I’m a cheapskate so I don’t use SmartPak’s even though I like the idea. The problem is that in addition to being a bit more expensive for the container and service – which I might be willing to pay for the convenience, SmartPak underestimates how much of each supplement your horse needs. For example, my vet wants Dijon on 10,000 IUs of vitamin E per day. SmartPak’s daily value is 2,500 IU, so I’d need to get 4 doses per day. This would cost $4.47 per day for just vitamin E – he’s also on MSM, Magnesium, and some other supplements. It would cost about $200 a month just for Dijon’s supplements, let alone Shasta’s. Nilla gets one scoop of Biotin a day and that’s negotiable so she’s not really a concern.
Instead, I buy E 5000 from Horse.com. It costs $82.59 for a 5lb container. At 2 oz per day the container lasts 40 days so the daily cost is $2.06.
Since he’s also on the other supplements, I combine them all into little tupperware containers and make my own supplement jars. This is especially helpful as we so often have leasers and helpers feeding for us.
Step 1. Buy a face mask to keep the dusts/powders out of your nose.
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| all the cool kids are wearing them |
Step 2. Buy salad dressing size tupperware containers. They come in 8 packs and should cost less than $4 for all 8. Mine have laster 2+ years.
Step 3. Label your cups. This isn’t necessary if you only have one horse, but I have 3 and they’re all on different supplements.
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| Labelled Suppement Cups |
Step 4. Line up all the little tupperware cups in a row.
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| Barn work and nail polish do not go together |
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| White Boards are mounted on the feed bin doors |
Step 7. We keep white boards on the feed bin that list what each horse gets. Grain and supplements are listed separately. This way anyone can feed them even if the cups are all empty.
Plastic baggies – I know some people do this, but they seem very wasteful to me. These cheap containers have seriously lasted a long time (except for one that was destroyed in the washing machine (hence there are only 7 Shasta cups)
I am almost to the point of considering an alternative to Smartpak. Certainly can't cost more!
It really does cost a lot less. And the time factor is pretty negligible. If I have room, I'd probably make more at a time and cut the overall time down even more.
You know, I love the therapy of scooping supplements, honesty. I usually just make Murray's bucket day by day, but when I go away and have to do 8+ days at a time I find it very soothing. Plus, think how much plastic you're NOT wasting by doing this!
That's true. There is a lot less waste this way.
That's really cool using the Tupperware! I've heard of using the Ziploc baggies. It's not wasteful if you reuse them. 🙂
We tried baggies, but they break and get particles caught in the closure and just end up being a bit annoying. I think the baggies work better if you have a barn feeder and they feed the baggie and trash it after.
I have no idea why I never considered using tupperware for this.
Plastic bags are so *complicated* what with keeping them open and being careful not to break them and…
this is genius.
Thanks. They really work quite well.
Hey hopefully you see this, I know this blog was written quite a while ago.
My horse also requires a large volume of vitamin e daily and it gets expensive. Try checking out Ultra Cruz vitamin e. Soooo much cheaper. I got a one month supply for as little as $9
I actually have moved on to UltraCruz vitamin E since then and it is a bit cheaper, though the shipping is expensive. It's also incredibly dusty and annoying to deal with instead of being nicely granulated. But it is a good, cheap choice. I still put it in the little tupperwares.