D&H Safe & Sound - Alfalfa . Feed company rant/labelling

NeverSayNever

NeverSayNever

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 July 2008
Messages
4,437
Location
uk
Visit site
Ive always been under the impression this is alfalfa free - infact the ingredients found online dont list alfalfa. However i noticed in the feed shop this morning that the label stuck on a bag DID list alfalfa. I have just spoken to D&H who confirmed that yes, it does contain alfalfa. So many people seem to be under the impression it doesnt. I dont understand why feed companies cant clearly label and list ingredients :confused:

So can anyone recommend a chaff that has no alfalfa in it and isnt high in sugar/energy either, so ruling out the likes of readigrass.
 
Last edited:
Why were you under the impression that it didn't...

Have you read on the D&H website it doesn't contain Alfalfa, if not I cant see why your having a moan!
 
wench said:
Why were you under the impression that it didn't...

Have you read on the D&H website it doesn't contain Alfalfa, if not I cant see why your having a moan!
Click to expand...

hmm, well there are no ingredients listed on their own website but on a supplier site, which is linked from threads on here, the ingredients listed don't contain alfalfa, clearly its wrong. There are also a plethora of threads on here and elsewhere claiming it is alfalfa free. Not D&H's fault granted, but I generally get fed up of companies not listing ingredients, I cant understand why they don't.

Do you know of any chaffs that are alfalfa free?
 
You can get plain chopped hay ones, or chopped oat straw. Halleys do both mail order. Tho with the oat straw it is often combined with Alfalfa in chaff because Alfalfa is a good nutritional balancer for the things oat straw is deficient in like protein and some minerals, so that would need to be made up elsewhere.
 
Wow, I used it for quite a while on the understanding that it didn't! I did read the ingredient list on the bag, and at the time alfalfa was not mentioned.

I stopped using it because it seemed to become more sugary - I kept finding big sticky clumps of molasses (or whatever they choose to call it ;-)).

I use Halley's Chops now. Just chops, nothing added, and they deliver.
 
lachlanandmarcus said:
You can get plain chopped hay ones, or chopped oat straw. Halleys do both mail order. Tho with the oat straw it is often combined with Alfalfa in chaff because Alfalfa is a good nutritional balancer for the things oat straw is deficient in like protein and some minerals, so that would need to be made up elsewhere.
Click to expand...

thank you! Off to google halleys :)
 
I completely agree! Its so frustrating. All feeds should be labeled like human feeds. I want to know the ingredients and the nutritional values too. Is that too much to ask?
 
It's the Timothy Chop I use. They do an Oat Straw Chop too. They usually have the breakdown on the website, but don't just now - I would imagine it changes from year to year depending on the hay/straw, so no doubt they change it from time to time.

Last time I looked, the Timothy Chop was 8.7 MJ/kg. I feed about 200g a day to the BigBeastie with his Balancer hidden in it. I suspect he'd eat a bucket of dampened chop on its own, leading me to wonder why bagged chaffs like Safe & Sound need all the added flavourings and sweeteners?

ETA Halleys supply SimpleSystems, so the spec should be the same.
 
I have looked on an empty bag of Safe of Sound dated 2010 and alfalfa is not shown as an ingredient. I did speak to D&H about 3 years ago as I wanted something without alfalfa and they said that alfalfa wasn't contained. I spoke to them today and yes it is contained and they thought it was in their vit & min cube.
 
I had the same problem! I currently use timothy chop from simple systems (go on their website so find a supplier) it is just chopped timothy hay with no molasses or any type of rubbish! It is a bit expensive but a big bag that lasts a long time.
 
airwolf said:
I have looked on an empty bag of Safe of Sound dated 2010 and alfalfa is not shown as an ingredient. I did speak to D&H about 3 years ago as I wanted something without alfalfa and they said that alfalfa wasn't contained. I spoke to them today and yes it is contained and they thought it was in their vit & min cube.
Click to expand...

looks like theyve changed the ingredients then:(
 
Oh for goodness sake, why do they have to meddle with it? I have used it for years on and off as chaff for my TB who can tolerate molasses but not alfalfa. It took me a long while to find an alfalfa free chaff that he would actually eat :(

I very carefully read the white labels, especially for his feeds and so this must be a fairly recent thing (though I generally feed it through spring and summer and so would have bought my last bag last summer).
 
stimpy said:
Oh for goodness sake, why do they have to meddle with it? I have used it for years on and off as chaff for my TB who can tolerate molasses but not alfalfa. It took me a long while to find an alfalfa free chaff that he would actually eat :(

I very carefully read the white labels, especially for his feeds and so this must be a fairly recent thing (though I generally feed it through spring and summer and so would have bought my last bag last summer).
Click to expand...

I, too, have a horse that doesn't do alfalfa and when I spoke to the D&H people they told me that alfalfa can't possibly affect horses. Try telling that to mine! I fin it extremely frustrating that the ingredients aren't listed on feed bags.

Perhaps we should have a Twitter campaign to feed companies a la Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (sp?).
 
NeverSayNever said:
yeah they told me that too ;)
Click to expand...

My Tb is hateful if he has alfalfa, he has a terrible personality change. It took me such a long time to identify that as the source, I was feeding him only unmolassed hi-fi after ruling everything else out and it was only when he was still awful that I realised.

I completely lost confidence in D&H when I consulted them about my pregnant laminitic mare. They wouldn't accept that if I fed her at 2% of her bodyweight her weight would go up. I explained that she had spent the previous 4 months either in a stable or a yard with every morsel meticulously weighed and this is what I had found, they told me that it simply wasn't possible. Sigh. So I switched to TopSpec who were altogether more helpful and knowledgeable.
 
I have my pony who is sensitive to any molasses or alfalfa on pure feeds. Just gone from pure easy to pure forage balance as the spring grass is through. I did have her on honeychop oat straw but she got bored of it and refused to eat it after a while. She's been on pure feed for 2 years now and never had a day when she hasn't eaten!
 
For people looking for just chopped hay or chopped straw - have you thought about making your own? A B&Q garden shredder makes great chaff - then you can be sure exactly what is in it.
One £3 bale of good quality oat straw and an hour with a shredder and you'd have almost a winters worth of chaff.
 
Polos Mum said:
For people looking for just chopped hay or chopped straw - have you thought about making your own? A B&Q garden shredder makes great chaff - then you can be sure exactly what is in it.
One £3 bale of good quality oat straw and an hour with a shredder and you'd have almost a winters worth of chaff.
Click to expand...

sounds good! will have to give it a try
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top