Can the cost of feeding your horse be measured by the bag cost of a feed?  Not really, read on to discover why it’s a bad criteria. The real question hidden in feed pricing is, “what’s the investment I need to make to get the best from my horse?” If you base your feed cost on results, then Kool & Kalm is the best investment on the market. If you base your feed cost on the price of one bag against another regardless of results this is not your feed!  As with many things in life, the saying “garbage in, garbage out” is very true of horse feed.

Is it really how much a bag your feed is that determines the price you pay, or do you need to look at the yearly total cost of maintaining your horse.  So what do they need?  Well we can start with an acceptable forage source, that’s important to ensure your horse has the basic cellulose in their gut to ensure is functions correctly. 

Next, because we use our horses for tasks that need more energy than they can aquire from grass we feed a concentrate. Once it was just the concentrate that was expensive, now it’s the hay as well, and it does not look like it’s going to get any cheaper than it is now. So let’s look at the big picture one step at a time, just break it down to find out how cost efficient you can be.

When looking at how your money is best spent there are some facts you cannot ignore. Probably the number one item you need to look at is how digestible the concentrated ration is.  The real importance regarding digestibility is that it’s your money that’s wasted in the digestive process, and it’s turned into manure.

For your horse to get useful energy from feed it must be digested. There is always going to be waste matter created in the process of digestion, but the more digestible a feed is, the less is wasted and the more money you save.

Lets look at how digestible feeds are;

Unprocessed grains, corn. oats etc.. are about 30% usable. About 70% of your feed money wasted.

Raw grain based feed is usually around 50% to 70% useable. About 30% to 50% of your feed money wasted.

Extruded feed is usually around 90% to 95% useable.  About 5% to 10% of your feed money wasted.

If a horse has a more efficient digestive system then the usability of forage may also be enhanced up to about 30%. That’s less hay to buy and less poop to cart, and that’s saving more money.

An extremely healthy horse rarely has colic issues to deal with during the year cutting down on vets bills.

Pristine health may also benefit the feet, allowing horses to go barefoot instead of being shod. The difference between a trim and a shoeing is money in your pocket.

If a horse is calmer in the company of humans, and a pleasure to ride due to a calm disposition, what price do you put on your safety?  What’s the price of being off work for six or eight weeks?  What about your kids, what value do you put on their safety?  Isn’t it worth investigating how a feed could help you and your family not get injured? Isn’t it time well spent to find people getting the results you are not getting and asking them what they are doing.

Oh, the cost of a bag of Kool & Kalm in Texas is substantially less than other so called ultimate feeds, you have the pleasure of feeding excellent nutrition to your horse at a very fair price.