# Does chaff actually do anything?



## Paint Me Proud (11 February 2013)

Was recently told that chaff (such as alfa-a) only really acts like hay and doesnt give anything nutritional to the horse. Therefore it is okay to feed as much as you want and it wont put any extra weight on the horse. 
Is this true?


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## JustKickOn (11 February 2013)

I've always understood it to be just a filler, except for the ones which have the added oils etc for conditioning.
Although, I wouldn't like to feed it ad lib like you would hay, unless the horse was needing some serious weight gain, or couldn't eat hay for some reason.


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## Catcus (11 February 2013)

Depends what's in it. Straw chaff would be fairly low calorie I think. Alfalfa is higher calorie, especially oil versions.


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## mightymammoth (11 February 2013)

The only reason I feed chaff is because it's the only thing he will eat his supplements in.


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## mulberrymill (11 February 2013)

I understood it satisfies the horses need to graze by taking longer to eat, therefore keeping the gut working. Ensures they chew their food, helping to stop bolting, and useful to mix bits, mins, drugs etc.


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## Brightbay (11 February 2013)

doesnt give anything nutritional to the horse
		
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Hay doesn't give anything nutritional to the horse?  How on earth do horses who live in all winter survive? 

Are you thinking of straw, maybe?

The chaff I feed is just chopped timothy hay, so has exactly the same calories, vitamins and minerals per weight as feeding hay?  Except that I only feed a large scoop  (about 200g) of it in soaked cubes, to slow down the rate of eating for horses who tend to gulp their food - so it has the same amount of nutrients as 200g of hay (I guess that's a small handful...).

Some chaffs are mainly straw, some are hay and straw, some are alfalfa and straw... some have other things added.  They will all have _some_ nutrients, and they will all have some calorific value.


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## Milkmaid (12 February 2013)

You could use a straw based chaff as a partial hay replacer (but quite an expensive way of feeding forage)
The dried grass chaffs & alfalfa however have high DE (digestible energy) & protein and adlib would be like having your horse out on good spring grass 24/7!


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## Milkmaid (12 February 2013)

Brightbay- If it is heat dried Timothy chaff then it will have MUCH higher nutritional value than Timothy hay from a bale mainly due to the stage of growth it was cut but also the way it is dried & stored.
If you are not feeding a good doer then this is not a problem as quantities are small but for a fatty every little helps & I would be looking at a straw based chaff for carrying supplements


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## Paint Me Proud (12 February 2013)

Brightbay said:



			Hay doesn't give anything nutritional to the horse?  How on earth do horses who live in all winter survive? 

Are you thinking of straw, maybe?
		
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No this is not what i think but what I was told recently. I would be of the opinion that it does contain 'calories' and will contribute to weight gain if fed in large quantities, as anything fed in large quantities will put weight on.

Someone I know has been told they can feed their over weight horse as much chaff as they want as it wont have any effect of their weight. The vet has told owners that the horse must lose some weight.

I didnt think this was right but wanted to check with all you guys on HHO.


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## charliejet (12 February 2013)

Absolutely depends on what the 'chaff' is.  Some of them have high sugar contents especially the molasses coated ones.  The Oil coated ones have a high digestable energy so will also provide energy and if the horse isnt in hard enough work to burn it off they will put weight on.

There are lower sugar unmolasses chaffs and plain Oat straw chaffs that would be suitable to feeding in larger quantities but ideally a fat horse needs well soaked hay fed in small hole nets and a vit min supp to balance up the nutrients lost from soaking the hay and nothing else!  Apart from exercise, they wont loose much weight from diet alone.

Alfalfa fed in large quantities will put weight on.


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## Miss L Toe (12 February 2013)

In Ye Olden Days we had a chaff cutter which was used to turn hay and oat straw in to one inch long pieces of chaff, which was then added to the feed of oats and bran [these were the days before horse nuts!] It stopped them bolting their food.
The horse chewed the chaff and produced saliva. Even in 2013,  saliva is needed to break down the starches as they are ingested.
When I first got my own pony, I laughed at the thought of buying such a product, but we dont have a chaff cutter, so I need to buy it ready cut.
Now most chaff has molasses and fungicides added.......... not good, but I buy Dengie non molassed lo alfa chaff, it is outrageously expensive per tonne, but I add a handful just to make sure the food is not bolted down.
OK if you want you can buy hi fibre nuts.......... but I prefer to see what I am feeding ... not that I distrust the manufacturers of horse food............. I know that they are very careful.... yes, and they employ highly qualified nutritionists............. yes, and make big profits from carefully marketed brands. Long live capitalism....... just popping down to Tesco to see if they are reducing their beef Lasange yet........ I understand it is perfectly safe, , just not, well not actually beef!.... how did that happen?


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## Suelin (12 February 2013)

Miss L Toe said:



			In Ye Olden Days we had a chaff cutter which was used to turn hay and oat straw in to one inch long pieces of chaff, which was then added to the feed of oats and bran [these were the days before horse nuts!] It stopped them bolting their food.
The horse chewed the chaff and produced saliva. Even in 2013,  saliva is needed to break down the starches as they are ingested.
When I first got my own pony, I laughed at the thought of buying such a product, but we dont have a chaff cutter, so I need to buy it ready cut.
Now most chaff has molasses and fungicides added.......... not good, but I buy Dengie non molassed lo alfa chaff, it is outrageously expensive per tonne, but I add a handful just to make sure the food is not bolted down.
		
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Completely agree with the above.  We discovered that the garden shredder made very acceptable chaff from our own hay and it has saved us quite a bit of money by doing our own.


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## Zerotolerance (12 February 2013)

Sadly I too can remember the days of chaff cutters - followed by chaff coming in returnable hessian or jute sacks done up with a twist of wire! I've always fed all mine quite a lot of chaff, mainly to make sure they chew everything properly. I'm concerned by the amount of molasses in all feeds these days and am very suspicious of the cheap chaffs which always look like they're coated in in the stuff, which could make a not great quality base chaff more palatable. I feed Dengie molasses free (HiFi version) to all the younger ones. The oldies get HiFi Senior which has a lot of grass in so is softer for them. It does have some molasses but that's not so critical for them.


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## maccachic (12 February 2013)

The good thing about chaff is it encourages chewing of both the chaff and any additional feed - which produces saliva (as said above).  This increases the digestibility of the whole feed, the bonus with saliva is it helps buffer stomach acid therefore helping prevent ulcers.

Depending on the variety of fibre its made from they contain various amounts or protein, vits and mins (altho the older it is the less of these there are) and calories.

Here is an avergage table (hopefully it comes out readable)

                       Lucerne Hay   Grass Hay   Oaten Chaff 
DE (MJ/kg)               9.37            7.5            7.32 
Crude Protein (g/kg)   180            95              86 
Calcium (g/kg)           12.8           5.0             2.9 
Phosphorous (g/kg)     1.9             1.9             2.3 
Magnesium (g/kg)        3.1            1.9              1.5


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## JennyNZ (14 February 2013)

LOL the good thing about living at the bottom of the world, is you can still get stuff like "chaff".  The real stuff even - comes in a sack. 

Chaff is chopped up hay - usually lucerne.  Or, chopped up oat straw.

x2 all of the above re fibre, sliva etc.  I'm a lucerne chaff fan, 'cos a little bit of lucerne is good  for horses and chaffed is an easy way to feed it.

I can't imagine buying chaff with additives, especially molasses.


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## dilbert_uk (14 February 2013)

When the bottom of the world is defined by the ability to buy "real chuff" then Yorkshire can compete with New Zealand. 

Some time ago I bought a large grey sack, blank with anything written on it, of "real chuff" in a shop in Keighley (JoJos I believe).


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## mandwhy (14 February 2013)

I am still looking for hay chaff, I found simple systems timothy hay chop but it is expensive and comes in a bag I could barely fit in my car! my horse has hi fi lite as it seems to be the most ok one, but it still has molasses in, and alfalfa which I would rather avoid really. 

I think there is always a point to feeding fibre  

Humans COULD just eat concentrated foods in pellet form, like astronauts!


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## pip_dog (14 February 2013)

I hope there's some goodness and point to chaff. My 2 get a big scoop each morning and night of green gold chaff. Seems to be doing good...


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## debsandpets (15 February 2013)

Alfa A oil states that 1 scoop of it is the same as feeding competition mix. I have always fed a a oil to my boys in the winter for extra calories etc and to bulk out feeds, but never bothered to read the bag before, only my OH read it the other day and I really couldn't believe the statement, but that could well explain their somewhat explosive episodes lol !!!!


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## Polos Mum (15 February 2013)

Those looking for basic chaff, your home garden shredder (b&q special for £80) makes a wonderful chaff cutter, poke hay/ straw of your preference in the top and nicely cut chaff comes out the bottom - then you can be 100% sure what's in it.


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## wench (15 February 2013)

debsandpets said:



			Alfa A oil states that 1 scoop of it is the same as feeding competition mix. I have always fed a a oil to my boys in the winter for extra calories etc and to bulk out feeds, but never bothered to read the bag before, only my OH read it the other day and I really couldn't believe the statement, but that could well explain their somewhat explosive episodes lol !!!!
		
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Alfa-a has approximately the same DE as a competition mix. However a scoop of chaff will weigh about 250-500g I think. A scoop of mix will be about 1kg. Therefore the horse cannot get as much energy from one scoop of alfa-a as one scoop of mix...


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## Maesfen (16 February 2013)

mandwhy said:



			I am still looking for hay chaff, I found simple systems timothy hay chop but it is expensive and comes in a bag I could barely fit in my car! my horse has hi fi lite as it seems to be the most ok one, but it still has molasses in, and alfalfa which I would rather avoid really. 

I think there is always a point to feeding fibre  

Humans COULD just eat concentrated foods in pellet form, like astronauts!
		
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Have you tried Graze ON? http://www.northerncropdriers.co.uk/product/graze-on


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## Brightbay (16 February 2013)

mandwhy said:



			I am still looking for hay chaff, I found simple systems timothy hay chop but it is expensive and comes in a bag I could barely fit in my car! my horse has hi fi lite as it seems to be the most ok one, but it still has molasses in, and alfalfa which I would rather avoid really. 

I think there is always a point to feeding fibre  

Humans COULD just eat concentrated foods in pellet form, like astronauts!
		
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Halleys seem to make the stuff for Simple Systems and I think it's cheaper to buy direct from them.  I use the timothy chop - the horses love it despite it having nothing added.  The bags are enormous and last for ages, and they deliver to your door so you don't have to find a local stockist and stuff it in your car.  I searched for years to find an unmolassed plain chaff that the horses would eat!  Halleys have data on DE of each chaff on their website - the Timothy chop is 9.6 MJ/kg DM (and the online shop too) http://halleysfeeds.co.uk/


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## Miss L Toe (18 February 2013)

My boy is barefoot, hence the fear of molasses and avoidance of alfalfa, which can cause sensitivity in some barefoots.


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