cheapest chaff?

[gothdolly]

Eeek. One of my horses is coughing a lot on the hay was have and wont eat soaked hay. We are not allowed to buy in our own hay (livery agreement) so my only option is to feed chaff. Does anyone know which chaff works out cheaper as a hay replacer? As Im going to be feeding large quantities this is important. Hopefully the next load of bales wont be dusty, but in the meantime any advice is gratefully received.

It does not need to be special chaff. Does that "honey chop" stuff work out cheapest?

cheers
Cassandra

 

[TGM]

Won't they even let you buy in some small bale Horsehage for your horse? Even that would be cheaper than giving chaff as a hay replacement. Surely as they are providing sub-standard hay, they can waive the livery agreement for a while, until they have better hay in.

If it is due to storage space then as the Horsehage is compressed then it won't take up any more space than all the extra chaff you will be buying.

If you are having to totally replace the hay with chaff, then you really need to be sure that the chaff is balanced enough to be fed that way - I would ring the manufacturers to check whether they feel it is suitable to be fed as a total hay replacer.

 

[HelsB]

Honey chop would have to much mollasses in to be fed as a total hay replacer, also the mollasses would make it heavier, so what would seem cheaper would actually be more expensive weight by weight.

Better go with something like Simple System (definitely fine to be fed as a hay replacer) or Dengie (check with them if ok)

 

[Stinkbomb]

Cant you try steaming the hay then its not soaked???

TBH if my yard wouldnt consider the welfare of my horse first i would move yards

 

[Lonesome_Dove]

Hi Fi lite is one of the best as a hay replacer, the mollassed ones are not suitable to be fed as hay replacers.

I would go with haylage, seeing as the bags are about the same size as a bag of dengie and would work out much cheaper.

 

[kittykatcat]

You cant just feed any old chaff - 'cheap chaff' is heavily molassed, otherwise horses probably wouldnt eat it. Obviously molasses is sugar and eating that amount of sugar -you wll need to feed AT LEAST 7kg for a typical 15.2hh 500kg horse - is not great for any horse.

I would do as previous posts have suggested and go for a chaff that is designed to be used as a hay replacer as well. Spillers Happy Hoof is another suggestion, as is Readigrass, however it is not normally advised to feed Readigrass at 100% of your horse's forage intake.

 

[LankyDoodle]

George has a bit of a dust allergy going on and also won't eat soaked hay, but he will eat hay that's been washed thoroughly. I put it in an old cattle manger with a plug hole in it (which I leave open), and then I run the hose over the hay for about 10 minutes, which does the trick and means he will eat it. The soft sausage prefers wet hay but won't eat it if it's been soaked, which I am sure is because the water goes minging round the hay and there is always that aftertaste, even if you rinse it afterwards.

Try that and then if that fails, Hifi is a good hay replacer. Saying that, unless I make George's little feed like soup, the chaff also makes him snotty and cough.

 

[gothdolly]

Thanks for your replies. I was thinking of the stuff that Honeychop do thats not mollased, sorry for making myself unclear, of course I know that you cant feed mollased feeds to horses in large quantities (esp. not mine as laminitis prone)

This is what I was thinking of:
http://www.honeychop.com/htm/chopped_oat_straw.htm

Has anyone fed this? Its mollases and additive free.

This is only a very temporary problem, and this particular horse is very sensitive to dust etc, its not the yards fault as none of the others are affected. No electric supply available so a steamer isnt an option although its a good idea!

Just my luck to have a hyper sensitive horse

Haylage is not appropriate as one has Cushings and one has EMS - so high risk for laminitis (another reason for avoiding mollased feeds). We are not allowed to buy in haylage either though. All yards have their up sides and down sides, and this one is absolutely fantastic but just has a couple of rules - no buying in of forage being one of them. Theres no where else within sensible driving distance of home, work and childcare anyway!

One of mine wont eat HI-Fi (rolls eyes) but will eat Fibergy which I believe can be fed as a total hay replacer. Trial and error I guess!

If all else fails they will both have to go on the dodson and horrell "haynet in a bucket" recipie that you feed horses with poor teeth....

 

[luckilotti]

my shetland gets chopped hay so he thinks hes getting a hard feed like all of his pals!
its basically hay that is finely chopped - nothing added at all so would be just like feeding hay but from a big tub

it normally cost under £5 for a big white hessian sack full - worth asking at your local feed store?
As a YO myself, it sounds erally unreasonable of your YO to say you cant get it in yourself if they are providing you with cr@p!

 

[badgerdog]

If it was me I'd be buying horsehage, keeping it at home and sneaking a haynet onto the yard! It's mad that you are having to buy chaff.

 

[Sags_Deer]

id move yards they are wrong expecting you to use their hay. Failing that horsehage, haylage etc.

 

[Theresa_F]

My old TB Miss Delia would not eat hay if it has even had 5 mins soaking, she would prefer to eat piddly straw. However, she would eat rinsed hay, I used to just throw a few buckets over the net. I could at a push get away with dunking a few nets at a time as long as it was only a dunk and not a soak. Is this worth a try with yours?

If you want plain nothing added chaff, though not the cheapest then take a look at the Simple Systems site. I feed Farra the Just Grass which she adores. They also do Ruff Stuff which has a lower feed value.