On the Chaffhaye, I get it for 7.50 for a 50 lb bag. Sounds like a
lot, but it goes farther and has more nutrition than grass hay. It's
also 50% moisture by weight, because they package it when it has only
been cured and dried down to that level, as opposed to hay which ends
up at maybe 10% or less moisture. This means that "as fed" the protein
content is only 9-10% and half of each mouthful is WATER. Good for
endurance horses, I think. I notice my horses have less need for water
on workouts lately, and pee more often. Not to mention the natural
yeasts it contains (they are not added). It has a very nice sweet
silage smell, and is guaranteed if a bag gets damaged. Some of you
might worry, and rightly so, about a fermented product going bad. Not a
problem. It is very well packaged and you really have to stab it with
a knife or something to breach the plastic. It comes out of the package
as a giant, slightly damp, compressed "loaf" and the horses love it,
but do no overeat it by any means. They are satisfied sooner, and, in
addition, I leave out free choice Bermuda for them to graze on. I have
no weight problems, either to fat or too thin, on any of my horses, and
they all run together in a big corral. Oh, and their manure is
significantly reduced.
The alfalfa is harvested very early, at its highest nutritional
stage, and with maximum leaf and minimum stem. And, it's still
basically in long-stem form, and opposed to ground up like pellets. So
far, so good. I would be interested to see some other endurance riders
try it and hear how their horses do with it. It's very easy to
transport, and stores for up to two years, guaranteed. Interesting side
note-- the original product was designed by the Queen of England
herself to feed her expensive hunter-jumpers when they traveled, in
order to avoid colic from strange feeds. It caught on overseas, and
apparently is growing like gangbusters here in the states with
virtually no marketing, which I'm told is changing soon. Check out the
Chaffhaye website. That's the farm report for this evening. I'm Dr.
Quackenbush, I'll see you right here next week, same time, same
channel.
