Alternatives to Top Chop Zero?

[ElleSkywalker]

I know I know, probably been done loads before, but any alternatives to top chop zero? Storeing straw is not possible, needs to be a low cal as possible for a bunch as fatties to be fed along side rationed hay (2018 hay not new) so they arent left hungry. They do nibble on the top chop zero but only when really starving (which is the point of it) so would like something they are a little keener on if possible

 

[meleeka]

Honeychop Lite and Healthy. 3.1% sugar and starch. Mine like it and it smells nice.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Honeychop Lite and Healthy. 3.1% sugar and starch. Mine like it and it smells nice.

This ^ I swapped to it a few months ago and it's brilliant for fatties. It is Timothy hay, chopped straw, cinnamon good for EMS ponies and no added sugar or fillers. Looks and smells nice and I use it on its own to add supplements to and once winter arrives will add a sloppy speedybeet.

 

[ElleSkywalker]

Honeychop Lite and Healthy. 3.1% sugar and starch. Mine like it and it smells nice.

Is this ok to use as a partial hay replacer, as in a kg or two a day? Sounds yum 😋

 

[be positive]

This ^ I swapped to it a few months ago and it's brilliant for fatties. It is Timothy hay, chopped straw, cinnamon good for EMS ponies and no added sugar or fillers. Looks and smells nice and I use it on its own to add supplements to and once winter arrives will add a sloppy speedybeet.

A third vote, mine are happy to eat it but would not touch the plain straw chop unless it was mixed in with something tasty which defeated the object, my sec a has the most and will not gorge it, if left with a fair bit she goes back to her hay or a pick of grass which works really well, plain straw was just left untouched.

An ideal partial hay replacer, which it what I got it for originally but have been pleased to find the others eat it.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

ESW, A & B will eat it, if its drizzled with half a dozen pony nuts and a teaspoon of the Pure feed that B Fuzzy is on.
Neither like it at all on its own tho.

 

[Hallo2012]

Top chop zero made both my boys faces swell! now on E-feeds straw chaff which is neither tasty or interesting but when hungry the fatty eats it! he's lost loads and is so much happier

 

[Britestar]

Northern crop driers Gold Blend.
Chopped oat straw with a tiny amount of dried grass in it.

My lot won't eat top chop zero, but gobble this down.

 

[Nasicus]

Northern crop driers Gold Blend.
Chopped oat straw with a tiny amount of dried grass in it.

My lot won't eat top chop zero, but gobble this down.

You might want to check the label, it has grass as it's main ingredient and is dressed in (low-sugar apparently) molasses. Sugars at 6.5% and Starch at 1%, so by no means terrible.

 

[Gingerponyowner]

I feed mine Dengie Healthy Hooves Mollasses Free, think it's 3.5% combined sugar and starch

 

[TotalMadgeness]

I use the efeed chaff in my fatties' feeds but find locally grown dampened oat straw in a haynet is eaten no problem alongside strictly rationed haylage.

 

[Nasicus]

Out of curiosity OP, why are you after an alternative? You say they'll nibble on the TCZ if they're hungry enough, but not gobble it down, so it's doing the job isn't it? You might struggle to get something else that strikes the balance between 'so plain they won't touch it' and 'gobble it down in seconds'.

I've used Honeychop Plain Oat Straw Chaff in the past to bulk out feeds, but none of mine would touch it on it's own, even if given to them in lieu of a haynet. They'd rush over (because omg bucket food!!), sniff it, and then realise what it was and leave it.

I currently use TCZ, and it seems to hit that balance, as they'll all eat it in their feed mixed with Speedibeet, and the one that needs to lose weight will eat it slowly once her hay is gone, or will eat it in lieu of a net when tied up.

I've looked at a lot of the more palatable ones, like NCD Gold Blend and various iterations of Honeychop (The lite and healthy one really appeals to me as a human buyer!), but I know they'll just get wolfed down by Fatguts I have tried padding out her nets/piles of forage on the floor with a mixture of hay and straw, but she'll expertly pick out every last strand of hay and leave the straw behind!

 

[ElleSkywalker]

Because they wont eat it unless starving which is ok in summer as they've had more cals out of the grass during turn out but coming into winter when grass is poor too and on restricted hay I dont like them having nothing to eat at all. I dont want them to necessarily have something they love and woof down just that they are keener on than the top chop but that is still basically eating dust so they can have fullish tums without the cals.

I can't store straw so mixing rations with straw is out of the question for now

 

[Nasicus]

Because they wont eat it unless starving which is ok in summer as they've had more cals out of the grass during turn out but coming into winter when grass is poor too and on restricted hay I dont like them having nothing to eat at all. I dont want them to necessarily have something they love and woof down just that they are keener on than the top chop but that is still basically eating dust so they can have fullish tums without the cals.

I can't store straw so mixing rations with straw is out of the question for now

If they're fatties, I wouldn't worry too much. If they're eating the TCZ as a last resort, then they're not stuck with nothing to eat at all, just something that they'll pick away at as opposed to cramming it all in and leaving empty buckets. You almost want buckets with some left in the morning, as then you know they've eaten some, but haven't run out.
But, you could always go about things a different way, and add something to the TCZ to make it a bit more enticing, maybe a sprinkling of salt? Or a dried herb of some kind, like mint or turmeric? Dampening it often makes it more appealing also!

 

[ElleSkywalker]

Two of them are fatties with ulcers, hence not wanting them to be starving starving 🙈

 

[Nasicus]

Two of them are fatties with ulcers, hence not wanting them to be starving starving 🙈

Ah right, should have put that in your reply as that changes things
In that case, I'd be inclined to go for something like Honeychop Lite and Healthy (3% sugar and 0.1% starch), something with a bit of appeal to it, but without any molasses, sugary dressings. It does have linseed and rapeseed oil added to it, but then TCZ has linseed oil added too. It seems to me like it has a good mixture of textures and types of forage in there to keep them interested, plus the herbs and cinnamon probably smell quite nice too.
HC also do the Natural Choice Alfalfa, which is the same as L&H but with Alfalfa in it, if you wanted something with a bit of stomach acid buffering in it?

 

[Merrymoles]

Northern Crop Driers Gold Blend for me too - smells gorgeous and they appear to love it.

 

[Leo Walker]

I might be wrong but I'm sure I read somewhere that straw isnt great for ulcers, so worth looking into. Is feeding more hay an absolute no go? It seems like you are looking for something that probably doesnt exist.

 

[ElleSkywalker]

More hay a no go, as is soaking or exercise but it is 2018 hay till after Christmas so not new rich stuff.

I think possibly adding mint or wetting with apple juice might be the way forward if I can't source the honeychop light as N suggested above 🤔