How to Make Your Own SmartPaks

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.

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.

Labelled Suppement Cups

Step 4. Line up all the little tupperwears in a row.

Step 5. Fill each cup with the supplements you need.

Barn work and nail polish do not go together

Step 6. Put lids on and stack them on the shelf.

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.

Step 8 (Optional). Larger supplement containers are kept in the metal cabinet. I refill these small ones to make it easier to scoop out the supplements. We built this shelf into our feed bin specifically to hold supplements.

Alternative:
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)

Labels: Do It Yourself