The Mollassed Chaff Rant

Oberon

Oberon

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So I keep seeing bags of a local brand of Mollassed chop being delivered to people.

Each time someone feeds this to their horse, an angel dies
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It is a mixture of chopped hay, chopped straw, salt, molasses and limestone flour.

It is basically a haynet in a bucket with 15% sugar :eek:

SO to do the math....if you were to get an average 8kg haynet, 15% of that is 1.2kg.....

1.2kg of sugar.

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People wouldn't get a bag of sugar and dump it over a haynet, would they???

So why feed the same in a bucket :(:(:(

And this is coming into spring.......Lami anyone???
 
I find it funny that plain chaff is labled mollasses free, how about adding grain free, salt free etc?? Should chaff with mollasses just be labled and non mollassed stuff not.

We don't have mollassed chaff (apart from some chop that has it added) over here in NZ or not that I have seen.
 
Couldn't agree more :( What is wrong with feeding forage, without all the rubbish in it? We feed plain oat straw chaff to one good doer to allow her to eat for longer, while rationing her haylage and plain barley straw (long) to the other good doer, for the same reason. They really do not need the molasses, have no idea why it is added to every blooming feed that is made :mad:
 
I try to feed molasses free as much as possible, mine get unmolassed alfalfa. The older horse Im feeding the spi8llers conditioning fibre which has nuts and things in it which apparently has some molasses in the pellets but not on the chaff (very dry) apparently.

My good doer coblet gets molasses free alfalfa, sugar beet and oats/topspec turbo when in work :) She is muzzled when on grass during the day and has it off at night every other day.

They all get hay the good doer gets it soaked in a trickle net the others just get it in the haybox or haynets :)
 
It nicely disguses the no so nice bits and marketing dept can assure the horse owner they are providing their horse with a nice treat, like giving a lollie to a kid (or a big mac to an obese person to give them more energy :eek: ).
 
Does anyone know what the sugar content of typical hay or grass is by weight? This article is all I could find about natural sugars. I haven't found any useful info for British grown forage. I realise its variable time of day / year / weather and prob would require specific pasture testing

A snippet from the article - "These grasses were in no way lush," she says. "The grass was dark green, half-dead, and freezing down for the winter with about 40 percent dry matter. When tested, the grass contained 27 percent sugar and fructans. If a horse is eating 20 pounds of dry matter a day, that's 5.4 pounds of sugar and fructan."

http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/nutrition/feeds/fructandanger_032205/

I guess what I'm trying to find out is it really that bad that chaff contains 15% sugar? and is it that significant if you only feed a scoop (500g stubbs) twice a day compared to the forage ration? I don't really know but try to avoid molassed anything anyway.
 
has anyone seen that chaff with vanilla in it? it's in a bright pink bag that looks like my little pony. I can not believe feed merchants sell this, what part does vanilla play in the horses diet?
 
McW said:
has anyone seen that chaff with vanilla in it? it's in a bright pink bag that looks like my little pony. I can not believe feed merchants sell this, what part does vanilla play in the horses diet?
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I've seen it - good marketing towards little girls but wouldn't ever buy it
 
I have seen a cherrry flavoured chaff. Since when has a horse eaten cherries ? My old Welsh D was often seen eating blackberries out of the hedgerow though !
 
AdorableAlice said:
I have seen a cherrry flavoured chaff. Since when has a horse eaten cherries ? My old Welsh D was often seen eating blackberries out of the hedgerow though !
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If they sold Blackberry chaff my horses would pester me to oblivion.

OP, totally agree. Recently, having run out of my usual Simple Systems Chaff and not able to buy more for over a week I went to my local feed merchants and the only sugar/vanilla/apple/molasses free chaff had soya oil on it. Bought it as the least objectionable option.
 
Personally I don't feed molassed chaff and definitely wouldn't feed high sugar feeds to overweight or lami prone horses and ponies.

BUT I do have to point out that chaff is not usually fed in haynet sized quantities so your comparison is not really valid! It would not be my feed of choice, but it is not likely to cause too many problems if a non-lami prone animal is fed a couple of handfuls of the stuff as a token gesture, or to carry supplements or medication as described above, which is how a lot of people do use it. I wouldn't recommend anyone to use it as a significant part of the diet though.
 
marmalade76 said:
I actually found this stuff very useful recently after my horse refused to eat his medicine.
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I picked one up in error, my lad would eat his bute if I used the apple chaff but he turned his nose up at the cherry flavour. The same horse refuses to eat anything with alfalfa in.
 
Eurgh don't get me started on molassed chaff/mixes ect. A few months ago, I walked into the feed room and a young girl was adding molasses straight from the bottle into a feed of molassed chaff and pegasus mix :eek:. I asked her what on earth she was doing and was told 'oh I was given this and thought I'd just add a few glugs each day until its used' :confused::confused: Que massive rant from me. It didn't help she was feeding this to a 2yo fell do-gooder. :eek::eek::eek:
 
TGM said:
BUT I do have to point out that chaff is not usually fed in haynet sized quantities so your comparison is not really valid!
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It was to try and highlight what 15% sugar really indicates when molasses is a main ingredient of the feed. I wasn't suggesting people feed 8kg of mollassed chaff, more like 1 - 2kg as recommended by the manufacturers....:)

TGM said:
but it is not likely to cause too many problems if a non-lami prone animal is fed a couple of handfuls of the stuff as a token gesture, or to carry supplements or medication as described above, which is how a lot of people do use it. I wouldn't recommend anyone to use it as a significant part of the diet though.
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The problem is that I see lots of people feeding it as the chaff alongside a course mix with an equally high NSC content (and I can't rant at them - hence venting my frustration out here ;))

When does a horse become lami-prone? When it has it's first attack of laminitis.
What was the horse before this? It was non-lami prone.

It's coming up spring and I wonder how many horses are going to develop lami for the first time? Watch the threads appear over the next few months.....
How many horses will turn from "it's OK to feed this" non-lami horses into "it's not OK to feed" lami horses?

The savvy members of HHO aside, if we adopted a less laissez faire attitude toward feeding in this country, perhaps less horses would suffer :(?
 
AdorableAlice said:
I have seen a cherrry flavoured chaff. Since when has a horse eaten cherries ? My old Welsh D was often seen eating blackberries out of the hedgerow though !
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Buy a bag of dried cherries from the supermarket next time and you'll see :D

I haven't met a horse yet who doesn't go mad for them :D
 
ellie11987 said:
Eurgh don't get me started on molassed chaff/mixes ect. A few months ago, I walked into the feed room and a young girl was adding molasses straight from the bottle into a feed of molassed chaff and pegasus mix :eek:. I asked her what on earth she was doing and was told 'oh I was given this and thought I'd just add a few glugs each day until its used' :confused::confused: Que massive rant from me. It didn't help she was feeding this to a 2yo fell do-gooder. :eek::eek::eek:
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Did you also tell her she'd just killed an angel too :eek:
 
Oberon said:
faint2.gif


Did you also tell her she'd just killed an angel too :eek:
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That would have been an idea! I think I was just having heart malfunctions starting at her in shock for the most part. I agree with you, its okay to feed a horse crap when it's not lami prone until it isn't... :(
 
sussexbythesea said:
Does anyone know what the sugar content of typical hay or grass is by weight? This article is all I could find about natural sugars. I haven't found any useful info for British grown forage. I realise its variable time of day / year / weather and prob would require specific pasture testing

A snippet from the article - "These grasses were in no way lush," she says. "The grass was dark green, half-dead, and freezing down for the winter with about 40 percent dry matter. When tested, the grass contained 27 percent sugar and fructans. If a horse is eating 20 pounds of dry matter a day, that's 5.4 pounds of sugar and fructan."

http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/nutrition/feeds/fructandanger_032205/

I guess what I'm trying to find out is it really that bad that chaff contains 15% sugar? and is it that significant if you only feed a scoop (500g stubbs) twice a day compared to the forage ration? I don't really know but try to avoid molassed anything anyway.
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Not all the sugar in the grass / hay is aviable to the horse because of the difficulty in digesting grass and hay efficiently but the sugars in molasses are that's the difference.
 
It is really hard to find non molassed chaff, I don't mean impossible but you do have to dig.
Nightmare!
I hope soya oil is OK? I am feeding Bailey's light chaff and I'm sure that has soya oil... off to check.

Here tis...
Light Chaff is a blend of high-temperature dried alfalfa and oat straw with a sprinkling of mint and a very light dressing of soya oil

Sorry for small hijack!
 
Does anyone know the sugar content of Argo feeds? Or any of the nutrition? I cannot find it anywhere. My friend feeds their chaff and conditioning mix, both of which smell very sweet and are sticky. I would not let it within sniffing distance of my pony. Its bare paddock, hay and fast fiber for my fatty and he looks great for it x
 
sussexbythesea said:
Does anyone know what the sugar content of typical hay or grass is by weight? This article is all I could find about natural sugars. I haven't found any useful info for British grown forage. I realise its variable time of day / year / weather and prob would require specific pasture testing

A snippet from the article - "These grasses were in no way lush," she says. "The grass was dark green, half-dead, and freezing down for the winter with about 40 percent dry matter. When tested, the grass contained 27 percent sugar and fructans. If a horse is eating 20 pounds of dry matter a day, that's 5.4 pounds of sugar and fructan."

http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/nutrition/feeds/fructandanger_032205/

I guess what I'm trying to find out is it really that bad that chaff contains 15% sugar? and is it that significant if you only feed a scoop (500g stubbs) twice a day compared to the forage ration? I don't really know but try to avoid molassed anything anyway.
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There is sugar and then there is sugar....:D

Horses are meant to eat a mixture of scrub grasses, herbs, leaves, flowers, weeds etc. It is their natural diet and how they evolved.

But this was tempered by engaging in high energy pursuits such as roaming 15 miles a day, running from predators, breeding, keeping warm against the elements etc.

They were not meant to stay penned in a few acres of lush ex-dairy ryegrass with no variety and stand around doing bare minimum while stuffing their faces.
Then they get wrapped up warm in a posh rug and treated to a nice bucket feed and a cuddle because they've had a hard day :o

When was the last time someone looked after you so lovingly? :D

http://www.safergrass.org/articles.html
 
Clodagh said:
It is really hard to find non molassed chaff, I don't mean impossible but you do have to dig.
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Agree
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And this is at the centre of the problem.

We have sleepwalked into a situation where we will buy what sounds good without scrutinising the ingredients and nutritional specs (and I have been as guilty as anyone of this).

We have trusted the feed companies to have our horse's best interests at heart. But like every business, profit is at their heart.

So they have churned out tasty feeds that horses like to eat. If the horses eat it - we will continue to buy it.....

Big Mac anyone? :rolleyes:

And thus it is easier to buy an unsuitable feed nowadays than it is to find a suitable one :mad:

I have to say over the last few years there has been some progress for the better though. Allen and Page and Dengie (off the top of my head) have been trying to flavour some of their feeds with mint/fenugreek instead of molasses/mogolo. Simple System are strictly non molassed too :).

If we keep kicking up a fuss and get more savvy about feed - they will listen eventually :D

I might add that although I am ranting - I am the most guilty person here.....

I got Obi when he was 4 and I was 14 and I fed him Mollichop and bran before moving onto a molassed course mix.

I fed him what my friend's mum said I should feed because I didn't have the knowledge to evaluate the feed for myself
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