Chaff

Clodagh

Clodagh

Playing chess with pigeons
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Are there any chaffs that are alfalfa and molasses free? My 2 year old is on a months box rest and he won't eat his hay or haylage, I hope he will settle down but as he does eat his bucket feed I thought he could have loads of chaff. Having spent ages at the feed merchant yesterday though they all look very exciting, I want boring!?
 
You can get unmollassed oat straw chop or timothy chop, I know Halleys Feeds do both, isn't the Simple Systems Ruff Stuff Timothy too? There will be others in particular that just do oat straw chaff.
 
If you are trying to tempt him to eat then I would try the grass chaffs - Readigrass, Just Grass and Graze On are the most common brands.

You can get plain chopped straw chaffs, but I suspect he would not find them as tasty as the grass ones.
 
Here we go again - anyone finding any unmolassed oat straw chaff in the Reading area please let me know!!! (Or a stockist for Ossi-i-chaff it's really good but comes by the pallet load)!
 
Brilliant ideas, simple systems office is just down the road!
IsTimothy dried grass? Will that not be heating? (I'm paranoid, but he is 17.2 and very bored). Same for graze on and so on. I did see graze on yesterday.
 
What is fast fibre like? I don't mind how many buckets he has, he can kick them round the stable when he has eaten the contents.
 
4x4 said:
Here we go again - anyone finding any unmolassed oat straw chaff in the Reading area please let me know!!! (Or a stockist for Ossi-i-chaff it's really good but comes by the pallet load)!
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Halleys deliver oat straw direct min order 2 bags I think - I ordered two and am only half way through one bag so far, it's lasting forever. It's very soft BUT I only have one horse who will eat oat straw chaff only; the other needs bribing by mixing it with either alfalfa or grass chop. Not so helpful!! I can see why the majority of suppliers tend to mix the oat straw with something else a little tastier.
Clodagh the Timothy chop is a hay yes made from Timothy grass; it's got a nice nose to it that is quite different from ryegrass hay.
 
The folk who make Honeychop do a plain Oat straw chop or, if you have a garden shredder you can make your own hay chop for no money. Okay it isn't as uniformly cut as commercial brand chop but to date my horses are eating it just the same. I suspect that if one doesn't have a shredder, buying one would quite quickly pay for itself.
 
Clodagh said:
What is fast fibre like? I don't mind how many buckets he has, he can kick them round the stable when he has eaten the contents.
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Fantastic stuff IMO, it has helped my horse so much who won't eat enough hay, which was causing stomach problems, since finding fast fibre life has been so much easier :)
 
OK I will get a bag of Fast Fibre and one of Graze on. He has stopped cantering round the stable long enough to eat a smidge of haylage today but is so tucked up his hindgut must be empty.
 
Fast fibre and unmollassed oat straw chop go well together, maybe add a bit of mint if still not keen but the FF can be a bit sloppy / frustrating for some horses to like so if you add a bit of the straw chop they seem to like it a lot. Better than not adding the right amount of water to the FF. My pony definitely likes the FF, its the highlight of her day (which tells you what dull gruel the rest of her anti lami diet is like since FF looks like upset tummy :-DDDD).
 
He will eat in a few days once he settles. On box rest do avoid feeding normal type feeds otherwise they end up getting really stressed.

Initially spray the hay with some molasses and he will start to eat it. In a week or so he will be eating the hay with no problems
 
He is eating a bit more now, but would still like to get more fibre down him. At least he is pooing and weeing now, I had far too clean a baed to deal with the first few days.
Picking up my chaff stuff today.
 
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