Alfalfa..

[lucemoose]

Sorry everyone but am on a fact finding mission this week!
I feed the beast soaked oats with alfalfa..From what I read about the SO diet, it states that the alfalfa is there just the balance out the calcium/phosphorous ratio, and also to add a little bulk.
Sooo..seeing as it suggests only feeding two handfuls of chaff in each feed I am unlikely to get results when using a chaff like alfa oil( as i use at the mo) b/c am not feeding recommened amount...
Obv I would like to be cheap so no more alfa oil! - what other alfa based chaffs are there? pure ones mind, not the hi fi types..
ideas?brands?
or should i not bother with chaff and just go for limestone flour to balance?
ta very much!

 

[sleepingdragon10]

Alfa isn't just a balancer, it contains various vits and mins, as well as providing a very valuable source of fibre, which afterall is what horses are designed to eat.

Could you get hold of just pure alfalfa pellets at all? D&H do them I think, that way you could soak them alongside the oats and it should work out cheaper than buying one of the alfa chaffs

Beth

 

[lucemoose]

true, no fibre = bad news!!
that sounds a good idea, by soak do you mean just until they fall apart or a SB 24 hour soak type thing?
Will go pester feed barn guy tomo after reading peoples responses..
Thank you, this place is good for advice!

 

[air78]

If i was on the soaked oats diet, I would be using a broard spectrum vit and min suppliment, or a balancer- topspec original is my personal choice. Your horses diet will be lacking in nutrients if you are just feeding oats and alfalfa with forage.
I think D&H do an alfalfa chaff.

 

[twisteddiamond]

countrywidefarmers do their own which is about 4.99 a bag for 15kg if you have a shop close to you

 

[Maesfen]

A friend of mine has for years reared young tb's that go onto racing and none of them have fallen apart at the seams yet and she only feeds soaked oats with soaked sugarbeet, a balancer along with a dash of Tesco's cheapest but finest oil and chaff is not needed as she feeds enough SB for all the fibre they need (they also have ad lib hay/haylage). They all look fantastic, a real bloom to their coats and are a credit to her and no way are they loopy. It seems a good cheap diet (balancer is the dearest thing) but you save by not buying mixes or cubes; well worth the extra I would have thought.
You can buy two 25kgs bag of oats for what a bag of Alpha A Oil costs and look how long those bags will last you?!

 

[sleepingdragon10]

I'd just soak them til they went soft...maybe a couple of hours in warm water?

As for the SO diet being unbalanced....if you feed seaweed alongside the SO and alfa, then it is a balanced diet

 

[Tia]

I'm lucky as we grow alfalfa hay so I have an endless supply of the stuff. I personally wouldn't feed oats without alfalfa in some form. Mine also have ad-lib timothy/kentucky bluegrass/brome/alfalfa hay, so a nice mix.

If the cubes/pellets you are talking about are anything like the ones we have over here (big cubes about 1 inch sq) then they are usually soft enough after about 15 mins soaking in warm water....about an hour in cold water.

Might be a consideration to feed Black Oil Sunflower Seeds too?

 

[lilym]

alfa a original
dodson and horrell alfalfa
dr greens alfalfa
etc etc, most manufacturers produce an alfalfa chaff of some sort, or if you really want to save cash, buy alfalfa pellets, all the benefits of pure alfalfa but in pellet form and sooo much cheaper... by around £2 per 20kg bag, just soak to a mush and add the oats.

 

[druid]

Bailey's do a good alfalfa chaff as do most of the manufacturers these days!

 

[Magicmillbrook]

Simple systems do alfafa pellets, bix and chop

 

[Theresa_F]

If you want pure alfa a - nothing added, then look at Simple System green gold. It is pure chopped alfa a and nothing else - I feed it to my boys along with lucie stalks to keep the calories down.

 

[lucemoose]

Thank you everyone...have sent the lovely parentals out to find alfalfa pellets while I do H/W...
Tia I read your posts about the sunflower seeds, will searcg for some of them too
Theresa F I used to be on SS, if he takes to the soaked pellets Ill be back on it!
Thank You