Which chaff?

brigantia

brigantia

Well-Known Member
Joined
30 October 2010
Messages
220
Location
Lancashire
Visit site
I've been feeding my mare Top Chop from Topspec but it's pricy and I was disappointed that the last bag I purchased was very dusty. Not impressed.

I've fed her Hi Fi Lite in the past but she hasn't liked it so much.

I want a low sugar, low starch chaff appropriate for a lami-prone native. She's Welsh and has never had laminitis, but I need to stick to low cal feeds as she is a very good doer!

Would you recommend Happy Hoof? One of the ladies at my yard uses it and it looks promisingly undusty. :) What do you all think of Happy Hoof?
 
I give my round little native happy hoof and so far i've been really impressed with it. Mine doesnt really NEED hard feed but she needs something to put her vits and mins in (she eats soil without them!) so I give her a handful of this a day. Another 2 liveries feed it to their horses to and have no complaints.
 
my girl is the definition of good doer and is always bit porky! I she lives out 24/7 and gets one feed a day with her formula for feet and some chaff. I've recently started using honeychop chopped oat straw as the ultimate no sugar no nothing chaff to bulk her dinner out whilst her skinnier best mate eats a bigger tea. I think its actually a hay replacer but works for me as a chaff to feed supplements with.
 
Personally wouldn't touch Happy Hoof, full of sugar. I would choose something (anything) else which is much lower in molasses/sugar than that. Currently I am using D&H Fibergy, which is a variant on Hi Fi Lite. The Hi Fi molasses free looks quite good, rather like Happy Hoof but presumably coated in oil.
 
PennyJ said:
Personally wouldn't touch Happy Hoof, full of sugar. I would choose something (anything) else which is much lower in molasses/sugar than that. Currently I am using D&H Fibergy, which is a variant on Hi Fi Lite. The Hi Fi molasses free looks quite good, rather like Happy Hoof but presumably coated in oil.
Click to expand...

The sugar contents of Happy Hoof is 5%, the sugar content of Fibergy is 6%! a lot of the chaffs have some sort of molasses is in them in some form or another. If you don't want to feed a chaff with sugar in then try getting an oat straw one, I think Oasis chaff do one, but its hard to get hold of
 
brigantia said:
I've been feeding my mare Top Chop from Topspec but it's pricy and I was disappointed that the last bag I purchased was very dusty. Not impressed.

I've fed her Hi Fi Lite in the past but she hasn't liked it so much.

I want a low sugar, low starch chaff appropriate for a lami-prone native. She's Welsh and has never had laminitis, but I need to stick to low cal feeds as she is a very good doer!

Would you recommend Happy Hoof? One of the ladies at my yard uses it and it looks promisingly undusty. :) What do you all think of Happy Hoof?
Click to expand...

I use dodson and horrell fibergy it smells of lovely herbs and is fine for laminitis smells better than either of the hifi

http://www.dodsonandhorrell.com/our-feeds/chaffsforage/chaffsforage/fibergy.html

i stopped using happy hoof, and gave it to my gelding


it sent him loopy and spooky wont use it again had to use it up on my welshie so glad to rid it out my feedroom .

I give my mare 1/2 scoop fibergy and 3/4 alfa a lite both ok for laminitics
 
Last edited:
i personally use dodson horrell alfalfa or greengold - greengold is alfalfa with no molasses at all. - i am under the impression that happy hoof have changed their chaff though as it used to be much stickier and is no very dry.
alfalfa is more nutritious but by weight, you can give a handful of alfalfa as i find its a lot fluffier. one bag of greengold fills 2 dustbins where as a bag of hifi would fill 1 maybe 1 and a half because its weight is in the molasses not in the chaff ;) so you can feed the same VOLUME of chaff but be feeding a LIGHTER feed. it also had a long chew time :)
ETA: i only use dodsson&horrell's has got some mollasses :rolleyes:
 
AngieandBen said:
The sugar contents of Happy Hoof is 5%, the sugar content of Fibergy is 6%! a lot of the chaffs have some sort of molasses is in them in some form or another. If you don't want to feed a chaff with sugar in then try getting an oat straw one, I think Oasis chaff do one, but its hard to get hold of
Click to expand...

Then we must agree to disagree then. Like another poster above, Happy Hoof sent a gelding I owned completely evil and loopy, he was subsequently found to be sugar intolerant. However he was able to cope with Fibergy, which is why I would recommend it over the Happy Hoof. When you have a sugar intolerant horse as opposed to just trying to feed a supposedly healthy low sugar diet, you really get to know which ones are low sugar!
 
PennyJ said:
Then we must agree to disagree then. Like another poster above, Happy Hoof sent a gelding I owned completely evil and loopy, he was subsequently found to be sugar intolerant. However he was able to cope with Fibergy, which is why I would recommend it over the Happy Hoof. When you have a sugar intolerant horse as opposed to just trying to feed a supposedly healthy low sugar diet, you really get to know which ones are low sugar!
Click to expand...

Whats there to disagree with, I rang the companies up and asked for sugar content not long ago along with several other chaffs, Fibergy has sugar?!
 
brigantia said:
I've fed her Hi Fi Lite in the past but she hasn't liked it so much.
Click to expand...
I think this is a big clue.... sounds like your mare already has a sweet tooth and anything you give her that is low in starch and sugar will probably be met with the same derision, unless you persevere.

Simple Systems are truly mollasses-free.... as are the M-F range from Dengie.
 
Hi, I have two retired mares one of which is cushings and the other a good doer. I am always reviewing their feeds to make sure they are on a low sugar, low starch diet along with soaked hay.

Allen & Page L-Mix and Fast Fibre are probably the lowest on the market following research but mine soon go off these unless they are mixed with a chaff.

On speaking to Dengie recently regarding their Hi-Fi Lite, the Molasses Free version, and the Good Doer. They still advised me that Hi-Fi Lite is still the lowest calorific chaff and that I still fed this to my lamnitic mares over and above the molasses free or the good doer.

So I just feed small quantities of this with a lo-cal balancer for the vit & mins along with supplements.:)
 
AngieandBen said:
Whats there to disagree with, I rang the companies up and asked for sugar content not long ago along with several other chaffs, Fibergy has sugar?!
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure happy hoof used to have a high sugar content but now doesn't.... so i wonder if the other person used happy hoof in its "old" form... and doesn't realise its far better now:rolleyes:;)
 
Allen & Page fast fibre is good but personally you can't go wrong with Simple Systems, they also have own feed helpline. My cob is on lucienuts (soaked) and luciestalks (chaff) as is my 2yr old sec A in sml amount. Cob is 21, still active & competing, been in SS for 10+ yrs. He also has linseed, cider vinegar & oil and he always looks well with shiny coat, very economical to feed SS.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top