Whats happened to hifi lite?

loz9

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 October 2009
Messages
846
Visit site
Bought a new bag today & opened it ready for evening feeds, the smell coming from it was so sickly sweet! I thought this was meant to be approved for laminitics! Have the changed the ingredients or have i got a dodgy bag?
2 of the horses point blank refused to eat it, luckily i still had some of the old bag left so i could feed them that instead, & i didnt feed it to my lami prone horse as it really smelt like it was full of sugar :s
If this is the new style hifi lite please could you recommend me an alternative that contains less sugar/mollasses, but is kind on the pocket as i already get through 1bag of hifi a week with 5 of them on it! Whats the hifi molasses free like?
Thank you!
 
A friend said the same the other day, smelt like vanilla??? I had smelt it previously though so couldn't compare! But she definately said it was different!!
 
have you tried simple systems, they do a product called green gold, its got no mallases on and is very lami friendly, its predominently alfalfa, i used to feed my lami pony hi fi lite and was put off it as he still got laminitus.

the green gold is around the same price i think, but if you google them they have a price list, i have mine delivered for the price and i must admit they all seem to do very well on it, they seem to keep thier weight better and are a whole load calmer, not silly high jinks in the field any more
 
Don't worry, I panicked when we got a bag like this. I emailed dengie and got a very quick reply saying that it is now coated with a vanilla flavouring, fine for laminitics etc. I also spoke to them at YHL. If you are worried I'd call dengie or email them xx
 
Hi, I think they also do a hifi molasses free now which is similar but with even less sugar. I saw them at yhl and they were very helpful so may be worth giving them a call and discussing your requirements.
 
thanks for the replies! & thankyou for placing the smell, but seriously why would you coat a horse feed in vanilla?!?! Will get in touch with the feed store tomorrow & get some molasses free hifi in & give that a go too.

will have a google at the simple systems feeds now, sadly i have a picky eater who doesnt like lots of alfalfa in her feed, but will see what other feeds they have got. It easier to keep them all on the same chaff, with mixes/balancers to suit them.

Thanks again!
 
Simple systems very good but my 2 got fed up with it to be honest, ate it well at first but then was throwing more away then they were eating, I use the greengold on one mixed with another low sugar feed and the older boy refuses to eat it at all now, spoilt brat :-)
Dengie do a new low sugar alfalfa mix now which smells and looks very nice.
 
Yes I found that too - only four of mine won't eat it now and just picks out their Pony Nuts - strange why change something that was fine ?
 
I am so glad I found this thread! I bought a bag last week because they didnt have any fibergy and I thought it smelled awfull. Not having used hifi lite for a very long time I couldn't tell if this was normal or not. My horse seems to love it and actually finds it easier to eat than fibergy and there is nothing left in her bucket! Still smells awful thought, why would they coat it in vanilla?!?!

I have been looking as pure feeds as a possible option. Does anyone else use this at the moment?

http://www.thepurefeedcompany.com/

Vel xx
 
They have added vanilla flavouring to it. why is any one's guess,presumably to differentiate it from other brands and give it a unique selling point. I wasn't aware that horses sort out and ate vanilla in the wild. hey-ho,another product designed to please the buyer [human]and not the consummer [horse]. just an aside,but its a bit like cat food,they don't make mouse flavour do they? I'm sure cats would like a tin of Mouse and Sparrow Whiskas.
 
I don't suppose they've done this to standard Hi-Fi, too? One of mine tipped hers over this morning and walked away. This was in snow and ice, so you'd think she'd be hungry!
 
The Unmollassed Hifi and Alfa A do have less sugar (obviously!) but are coated with soya oil, so please factor this in if you are feeding to laminitics.

Ooo thanks for that bit of info! Luckily ive only got one thats had lami before, the others are yearlings & a tbx but will have a think before i feed it to the fattie!

Will also look into the Happyhoof one & the pure feed company. Luckily i still have a full bag of the old style stuff, but i had heard it had changed so wanted to get a new bag to try it out. Now the challenge of finding a chaff that the fussy one will eat, took me months to find this one!!

I was also baffled as to why you would put vanilla on a feed, doesnt exactly seem natural does it? Oh well! lol!

I don't suppose they've done this to standard Hi-Fi, too? One of mine tipped hers over this morning and walked away. This was in snow and ice, so you'd think she'd be hungry!

I dont use hifi original, so dont know if they have changed that one!
 
My feed merchant was told by the rep that lots of people complained that it was unpalatable and so they decided to make it sweeter with vanilla essence. Apparently for the most recent batch the machine was set up wrong and put too much vanilla in!
 
Interesting! I contacted Dengi direct when I got my last bag. They told me that hi fi lite had always had vanilla added to it, but they had recently changed their supplier. The result this very smelly stuff. They said that they are working on reducing the smell. Fortunately my two seems to like it, although my fiends horse doesn't. Amazing though all the slightly different variations to the story though..... It goes to show that we can never be completely sure what we or our animals are actually eating!
 
Top