Low calorie chaff / feed recommendations

[Boulty]

Hi looking for thoughts on what low cal chaffs / feeds in general are actually tasty enough to hide things in. Looking to avoid random things like mould inhibitors, nutritionally improved straw, alfalfa & molasses.

It's for a slightly overweight Highland & it's sole purpose is to hide a mineral balancer in. Ideally looking for something tasty enough that I can literally feed a handful of it & be able to hide things.

The pony is question does not approve of Speedibeet or soaked timothy pellets even without anything added. He likes grass chaff but just about all of them seem to be above 10% combined sugar/starch & have a relatively high Mj/kg in energy, also most of them are rye which I'm looking to avoid.

Have been using a combination of Agrobs Mash (which is higher calorie, sugar & starch than I'd like be has no other nasties) & their LEICHTGENUSS. He won't eat just the mash on it's own but the chaff on its own is not exciting enough for him to want to eat it one its own either. Has been eating over winter once eaten most of his hay but seems to be going off it & nearing the bottom of both bags so ideal time for a change.

All the Dengie ones seem to be higher sugar/starch than I want or higher energy or have alfalfa or mould inhibitors. Fastfibre has nutritionally improved straw & given his dislike of speedibeet & soaked timothy pellets I doubt he'd eat it anyway. Emerald green chaff is too high sugar/starch/energy despite their meadow nuts being fairly low. Simple systems timothy chop also appears to be higher in sugar/starch than I'd like. DO NOT reccomend Thunderbrooks as don't wish to feed them out of principle (they were vile over social media to a friend)

Am debating between honeychop light & healthy as it's just about the lowest calorie one I can find that still sounds tasty or trying Agrobs aspero even though it's still got a few more calories etc than I'd like in it as I THINK he'd probably eat it & it's lower calorie than most other grass chaffs I can find. Have also just been reading the description for agrobs green oat chaff & now wondering if this would work also... Unless anyone can think of any other random ones that might fit the bill? Suggestions also welcome for ideas of things to try instead of the mash (he does like copra & I've used it to bribe him into eating meds but is categorically not allowed it on a day to day basis as he just does NOT need the calories)

 

[ester]

cob was on aspero until his teeth made chaff a bit tricky (I never used the leichtgneiss to compare) since then been on the weisencobs soaked and both eat them really well, poss better than the aspero- he's a fusspot generally finding agrobs was quite revolutionary for us!
So do you think it will be all the mashes that are a problem hence sticking with some chaff?
They might send out some samples?

 

[MuddyMonster]

I used to use Thunderbrooks Herbalite but now switched to Honeychop. I use Honeychop Oat Straw as from memory I think it's slightly lower sugar, starch and DE than the Honeychop Light and Healthy version.

It's mixed with a tiny amount of Fast Fibre which he loves which does have nutritionally improved straw but I literally feed such a tiny amount, I think the effect is negligible.

 

[P.forpony]

Mine will take or leave the honeychop lite and healthy, we were given a bag to try and I've been trying to feed a scoop before a ride, but she's incredibly fussy so if she picks at it at all it must be pretty good.

Alternatively pink mash might be worth a though, very low starch sugar and good consistency for hiding things in.

If your struggling though I've had to reconcile myself to feeding a handful of 'bad' sometimes just to get the important bits in them, we've just come out of a phase where mare refused point blank to eat any hard feed unless there was a handful of cheapest nastiest bog standard pony nuts in it!
Although definitely not my feed of choice, a balancer cup full realistically has very little impact in terms of her total feed intake for the day, but enabled me to make sure she had the supplements which really do make a difference.

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

Another for honeychop lite and healthy. My mare licks her bowl clean (although she is the opposite of fussy).

 

[cauda equina]

Yet another for Honeychop lite and healthy
Or - not chaff, but Simple System Haycare is Timothy cubes with nothing added, combined starch and sugar under 10%, soaks to a mash and is utterly delicious (so mine say)

 

[Bernster]

When I was looking I ended up with honeychop which has some flavouring so did seem palatable. I like Pure Feeds as a brand. Yards around us are moving to chestnut horse feeds and they’ve just introduced a new chaff lite although it’s not as palatable as mine has to have a sprinkling of their maintenance feed to eat it, but it is very low in sugar and starch and no nasties.

 

[TPO]

Another vote for pink mash

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

We feed tiny amounts of Agrobs Wiesencobs, which the horses love. If you wet them they make a sloppy mash, which I would expect to be able to hide supplements in. We add salt, that tends to hide most things.

 

[pistolpete]

Arggh. Naughty highland! ? Quin has the dreaded Thunderbrooks healthy herbal chaff with a big handful of honey chop to make it go further. Can hide all sorts in there!

 

[criso]

You could try the Agrobs Grunhafer, it's oat grass but the whole plant not just the stalk. I got some samples and much more palatable than their other chaffs. Mr fussy tb eats it and another horse on the yard who turned her nose up at the Aspero and Leichtgenuss has been eating it too. A few more calories but it's quite bulky and light so a handful might weigh less so not deliver too many calories per scoop.

 

[Boulty]

Thanks, have asked for samples of the pink mash, honeychop light & healthy & agrobs aspero & wiesencobs (feel like I asked agrobs for samples a while ago & they never replied though...) Don't really want to make the mistake of buying an entire bag of anything & then him not eating it so fingers crossed some of them come through & send me some samples so that I can see what he likes (or he can always pull the orange one's trick of REALLY liking the free sample & then turning his nose up when I get an actual bag of it!)

 

[Boulty]

You could try the Agrobs Grunhafer, it's oat grass but the whole plant not just the stalk. I got some samples and much more palatable than their other chaffs. Mr fussy tb eats it and another horse on the yard who turned her nose up at the Aspero and Leichtgenuss has been eating it too. A few more calories but it's quite bulky and light so a handful might weigh less so not deliver too many calories per scoop.

Interesting as the analysis I was looking at seemed to suggest it was slightly lower calorie & a lot lower sugar / starch than the aspero... good to know that it's super tasty though. Fingers crossed they'll send me a sample as their feeds are too expensive & too much of a PITA to get hold of to just buy a bag & hope!

 

[criso]

Agrobs now sell a sample pack of up to 8 for a fiver. I got a few free but that was included with a delivery.

https://www.red-rufus.co.uk/online-store/Agrobs-Samples-p133701273

 

[criso]

Interesting as the analysis I was looking at seemed to suggest it was slightly lower calorie & a lot lower sugar / starch than the aspero... good to know that it's super tasty though. Fingers crossed they'll send me a sample as their feeds are too expensive & too much of a PITA to get hold of to just buy a bag & hope!

I think there is a misprint somewhere for the calories of the grunhafer, this is on their website but I saw a different DE on somewhere else. Protein 7.8% /Sugar ESC 6 % / Starch 2.25% / Oil 2.90% / DE 8.39 mj/kg but less on the Agrobs German site.

 

[Boulty]

Agrobs now sell a sample pack of up to 8 for a fiver. I got a few free but that was included with a delivery.

https://www.red-rufus.co.uk/online-store/Agrobs-Samples-p133701273

Thanks! Totally missed that but will get some samples for fusspot... He's even more annoying than the Orange one as at least that could have slightly higher calorie stuff & decent sized feeds. Resorted to wrapping small parcels of feed up in hay this morning. Contemplating seeing if he'll eat things sprinkled on a few handfuls of hay if he's decided that's tastier

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

Doing a bit of thread hijacking...

I'm looking at Honeychop lite & healthy for the same reason as OP; I need a simple chaff to carry his forageplus powder balancer. He's a huge Suffolk and will only need one scoop, twice a day. He's out grazing on for 8hrs per day, has no food sensitivities and not a fussy eater.

I cant figure out if the lite and healthy is worth the additional cost over the Honeychop Original. The original is 11.5% sugar and 1.4% starch while the lite and healthy is just 3% sugar and 0.1% starch.

I think the original is a false economy for long term health but as he doesn't get much (in comparison to his size) am I overthinking it and just go with the original?

 

[southerncomfort]

Well I like it but my lot aren't that enthusiastic to be honest.

I mean I think it smells nice so I don't know why they turn their noses up at it. ?‍

 

[hollyandivy123]

everything seems to like this i think its the mint
https://www.baileyshorsefeeds.co.uk/products/light-chaff


2.25% sugar

 

[marmalade76]

Mine have Top Chop Zero, I think it's just chopped straw with a bit of mint oil or something, smells nice but needs dampening as it can be a bit bitty.