Understanding how to read a horse feed tag is an important step when researching which feed is right for your horse.

Why are horse feed tags so important? 

If you’re someone who likes to research the feed you give your horse — and let’s face it, that’s probably all of us — feed tags are a great source of information. It’s the only consistent source available across all brands and products because they’re required by law to be on every bag of commercial horse feed.

What information are feed tags required to share?

• Product name and weight. 
• Purpose statement about which type of horse the feed is intended for. 
• Guaranteed analysis of certain nutrients. 
• Ingredient list. 
• Feeding directions and precautionary statements. 
• Manufacturer information. 

What’s shared in that purpose statement? 

This purpose statement says for what class of horse the feed has been specially formulated. For example, if you have a young growing horse, you can ensure the feed you have is appropriate for him by looking for “young growing horse” in the purpose statement. If you see a product statement saying the feed is designed for a “mature horse at maintenance,” you know it may not be ideal for a young growing horse.

What does “guaranteed” mean in a guaranteed analysis of certain nutrients? 

All nutrients guaranteed on the tag may be subject to testing by regulatory agencies to determine whether the tag guarantees are accurate. All fortified horse feeds will list the following:

• Crude Protein (minimum) 
• Crude Fat (minimum) 
• Crude Fiber (maximum) 
• Acid Detergent Fiber (ADF) (maximum) 
• Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF) (maximum) 
• Calcium (minimum and maximum) 
• Phosphorus (minimum) 
• Copper (minimum) (if added) 
• Selenium (minimum) 
• Zinc (minimum) 
• Vitamin A (minimum, if added) 

You’ll also see sugar (maximum) and starch (maximum) if the feed makes any carbohydrate claims in packaging or marketing. 

Why do some ingredient lists seem to have more details? 

Most states allow the feed manufacturer to determine ingredient terminology, but some states require individual ingredients on horse feed labels. That’s why you might see lists that share individual ingredients (e.g. oats, rice bran, etc.) while in other states, you might see collective terms (e.g. grain products or processed grain by-products) in ingredient lists. There’s a bit of a misconception that an ingredient list including individual ingredients means the manufacturer is “locking” or “fixing” the feed formula, while using collective terms could mean the feed formula is using “least cost” formulation.  

What can you figure out about feed formulas from ingredient lists? 

Ingredients are required to be listed in descending order of inclusion, so the earlier you see an ingredient, the more of that ingredient there is in the feed. The ingredient list isn’t a recipe — it’s a simple list of what’s used to make a product.  

What happens if you ignore the listed feeding directions? 

Horse feed manufacturers formulate feeds to be fed at a specific range of feeding rates, so if you don’t feed according to the directions, you might not see the full nutritional benefits of that feed and it won’t perform as intended. 

Is every nutrient in a feed listed on the feed tag? 

Although some manufacturers choose to include nutrient guarantees beyond those required by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) or individual states, in fact, not every nutrient in a feed is listed in the feed tag. Simply put, if AAFCO or a state doesn’t require that specific nutrient to be on the feed tag, it doesn’t have to be. So, if you compare the guaranteed analysis on one feed to another, you might see more nutrients listed and assume that there are more nutrients for your horses in them, but that’s not necessarily true.

Why aren't all nutrient be listed on a feed tag? 

State regulatory agencies often perform analyses on only the nutrients that are required to be listed. While some states may test additional included nutrients, it is not required. States are less likely to test for nutrients if they are not required to be listed, and some nutrients are quite expensive to assay (such as amino acids, vitamins and various feed additives), so compliance with those additional guarantees is not as reliable as for those required to be listed. Essentially, some manufacturers may not list a nutrient if they are not legally required to, and that helps avoid costly testing. 

Can a feed tag help me figure out if I’m giving my horse the right amount of a certain ingredient? 

No, because horses don’t have an oat or soybean meal requirement — they have protein, vitamin, mineral and calorie requirements. Ingredients are simply vehicles for delivering nutrients.  

Can a feed tag help me know if I’m giving my horse the right amount of a certain nutrient? 

No. When reading horse feed tag guarantees, some horse owners might look for the tag with the “most” of everything listed. With that mindset, if one tag guarantees 3,000 IU/lb Vitamin A and a second tag guarantees 15,000 IU/lb Vitamin A, they might think the second feed is “better.” However, there’s a maximum tolerable amount of Vitamin A for horses, so using the second feed could cause health problems over time. This concept holds true for many nutrients. Sometimes more is not better. Sometimes more is just more — and unfortunately, sometimes more is worse, possibly even toxic. 

Are manufacturers required to share anything about their research process or approach to quality control on feed tags? 

Feed manufacturers have widely differing quality control standards, so while they’ll follow industry minimum standards for quality and safety measures, those aren’t noted on feed tags. Same with developing the horse feed formulations — tags can’t tell the full story of whether a manufacturer conducted their own research and testing to develop a proven product or just developed a product using published nutrient requirements and no further testing. 

Should I only refer to feed tags for information? 

Feed tags only will include what they’re legally required to share, so it’s good to know what’s consistently included on a horse feed tag and what you can’t determine from a feed tag. 

If you take away one thing from this blog, it’s that feed tags can’t tell the whole story behind a feed. At Purina, we take the most pride in things that don’t show up on the tag because horses don’t eat the feed tags — they eat the feed. A feed tag won’t tell you how your horse looks, feels and performs when they eat a feed, but your horse will. 

Our Purina horse team of Ph.Ds. and nutritionists make it a priority to produce top-quality products by focusing on things not found on a feed tag:  

• Studying advances in equine nutrition. 

• Conducting scientific research at the Purina Animal Nutrition Center and in collaboration with universities. 

• Conducting field tests to ensure our feeds perform as intended before ever being made available to the public. 

• Fine-tuning feed formulations. 

• Working with our quality control and production specialists. 

• Constantly monitoring ingredient and finished product quality. 

In other words, we spend a great deal of time and effort making sure our horse feed products are the best they can be. Learn more about exactly what we do and how we do it. For more information, view our horse feed products and educational articles or contact customer service.