03/05/2026
Tip of the Day: Scoops are great… until you realize how creative we can get with them.
Most of us feed our horses by the scoop. It’s quick, easy, and once you get into a routine it feels pretty consistent. But every once in a while, I pull out a small handheld luggage scale and weigh their feed.
Why? A few reasons.
First, it helps me plan my trips to the feed store. When I know roughly how many pounds each horse eats per day, I can do the math and figure out how long a bag will actually last. Fewer “I thought we had more feed” moments.
Second, it makes it much easier to estimate the monthly feed budget. When you know how many pounds your horses are actually going through, it’s a lot simpler to predict what you’ll be spending each month.
Third, it keeps my scooping honest. A scoop can mean a lot of things depending on the day—level scoop, rounded scoop, generous scoop, or the classic “I’m in a hurry and that looks about right” scoop. Weighing it occasionally lets me see how consistent I really am.
And finally, it gives me a better sense of what they’re actually consuming each day. Knowing their feed in pound...not just scoops...helps me understand their intake a little more clearly.
It only takes a minute, but it’s a simple way to double-check that your one scoop today is the same one scoop you fed yesterday. I happened to see this at the feed store but there are a ton on Amazon too!