Strength versus Cost

Cost Comparisons of Different Extract Strengths

To compare cost we need to know the extract strength:
An important issue that many herbal extract ranges do not address is the strength of their extracts. All Equine Herbals extracts are made to a strength of 1:2. This means that each kilo of plant is extracted into 2 litres of liquid. In this case an alcohol mix.

It is really important to know the strength so that you know how much herb equivalent you are giving your horse. As we know the effect that you can expect depends on the amount given so this is really important information. (more.. Herbs - Just What are You Buying ?)

Note; You may see references to tinctures and fluid extracts. This is really just a question of terminology and from a strict herbal point of view a tincture is an extract with a strength of 1:3 or weaker. Anything stronger is a fluid extract.

Extract Cost
The below table shows that the stronger the extract the more herbal constituents are contained in the extract. i.e. the higher the Dry Herb Equivalent (DHE). This means that to achieve the same DHE you need to feed proportionateley less of the stronger extract and more of weaker one.

Similarly one would expect the price to reflect this. Working on the price of a 500ml bottle of 1:2 extract of £20.00 one could argue that 500ml of a 1:3 should cost £13.30 and so on.

With Equine Herbal products you don’t pay extract price for fillers and sweeteners such as honey and cider vinegar.

This table shows cost comparisons between extract strengths.

Strength	Dry Herb Equivalent (DHE) per 500ml	Amount needed to feed the same DHE	Price Guide of 500ml of extract at Different Strengths based on a constant price per gm DHE
1:2	250gms	20ml	if a 1:2 extract = £20.00
1:3	167gms	30ml	then 1:3 should be = £13.30
1:5	100gms	50ml	a 1:5 should be = £8.00
1:10	50gms	100ml	a 1:10 should be = £4.00