Alfalfa and wheat free feed?????

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Louby

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I need to find a feed that has no wheat or alfalfa in it as my horse has shown hes borderline allergic to it. Ive looked on the various feed websites but Im not having much luck as they seem to contain one or the other.
I want a chaff of some sort, currently on Dengi HiFi and a lowish energy mix, hes on pasture mix now.
Ive contacted Spillers but they never got back to me so I thought Id ask on here before I try the others.
 
HiFi contains alfalfa, albeit a relatively small amount.

Off the top of my head, Mollichaff Showshine is alfa free, and has a relatively low sugar content too. Allan & Page do a sugar and cereal intollerance feed, although I wonder if you'd be able to use fibre nuts or grass nuts(soaked) as your base feed?
Might be an idea to phone round the various feed companies and see what they suggest.

Good luck

Bethxx
 
Thanks for that. Ive just contacted Baileys, they do something called Golden Chaff which could replace the HiFi but need a mix or something. Ive looked at the Cereal intolerance but its got Alfalfa in it
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I'll have a look at the Mollichaff now.
Thanks again.
 
Hello,

Feed allergies are notoriously difficult to deal with mainly because so little is known about them. Lots of the vets tests can be quite unreliable too and often an elimination diet where the horse is fed a forage only diet and various componants are added in to see if they cause a reaction, is best. Is the allergy a skin reaction or more behavioural as some people refer to behavioural probs as an allergy when it's more that the horse can't tolerate certain things (usually starch in the case of irratibility or excitability). With skin allergies it's always good to check other factors too such as washing powder, bedding mites etc.

When you look specifically at feed allergies it is usually a reaction to a specific protein in a cereal that causes the reaction (what the research appears to show). That doesn't mean the protein level in the feed is the problem but that it is a specific protein in a specific cereal that might cause the prob hence your horse being sensitive to wheat. What I'm trying to say (not very well) is that one ingredient you will see listed on many low energy mixes and cubes will be wheatfeed, this is a by-product of the wheat milling industry and not the actual wheat grain (where the protein is) so your horse will probably be able to tolerate that so don't be put off by that on the label, actual wheat grain will be a seperate ingredient.

If I were you I'd try some nice and plain high fibre cubes as opposed to a mix, they will be higher in fibre and contain less starch, which can only be a good thing for a slightly sensitive horse. As for the alfalfa, I'm not sure, most of the low energy chaffs like HiFi and Happy Hoof have a little bit of alfalfa in but as it's not much and if you only feed 1/2 - 1 scoop a day that's really not that much so you could see how he does.

Sorry for the rather confusing reply, hope it makes sense!
 
Hello
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Thanks for the advice, Ive noticed most if not all the feeds have wheetfeed in them and wondered what it was.
My horse is itchy and has itched his hocks til they bleed. I caught him biting them the other day. At first I thought it was mild sweet itch as he rubs his mane, tail and face too but he did it last November so decided to have a blood test done. Its shown loads up but only 2 positive things, one red fire ant??? and also black willow which is not near our yard. Theres lots of borderline positives, wheat and Alfalfa being 2 of them. My vet said he can have the vaccines but Im a bit undecided on that so I thought I'd try eliminating what I could to see if it helped at all. Theres things I cant eliminate though. My vet says horses that start later in life with allergies usually get worse and this has been true. Ive had him since he was 4 and he was fine then, last year he was very itchy but didnt draw blood on his hocks and this year he seems not as itchy body wise but has rubbed his face as well as making a mess of his hocks. Hes 8 now.
Hes a very spooky but lazy horse, if that makes sence so I feel like he needs energy but not instant energy as Im afraid that may make him more jumpy. Hes ridden 6 days a week schooling and light hacking.
 
what about some chaff such as showshine and sugarbeet - molassed or unmolassed whichever is preffered, and a vit/min supplement, with add lib hay/haylage, this will provide slow release energy and has no wheat or alfalfa, if you need a bit more energy you can add upto 500ml oil to the diet.
 
Is there anything in the field it could be as well, e.g. you say he wasn't like this as a 4 year old, have you changed yards or turned him out in a different paddock? Also make sure he's getting all his vits and mins, if he isn't getting the recommended amount of a compound feed then I'd top up with a vit and min supplement. (Unless you are using lots of supplements with selenium in in which case try cutting them out as too much selenium can cause itchy skin - although you have to be seriously going for it on the supplement front for that to happen!). Depending on condition / weight etc. then a high fibre cube may be a good place to start, problem is that when you have a lazy horse that's a bit spooky then the instant type energy you need for forward going-ness can also exacerbate an excitable spooky temperament sometimes and you have to remember that energy and calories are the same thing so if you have a lazy horse that gains weight easily then feeding more energy doesn't neccesarily get you forward it can just get you a wider horse! Also I don't really know enough about your horse to comment as things like turnout, condition and amount being fed etc. all have an impact but for some horses that are naturally lazy feed can only help so much and then it's schooling and transitions and keeping work intersting, but I'm sure you already know that!
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Yes theres something in the field that could be causing this
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Clover and lots of it. Wouldnt have known this before the blood test results but hes borderline positive to red clover. Hes not eating it though as Im ankle deep in clover with the grass patches well eaten. I did change yards about 3 1/2 years ago and I really dont want to change again if possible as he now has his own paddock which I wouldnt get anywhere else. To cut a long story short, he fractured his leg last November playing (roughly) in the field and YO let me turn him out alone in the same field as his mates but seperated by electric fencing. I know this isnt natural or ideal really but he really is a liability in the field and at the previous yard 20+ horses in the field he was injured almost daily.
The grazing is too good, he is a bit overweight, hes fed literally a handful of mix and double handful of HiFi, haylage as hes in at night and gets worked, schooled, lunged and light hacked 6 days a week. Im trying ... honest
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Thanks for replying, Ive just had a look at the Showshine and will see if I can get hold of it. Sugarbeet even unmollassed made him a bit sharp so Im going to try and stay clear of that also hes a bit overweight at the moment. My vet has said add oil to his diet as although very shiny, he has a bit of scurvy.
 
Just wanted to add, he didnt show positive to dust although last night I put a new bag od supposedly dust free shavings and he itched his hocks again after not doing it for about a week. I wonder if the shavings have anything to do with it???
 
I can sympathise, we discovered Beano is incredibly itchy when he has anything with wheat or wheatfeed in it. Even his supplement had wheatfeed in it! Luckily for us he is ok on Alfalfa and has Alfa A Lite with the NAF general vits and mins (no wheat, woo hoo!) and Dengie Alfalfa Pellets in his snack ball. He is only 28 months old but is doing well on this diet and looks shiny and healthy
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I found Dengie very helpfull, have you tried them?
Good luck
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I use simple systems. I use the no added mollases sugar beet for my spooky mare who was supposed to go loopy with sugar beet and she is fine, its a realy good source of fibre. Whay I have to be careful about is mollasses, it sends my girl hyper.

Any way simple systems do a variety of chopped grass chaffs (like graze on) and grass nuts tranging from ruff stuff (basicaly chopped up hay) to nuts and chaffs made from spring grass suitable for race horses. All their products are cereal and mollasses free. If you are not working much I would ditto the vit & mineral supplement with lots of lovely hay/haylage.
 
I feed my mare Simple System feeds after she was tested and proven a wheat allergy -had no problems since. Give them a ring to discuss the options of what you could feed him
 
Have you tried Dodson and horrels equine sensitive for horses with allergies. I feed my fizzy TBs on that and mollichop herbi/light. We have allergies and ERS.....
 
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