Alfa A - Anyone noticed changes??

Firewell

Firewell

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I feed Jt Alfa A original. The last bag I opened I noticed it was A LOT different than normal. I could smell the molasses the moment I opened the bag and it was black and a very heavy consistency. Normally its light and green. Now it looks as though there are more mollasses in it than Alfa!

I thought maybe I had just picked up a bag that had been at the beginning of the production line when they added the molasses or something but I opened up another new bag and its the same.. black and sticky :(. My friend opened up her new bag of Alfa and hers was much blacker also.

Im so cross! I feed it because its meant to be good for my horse, If I wanted to feed him a bowl of sugar I would :(

Has anyone else noticed it? Im going to fire off an e mail to Dengi. Im hoping they havent changed their recipe. If the next bag I open is the same im going to change to the mollichaff alfalfa.
 
Ive noticed that all of their chaffs are just dust and mollasses recently!! Ive now changed over to Spillers Conditioning Fibre. Much better! Shorter chopped, not coated in mollasses, no dust and best of all...ponio loves it!!!
 
Ha ha, well done Equestrian92! :)

Im really not impressed actually, their chaff's are quite expensive and they bang on about how brilliant they are. I think my current bag of Alfa A has more mollasses in it than a cheap old bag of bog standard chaff.

Not a happy Dengie camper today!
 
They emailed me back and they are sending me a sample bag so they can test it, so hopefully I might get a freebie when they realise its not what its ment to be! :D Lol
 
Oooh I just e mailed them as well so maybe I will get a bag too!

I hope so, I was very happy with the Alfa A untill recently.

Maybe they have changed maufacturers or something? Probably gone with a cheaper manufacturer :(
 
i just dont feed it anymore because it was always changing, it used to be a nice green course alfa then it went to a handfull of dust, i feed mollichaff hoofkind, my horse isnt a lamanitic but the biotin is good for his feet. (tb feet) top spec to a chaff range now. iv managed to find a good combo at the moment, i feed hoofkind and iv also got a bag of aldwick grass that was given to me, and i put a handfull of that with the chaff and his conditioning cubes and its smells lush and he loves it, i think its nice as he doesnt get to go on the grass all winter.
 
Unfortunatly if you use an english based Alfalfa company then towards the end of the fibre year then the quality of the fibre can get worse and be very dusty, as long as the colour of tyhe chaff is still strong then the nutritional content will still be the same, when the colour starts to go off and be a browner colour then the nutritional content has deteriated. Some companies do not use english grown Alfalfa and so can provide a good looking chaff through the year. The dust is not so much of a problem as long as it is dampened before feeding. The colour i would be worried about!
 
I noticed this as well I thought it was a one off but the same when I opened mine yesterday it has affected Sid a lot made him a bit more hyper its like treacle mine! So its not just me then! Where is the email addy on the website?
 
Unfortunatly if you use an english based Alfalfa company then towards the end of the fibre year then the quality of the fibre can get worse and be very dusty, as long as the colour of tyhe chaff is still strong then the nutritional content will still be the same, when the colour starts to go off and be a browner colour then the nutritional content has deteriated. Some companies do not use english grown Alfalfa and so can provide a good looking chaff through the year. The dust is not so much of a problem as long as it is dampened before feeding. The colour i would be worried about!
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Thats interesting! The colour of the actual stems looks fine, its nice and green. It just seems to be more dusty and with much more mollasses in it than normal...

Where is the email addy on the website?
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I went to the contact page and at the bottom clicked on contact by e mail, I think it was.

The more e mails they get, the better hopefully. I know its not all massivley important in the whole scheme of things but it has irritated me somewhat!
 
I've been horseless until last weekend when got my first bag for nearly a year and noticed that HiFi doesnt seem to be as tightly packed as it used to be. It was more dusty and shorter chopped than i remember too. I've always fed it i but might look into other alturnatives just in case.
 
I had to email them twice as i found massive lumps or compressed alfalfa and molasses in the last 2 bags i have had.

They have been very good, and replaced both bags each time.
 
I have noticed the last 2 to 3 batches have had some really hard bits in - enough so you hear the horses teeth bite it - the horses almost seam to spit out in disgust - and handling some of it is really sharp on my hands - so how the horses mouth feels i really dont know - I am using my last bag and will search out something that is a little less "sharp"
 
I've just checked my new bag of Alpha a, bought on Tuesday. Compared it to the remains of the bag I bought 16 weeks ago (bought 2 bags on special when I got my new girl).

Very little difference, the alfalfa looks the same and the dusty bits are slightly greener than the older batch which is a slightly darker brown colour.

Both smell quite nice.
 
HollyB66 said:
I've just checked my new bag of Alpha a, bought on Tuesday. Compared it to the remains of the bag I bought 16 weeks ago (bought 2 bags on special when I got my new girl).
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A bag lasts you 8 weeks?
shocked.gif
Wish my bag of Alfa A lasted me that long! I go through a bag a fortnight!
Can't say I've seen any difference in mine. Smells as scrummy as ever! :)
 
as alfalfa is a natural material the end product can vary in appearance but this is no difference to the varitation in colour, size and shape of friut and veg that we eat.

colour variation in the finished product is something people notice over time, some bags may appear bright green whereas others may appear brown. the reason behind this is the weather in which it is grown. in the wetter walmer weather the plants tend to be green and leafy whereas plants grown in the hot weather tend to browner. the texture also varies, depending on how quickly it grows. the leafy variety can look bitty in the bag so thats why they use molasses or oil to bind the stem and the leaf. hence this time of year it is probably more molassey as the plants are more leafy.

NO i don't work for dengie. YES i have just taken there course for work.
 
I think alot of the reason behind the changes is that they are running to the end of last year's alfalfa crop. It is likely that the alfalfa they are using now is more fibrous and drier causing the leaf to "shatter" more easily, not ideal but will cause no problems for the horse.
 
WelshMisfit said:
A bag lasts you 8 weeks?
shocked.gif
Wish my bag of Alfa A lasted me that long! I go through a bag a fortnight!
Can't say I've seen any difference in mine. Smells as scrummy as ever! :)
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She is only 14.2 hh and probably what people call 'a good doer'. She has 1 scoop alpha a, 1 scoop farmshop cool mix, glug of veg oil plus a carrot/apple in the morning and again in the evening. The rest of her diet is grass/ad lib hay. The farmshop mix lasts me 3 weeks for a bag.

She's also only in light work so not a huge energy requirement. She does okay for a 18 year old and is holding her weight well (weekly measured).

As she doesn't have shoes she is quite cheap to run :)
 
QR - I keep my horse on the same farm as a large feed distribution warehouse and they have had to send loads of Alfa A back, they now are opening all bags before sending them out because of this. Dengie have had problems with quality control for a while due to company policy changes from what I gather....
 
I use Alfa-Oil. I'm sure my horse would be delighted if it was black and sticky with molasses. Unfortunately ours has been dry and dusty, and madam has turned her nose up, so a lot more sugar beet has had to go in to get her to eat her feed. Hopefully the next batch will be better.
 
I've been very pleased with Mollichaffs version of Alfa oil. Ponies have liked it too. and considerably cheaper price per kg than the Dengie even if it is only a 15kg bag...
 
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