Chaff or no Chaff?

[rug~addict]

I was wondering how many of you feed chaff? And what are your reasons for feeding/not feeding it?

 

[Tiddlypom]

I was thinking of starting a similar thread, so thanks for saving me the trouble!

I don't feed chaff, and never have. I don't see the point of it, it's mind boggling seeing all the various permutations of chaff at the feed merchants.

 

[AdorableAlice]

Plain chaff I find useful. A handful in oats or as a carrier for supplements.

 

[Suelin]

I feed a handful of our own chopped hay chaff in every feed. It stops them bolting their food and makes them chew more. I've always done this but wouldn't feed it as a feed as such. It has a purpose, that's all. I certainly wouldn't buy the stuff.

 

[paddyrose]

I now prefer Allan and Page fast fibre. Soaked with double the amount of water to pellets. Ready in less than a mi ute.Seems like they are getting a lot but its mostly water. Less messy than chaff and all mine love it!

 

[ester]

no, although sometimes I find it a bit odd still not feeding it.
Speedibbet and oats here and not bolting, he takes bloomin ages!

 

[AAR]

Connemara only really gets chaff!! Big scoop of Hifi molasses free chaff (its got nuts sprinkled in it.) in the morning. The same in the evening with 1/2 scoop of midlings.

Other hunter refuses to eat feed if its got chaff in it so he goes without. Big scoop of nuts for breakfast and 2 big scoops midlings in the evening. Hes a fussy fussy eater so he gets anything he will eat and this seems to work for him. I hate it as I think they should have chaff in every feed but he won't even pick round the chaff he just flatly refuses to touch it.

 

[criso]

I don't feed it.
I don't feed alfalfa as the calcium levels round here are too high.
I avoid molasses and other additives such as mould inhibitors and preservatives etc found in many chaffs.

So I could feed plain straw chaff but I have 2 tbs who while not poor doers are good doers either so am not trying to bulk out feeds in fact one won't eat a big feed. I have fed alfalfa as i find it a useful feed but when tend to go for the pellets which have less added.

 

[rug~addict]

Ive always thought we feed chaff to slow them down. So why are some of you using soaked products instead?

 

[PorkChop]

No, I never feed chaff, have never seen the point of it

 

[be positive]

Ive always thought we feed chaff to slow them down. So why are some of you using soaked products instead?

Chaff would have been used traditionally to slow down eating when horses were kept on high grain diets, oats and barley as the main feed so it did need something to help them chew, feeding has changed so much over the years, more people feed a high fibre low grain diet so it really is just a filler to bulk out what is in the bucket, I haven't fed it for some time as I just don't see the point with modern feeding methods.
The choice is amazing so many people are obviously happy paying ££s for what is basically chopped hay/ straw/ alfalfa and in many cases lots of molasses to make it palatable, I prefer to give mine more hay.

 

[wench]

dont feed it unless it's necessary, otherwise a waste of money.

The only time I've really used it was when my horse had got a virus, and had gone very thin, and he was on a weight gain feed regime. I added in the chaff as he was being fed the max dose of balancer, conditioning cubes, and outshine. The chaff helped make his feeds up to 2kg, and added some extra calories in, he needed as much as possible. Apart from that, or as a token feed, I dont bother.

 

[ellie11987]

I was always in the 'no' camp until recently. I used to feed speedibeet but my horse felt very 'flat' to ride and had some tummy issues. I started giving a scoop of alfa a oil as she came in before riding which seemed to help so I've swapped the beet out of her main feeds also. She seems better on this, but I know a lot who handle fast fibre or speedibeet better.

I would always feed a bulk either a chaff or beet but the one thing I do find bizarre is when people start feeding multiple types of chaff together as for a bog standard chaff I don't believe they provide much nutritional value.

 

[EquiEquestrian556]

I feed Just Chop to ours along with their hard feed & supplements, I think it's a good source of fiber and stops them bolting it down, plus it's natural, unlike most of the stuff we feed our horses these days.

 

[Jnhuk]

Mine get oat straw with their fast fibre. I like it as gives them something to chew and takes them longer to eat their feed and makes their token feeds seem more substantial without adding any calories etc.... I am all for something that means better saliva production to help prevent stomach ulcers.

 

[Tnavas]

I was thinking of starting a similar thread, so thanks for saving me the trouble!

I don't feed chaff, and never have. I don't see the point of it, it's mind boggling seeing all the various permutations of chaff at the feed merchants.

Whenever you feed, 75% of your feed should be forage (fibre) based. Forage/fibre opens up the mixture spreading the concentrate over a larger area so that it is digested properly. It slows the movement of the food through the digestive system allowing the digestive enzymes/bacteria etc to mix with the food and do a better, safer job.

Chaff/Sugarbeet also slow down your horses eating therefore more saliva is added to the feed right at the start of digestion.

By slowing the movement of feed through the digestive system you reduce the risk of hind gut acidosis.

A small feed of forage/fibre before riding also prevents stomach acid from sloshing around onto the upper non glandular part of the stomach, reducing the risk of ulcers. Chaff floats on the surface of the stomach acid.

 

[Tnavas]

Chaff would have been used traditionally to slow down eating when horses were kept on high grain diets, oats and barley as the main feed so it did need something to help them chew, feeding has changed so much over the years, more people feed a high fibre low grain diet so it really is just a filler to bulk out what is in the bucket, I haven't fed it for some time as I just don't see the point with modern feeding methods.
The choice is amazing so many people are obviously happy paying ££s for what is basically chopped hay/ straw/ alfalfa and in many cases lots of molasses to make it palatable, I prefer to give mine more hay.

Having done an Equine Nutrition Diploma course recently you are so very wrong. The directive is to ALWAYS feed a high fibre diet, modern foods are causing a lot of dietary problems because they have minimal fibre.

A horses digestive system is designed to work most successfully on FIBRE only.

 

[HaffiesRock]

I am another who thinks chaff is a waste of money. My ponies get unmollased sugarbeet, Linseed and a balancer at the minute, alongside adlib hay.

 

[acorn92x]

Chaff is all my pony gets as she lives off of fresh air, requires no extra energy and just needs something palatable for her to have her Moody Mare and Biotin suppliments with. I feed HiFi Lite and have never had a problem with this.

 

[Tnavas]

I am another who thinks chaff is a waste of money. My ponies get unmollased sugarbeet, Linseed and a balancer at the minute, alongside adlib hay.

To be honest both unmolassed Sugarbeet and chaff would have about the same feed value as each other. However their value lies in the fact that both are forage/fibre and essential for healthy digestion. Chaff would possibly work out cheaper in the long run.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Whenever you feed, 75% of your feed should be forage (fibre) based.

Agree with this, as a minimum. Should probably have qualified my earlier post by stating that my neds live out, with additional soaked hay as necessary. They get twice daily tiny feeds of a handful of soaked hi fibre cubes with added micronised linseed, pro hoof and salt. They will already have a gut full of fibre when they eat their hard feeds, so not need to add more. They don't bolt their feeds.

It's really the horses who already have plentiful grazing and forage, but whose owners still like to give big bucket feeds on top, where I find the addition of all this expensive chaff to be a mystery.

 

[Coblover63]

Funnily enough I said to my OH last night "there is something about a bucket!" We have our ClydieX in at the moment because of an abscess and he is a good weight and just picking at the ad lib hay he is left all day or all night, so he's not particularly hungry in this mild weather. He is behaving so well with being stuck in, amenable and friendly. Yet, when I put a handful of chaff and nuts into a BUCKET, he instantly becomes impatient and ravenous, kicking at the door... "I want it NOW!!!"

I'm sure it all about conditioning.... he gets "breakfast" and "tea" but the nutrition he gains is minimal. All mine get a token feed. If they were brought in at night and just left with as much has as they could eat all night, they wouldn't settle until they'd seen that bucket! (trug, actually ) So they get a little cheap chaff, just to settle their minds and not their tums!!

 

[PolarSkye]

What a timely thread! I was just about to post the same thing . . . tbh, when we get to the end of this bag of chaff, I am not buying any more. Kal isn't a greedy eater - he doesn't bolt his food - and he gets plenty of forage . . . the D&H ERS Pellets, linseed and (in winter) copra should be plenty . . . alongside his ad lib hay (and haylage in winter) and grass in field.

Will also save me buying yet another blue barrel as it seems we have one or two resident rodents and I can't have feed sacks out left loose. No more chaff means I can use that barrel for the copra .

P

 

[ester]

Tnavas, surely that depends on the chaff you are using, speedibeet is 12 DE MJ/Kg, meadow hay is usually 8-11. Chaff might work out cheaper in the long run if I just chopped up some of his hay but there are other reasons for feeding beet.
I do think it is also important to remember that most horses are not being fed a bucket feed in isolation, they usually have hay before and after anyway. Dry weight Frank gets approx 40:60 beet: oats obviously the beet then expands so does most of the advantages your 75% is giving you in volume at least.

 

[ester]

honeychop oat chaff is DE 6...

 

[Palindrome]

Whenever you feed, 75% of your feed should be forage (fibre) based. Forage/fibre opens up the mixture spreading the concentrate over a larger area so that it is digested properly. It slows the movement of the food through the digestive system allowing the digestive enzymes/bacteria etc to mix with the food and do a better, safer job.

Chaff/Sugarbeet also slow down your horses eating therefore more saliva is added to the feed right at the start of digestion.

By slowing the movement of feed through the digestive system you reduce the risk of hind gut acidosis.

A small feed of forage/fibre before riding also prevents stomach acid from sloshing around onto the upper non glandular part of the stomach, reducing the risk of ulcers. Chaff floats on the surface of the stomach acid.

The stomach will empty when it is full so what makes feed go slowly is feeding hard feed in small amounts, so in that respect chaff bulking out the hard feed won't be helpful.

Furthermore, the saliva produced during chewing doesn't serve to digest but only lubricates. The amount of saliva produced by the horse eating his bucket feed will be negligible compared to the amount produced by eating forage.

All in all it depends on the individual horse's needs like always and what the owner is feeding. I feed high fibre nuts with some supplements and don't add a chaff. Now if I was feeding straight oats I would probably add a handful of alfalfa chaff if only to balance phosphorus to calcium.

 

[Tnavas]

Tnavas, surely that depends on the chaff you are using, speedibeet is 12 DE MJ/Kg, meadow hay is usually 8-11. Chaff might work out cheaper in the long run if I just chopped up some of his hay but there are other reasons for feeding beet.
I do think it is also important to remember that most horses are not being fed a bucket feed in isolation, they usually have hay before and after anyway. Dry weight Frank gets approx 40:60 beet: oats obviously the beet then expands so does most of the advantages your 75% is giving you in volume at least.

Regardless of hay and grazing, adding chaff or beet to the feed slows the passage of the food through the digestive system allowing enzymes and bacteria to do their work properly. This helps reduce the potential for colic and also hind gut acidosis.

 

[PolarSkye]

Having done an Equine Nutrition Diploma course recently you are so very wrong. The directive is to ALWAYS feed a high fibre diet, modern foods are causing a lot of dietary problems because they have minimal fibre.

A horses digestive system is designed to work most successfully on FIBRE only.

But doesn't the decision to feed chaff (or not) depend on what else goes in the bucket and what is fed alongside? Copra, for example, is a "modern" feed (only been around for about 20 years) and is entirely fibre-based. Whether or not to feed chaff is a decision the individual horse owner must make based on any number of factors, including (but not limited to) access to turnout, quality of grazing, other forages, metabolism, workload, hard feed, bedding, blah, blah, blah.

P

 

[PolarSkye]

Regardless of hay and grazing, adding chaff or beet to the feed slows the passage of the food through the digestive system allowing enzymes and bacteria to do their work properly. This helps reduce the potential for colic and also hind gut acidosis.

No argument from me that slowing the passage of feed is essential, but it can be achieved in other ways than feeding chaff . . .

P

 

[Tnavas]

But doesn't the decision to feed chaff (or not) depend on what else goes in the bucket and what is fed alongside? Copra, for example, is a "modern" feed (only been around for about 20 years) and is entirely fibre-based. Whether or not to feed chaff is a decision the individual horse owner must make based on any number of factors, including (but not limited to) access to turnout, quality of grazing, other forages, metabolism, workload, hard feed, bedding, blah, blah, blah.

P

See above post!