skin Health Winter200-400 kg Horse400-600 kg Horse600-700 kg Horse700-800 kg Horse
Cost per day£0.96£1.29£1.61£1.93
Days one 5KG bag will last66.6504033.3
Forageplus Hoof & Skin Health Summer200-400 kg Horse400-600 kg Horse600-700 kg Horse700-800 kg Horse
Cost per day £0.83£1.11£1.39£1.67
Days one 5KG bag will last66.6504033.3
Forageplus Laminae Plus200-400 kg Horse400-600 kg Horse600-700 kg Horse700-800 kg Horse
Cost per day £1.51£1.89£2.14£2.40
Days one 5KG bag will last41.633.329.426.3

Forageplus Performance Horse Feed Balancers

For the cost of using the Forageplus Performance Horse Balancers see the table below.

BalancerWeight
Forageplus Performance Winter200-400 kg Horse400-600 kg Horse600-700 kg Horse700-800 kg Horse
Cost per day£1.89£2.16£2.43£2.56
Days one 5KG bag will last35.731.2527.726.3
Forageplus Performance Summer200-400 kg Horse400-600 kg Horse600-700 kg Horse700-800 kg Horse
Cost per day £1.64£1.87£2.11£2.22
Days one 5KG bag will last35.731.2527.726.3

See the table below for an understanding of the cost per day of using Forageplus Young Horse Balancers for a weanling, yearling and 2 – 5 year old young horse, which will make 400kg – 600kg adult horse.

BalancerAge
Forageplus Young Horse SummerWeanling Yearling2 - 5 year old horse
Cost per day (young horse to make 400-600kg)£0.41£0.52£1.12
Days one 5Kg bag will last90.971.433.3
Forageplus Young Horse WinterWeanlingYearling2 - 5 year old horse
Cost per day (young horse to make 400-600kg)£0.51£0.65£1.39
Days one 5kg bag will last90.971.433.3

How much might I spend on a bespoke horse supplement using separate minerals?

Our bespoke service needs you to have carried out a scientific analysis of your grass, hay or haylage. You can carry that out with Forageplus or you can send us your report.  We are experts in interpreting forage reports and determining how to match the nutrients needed to those found in your grass, hay or haylage.

Our interpretations show that on average most forage is always short of lysine, copper, zinc, magnesium and selenium and often phosphorous and iodine. Levels of each mineral depend on each individual forage profile, with one customer perhaps only needing small amounts of certain minerals and another needing far more in order to balance incorrect ratios. However, for one horse a typical order in summer is likely to be:

  • 3kg of lysine
  • 1kg of bioplex copper
  • 1kg of bioplex zinc
  • 1kg of magnesium
  • 0.5kg of selenium yeast
  • 5kg of mono-sodium phosphate (if calcium levels are too high which they often are)

In winter you would only need to add vitamin E to all the above as all other vitamins will be provided by feeding forage in the form of grass, hay or haylage.

To support healthy hoof function we might also recommend buying 0.5kg of biotin and methionine and b vitamins. This may be important for horses in an environment that might make them vulnerable to thrush, hoof cracks, frequent hoof abscesses and/or white-line disease

All minerals are fed in small amounts and so will last quite a few months. In the case of selenium and biotin, you might expect 0.5kg to last more than a year.

For example, a typical order in summer (April – October) might be as follows:

Foxy is a 550 kg Welsh section D type cob in light work. He is a good doer so he only needs 10kg of forage per day plus his minerals in a very small amount of carrier such as beet pulp. He needs lysine, magnesium, phosphorous, copper, zinc, selenium and biotin added to his diet. Below is the amount of time each bag of minerals he needs will last him when they are balanced to his forage.

MineralDaysCost per day
3kg Lysine150£0.13
1kg Magnesium83£0.22
1kg Bioplex Copper180£0.12
1kg Bioplex Zinc105£0.23
5kg Monosodium Phosphate160£0.13
0.5kg Selenium Yeast555£0.03
0.5 kg Biotin494£0.07

Total cost to feed a truly bespoke mineral supplement to Foxy in summer per day = £0.93 pence

In reality, you might find that your supplement is cheaper than this, especially if your horse does not need phosphorous or biotin in his/her diet.

In winter you would just need to add vitamin E to the above cost. You would feed a 500kg horse a 10ml scoop of our natural vitamin E oil per day.

Can I combine a horse feed balancer and separate minerals and amino acids?

If you carry out analysis testing of your grass, hay or haylage then you can use our horse feed balancers as a base and add in the extras you need as indicated by the nutritional levels in the forage analysis report. This is a simple and cost-effective way of balancing the daily nutrition your horse needs. The cost will vary according to the horse balancer chosen and the extra separates needed.

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