When comparing complementary feeds for horses, price differences can sometimes seem confusing. Two products may look almost identical, contain similar ingredients and even be intended for the same purpose – yet one may cost considerably more than the other.
What causes the price difference?
The size of the bag or the price per kilo tells surprisingly little about the product itself. The price is influenced above all by the quality, form and concentration of the ingredients, but also by the daily serving size, manufacturing method, analyses, cleaning, production volumes and packaging.
The same ingredient name does not mean the same quality
The ingredient list may include, for example, zinc, magnesium, vitamin E, amino acids, chia or Boswellia.
But the name alone does not tell you what kind of raw material has actually been used.
Minerals can be used in different chemical forms, vitamins in different forms, and plant-based ingredients may differ in terms of the plant part used, origin, processing and the concentration of naturally occurring compounds.
For this reason, the purchase price of two raw materials can differ considerably, even when the products appear almost identical to the consumer.
Concentration matters
One of the biggest factors affecting the price of a product is how much of the actual nutrient or desired raw material it contains.
Two products may both contain zinc, for example, but the zinc concentration in one may be several times higher than in the other. The same applies to amino acids, vitamins, magnesium and many plant-based ingredients.
This is why a product should not be judged only by the price of the package or the price per kilo.
A much more useful question is:
How much of the desired nutrient does the horse actually receive in one daily serving?
Same type of product – completely different concentration
Biotin products are an easy example.
Two products may both be sold as biotin supplements, but one may provide 10 mg of biotin per daily serving while the other provides 20 mg.
That is a twofold difference.
If products are compared only by the price of the tub or the price per kilo, the more concentrated product may appear more expensive. But when you look at how much biotin the horse actually receives per daily serving, the comparison may look very different.
The same principle applies to zinc, copper, vitamin E, magnesium and amino acids.
10 mg and 20 mg are not just slightly different strengths – the latter provides twice as much biotin per daily serving.
Vitamin E – the same name, but a different form and strength
With vitamin E products, the price difference may come down to two things: how much vitamin E the daily serving contains and which form of vitamin E is used.
Vitamin E can be used in natural or synthetic form. These are not completely equivalent, so the amount stated in milligrams or IU does not always tell the whole story.
Two products may therefore both be vitamin E supplements, while one contains synthetic vitamin E and the other natural vitamin E. Their concentrations may also differ considerably.
For example, Chia de Gracia CDGE contains 100% natural RRR-α-tocopheryl acetate. One gram provides 500 IU of vitamin E, so a 2-gram daily serving provides 1,000 IU.
When comparing vitamin E products, it is worth checking at least:
- whether the vitamin E is natural or synthetic
- how much vitamin E the daily serving provides
- how much the daily serving costs
This tells you more about the true value in use than the price of the tub alone.
Fillers and carrier ingredients affect concentration
Some complementary feeds contain carrier or filler ingredients.
These can have a perfectly valid technical purpose. They may make the product easier to mix, manufacture or dose.
However, they can also increase the total volume of the product in relation to the ingredient or nutrient that the product is primarily intended to provide.
As a result, the price per kilo may be lower, while the concentration of the key nutrient is also lower and the daily serving may be larger.
So the size of the bag alone does not tell you how much of what you are actually buying is inside.
A large bag does not automatically mean a large amount of the nutritionally important ingredient.
Pelleting also affects composition
A pelleted product is not always created simply by pressing powder into pellets.
To produce pellets that are sufficiently durable, uniform and suitable for manufacturing, the formulation may require carrier, structural or binding ingredients.
Their purpose may be to improve, for example, the compressibility of the mixture, pellet durability, consistency and handling.
This also means that the total weight of a pelleted product does not necessarily consist solely of the nutrients or ingredients that you primarily want to give to the horse.
Pelleting can be a practical and useful manufacturing method, but when comparing products it is still worth checking the actual nutrient concentrations and daily serving, rather than drawing conclusions based only on product form or price per kilo.
A low price per kilo can be more expensive per day
Let’s take a simple example.
Product A
Price €25/kg
Daily serving 100 g
→ €2.50/day
Product B
Price €45/kg
Daily serving 20 g
→ €0.90/day
Looking only at the price per kilo, Product B appears significantly more expensive. In daily use, however, it is clearly cheaper.
If you want to compare products sensibly, look at least at:
price + daily serving + amount of the desired nutrient per daily serving.
The form of the ingredient also affects the price
Not all nutrients are used in the same form.
Trace minerals, for example, may be used as different inorganic compounds or organically bound forms. Vitamin E may be natural or synthetic, and magnesium is available in several different compounds.
The cost of these raw materials can differ considerably.
Yet both product labels may simply say “zinc”, “magnesium” or “vitamin E”.
This is why the name of the nutrient alone does not necessarily tell you everything about the differences between products.
Plant-based ingredients can vary greatly too
With herbs and other plant-based ingredients, pricing can be even more complex.
The price may be affected by:
- where the plant was grown
- which part of the plant is used
- how it has been dried and processed
- how much of the desired naturally occurring compounds it contains
- whether it is an ordinary plant powder or a raw material in which certain compounds have been specifically defined
- how well the purity and composition of the raw material are known
Different batches of the same plant can also vary greatly
Plant-based raw materials are natural products. Growing conditions, weather, harvesting, drying, sorting and storage all affect their characteristics.
Chia is a good example.
There are different quality grades and chia batches selected for different purposes. High-quality chia is uniform and carefully cleaned, and strict requirements may be set for factors such as moisture, impurities and overall quality.
Different types of raw material batches can also be used for feed purposes, provided that they are safe and suitable for animal feed. A batch that does not meet the commercial quality specifications for food use may, in some cases, be used as a feed material.
This can also result in a significant difference in raw material price.
Cleaning level also costs money
Cleaning seeds is not a cost-free stage of production.
The more thoroughly dust, plant residues, weed seeds and other impurities are removed from a raw material, the more the processing costs.
This may be one reason why two raw materials both labelled chia can have very different purchase prices.
At Chia de Gracia, we always use Grade 1 chia. This is a conscious choice of raw material for us, even though cheaper alternatives are available on the market.
Quality control cannot be seen from the outside of the bag
Analysing raw materials and finished products costs money.
A manufacturer may monitor, for example, nutrient concentrations, microbiological quality, heavy metals, moisture, other potential harmful substances, and the origin and traceability of raw materials.
In addition, self-monitoring, batch traceability and documentation are required.
The consumer cannot see these things from the outside of the package, but they are part of the product’s manufacturing cost.
Production volume affects the price
It also makes a big difference whether a product is manufactured in quantities of a few thousand kilos or several million kilos.
Large manufacturers can purchase raw materials, packaging and transport in very large volumes and therefore obtain significantly lower prices.
In smaller-scale production, the cost per product for manufacturing work, packaging, analysis and logistics is usually higher.
For this reason, the cost structure of a specialised complementary feed produced in small batches can be very different from that of a high-volume mass-market product.
Packaging is also part of the price
The purpose of packaging is not just to look good.
It also needs to protect the product from factors such as moisture, oxygen, light and the stresses of transportation.
In addition to the bag itself, costs arise from labels, printing, packing work, shipping boxes and various packaging-related obligations.
What about product development?
A good complementary feed is not created simply by mixing a few ingredients together.
When developing a product, you need to consider, for example:
- which nutrients the product is intended to supplement
- at what concentration
- in which forms they should be used
- which ingredients work well together
- what constitutes a sensible daily serving
- how to ensure consistency
- how the product can be dosed easily in practice
- how the formulation and labelling can be implemented correctly
This work is also part of the true cost of the product.
More expensive does not automatically mean better
Price alone is not a guarantee of quality.
A cheaper product may be perfectly adequate for a particular horse, and not every horse needs the most concentrated or most expensive option.
On the other hand, a low price per kilo does not automatically mean that the product is economical to use.
When comparing products, it is worth asking:
What does the product actually contain?
In what form are the ingredients?
How much does it contain?
How much of the product is needed per day?
And how much of the desired nutrient does the horse actually receive in one daily serving?
Once you start comparing products this way, a large price difference between two products that look very similar can often become much easier to understand.
The true value of a feed is ultimately not determined by its price per kilo – but by what ends up in the feed bowl.
