# Mollichaff vs Dengie??



## RachJeremy (Sep 14, 2012)

I am trying to do some research in what could possibly be better for my two youngsters.

At the moment i have them on Mollichaff applechaff, purely because it was there... But before they were on Dengie Hi-Fi Apple. Which they both loved and enjoyed eating. But i'm not sure really what could be better for them... My OH wants to stick to Mollichaff due to the fact it's cheaper per bag (but you get less) & it all fits in the bin. Whereas Dengie is more expensive (but you get more) but it doesn't all fit in the feed bin and you have to keep the bag together to hold the remaining chaff. 

But on the other hand a few people on my yard also feed readigrass, due to the fact we don't have very good grazing... 

I'm genuinely stumped as what would be better for my two babies. So any help would be grateful!


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## Teddy-dog (Nov 2, 2017)

I always find this useful to refer to:

_Here is a list of the percentage sugar content of the most commonly fed chaffs. High sugars have an increased risk of laminitis, obesity, tooth decay as well as poor behaviour and excitability.

% of sugars in common chaff feeds low to high -

<1% Topchop Zero
<2% Topchop Lite
2% Spillers Happy hoof molasses free
2.25% Baileys Light chaff
2.5% Dengie Hifi Molasses free
2.5% Dengie Healthy hooves molasses free
2.5% Baileys Alfalfa plus oil
4 - 8% Thunderbrook Healthy Herbal
4.1% Ossichaff Cool Hoof
4.5% Dengie Alfa Oil
4.5% Dengie Alfa Molasses free
4.5% Dengie Healthy tummy
4.5% Spillers Alfalfa pro
4.6% Mollichaff Alfa oil
<5% Simple Systems Lucie Stalks
<5% Topchop Alfa
5% Dengie Healthy hooves
5% Spillers happy hoof
5% Spillers Daily fibre
5% Spillers Conditioning fibre
5% Dodson and Horrell Safe and Sound
5.2% Just feed Just Chop
5.5% Honeychop lite and healthy
5.5% Honeychop Alfa
6 - 8% Mollichaff hoof kind
6 - 9% Thunderbrook Healthy Herbal Muesli
6.3 - 7.2% Mollichaff Donkey
< 7% Simple Systems Greengold
7% Dengie Hifi Lite
7 - 8% Mollichaff Calmer
< 7.5% Topchop Sport
7.5% Baileys Alfalfa blend
8% Dengie Alfa Lite
8% Honeychop Senior
8.5 - 9.5% Mollichaff Condition
9% Dengie Hifi original 
9% Dengie Hifi Good doer
9% Honeychop Calm and shine
< 10% Simple Systems Timothy Chop
< 10% Topchop Grass
10% Dengie Alfa Original
10% Dengie Hifi Original with apple
10% Dengie Senior
10.5 - 15% Mollichaff Veteran
11% Baileys Ultragrass
11.5% Honeychop original and plus
12% Dengie Meadow grass
12% Dengie Grass pellets
12% Northern Chop Graze on
12 - 15% Mollichaff Show shine
13% Ossichaff Advanced 
15 - 19% Mollichaff Herbal
15.5% Ossichaff Original and Garlic
16 - 21% Mollichaff Original
16 - 21% Mollichaff Extra
17.5% Baileys Golden chaff
17 - 22% Mollichaff Applechaff
_
Looking at the list... I'd definitely move away from Mollichaff. All that sugar isn't really doing any good. The dengie with apple is lower in sugar, but still not all that low. I'd be looking at something more towards the top end.

Is your horse in good condition? If so I wouldn't worry about the grazing. Good doers do better not eating rich grass all day. Readiness is basically spring grass so rich and high in energy. 
Though if your grazing is that poor, you could get a good balancer to make sure the horse is getting their vits and minerals.


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## RachJeremy (Sep 14, 2012)

Teddy-dog said:


> I always find this useful to refer to:
> 
> _Here is a list of the percentage sugar content of the most commonly fed chaffs. High sugars have an increased risk of laminitis, obesity, tooth decay as well as poor behaviour and excitability.
> 
> ...


That is amazing! Thank you for this. As it's handy knowing they were better off on Dengie that Mollichaff. As soon as i opened the bag i had a bad feeling about it. They seem to be eating it fine, but i don't want to keep them on it for sure! Both mine are good doers, one being a cob and one being a Fell x Cob, and both slightly fat right now, which is ideal seeing as we're coming out of winter. They get hay, but i limit what they get because the Cob will demolish whatevers in front of him. So anything to help them both is good! I'm looking into a balancer from Horse and Pony Direct. See if they're any good. If not i will go back onto Top Spec Cool for my Fell X as she did well on that. Only took her off due to moving her onto lush grass. But since then have moved to a yard were grazing is very poor, but she still seems to have gained weight haha


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## Teddy-dog (Nov 2, 2017)

RachJeremy said:


> That is amazing! Thank you for this. As it's handy knowing they were better off on Dengie that Mollichaff. As soon as i opened the bag i had a bad feeling about it. They seem to be eating it fine, but i don't want to keep them on it for sure! Both mine are good doers, one being a cob and one being a Fell x Cob, and both slightly fat right now, which is ideal seeing as we're coming out of winter. They get hay, but i limit what they get because the Cob will demolish whatevers in front of him. So anything to help them both is good! I'm looking into a balancer from Horse and Pony Direct. See if they're any good. If not i will go back onto Top Spec Cool for my Fell X as she did well on that. Only took her off due to moving her onto lush grass. But since then have moved to a yard were grazing is very poor, but she still seems to have gained weight haha


Haha I'm sure they're eating it fine - it's full of sugar! It's like candy to them.

If they're both good doers, do have a good think about whether they _need _hard feed, a lot of cob and cob types could live off air and don't always need hard feed (unless they're in heavy work - most leisure horses aren't!)

My WB gets a token amount of chaff as he's a good doer too. He basically gets a handful of the dengie good doer chaff just to mix with his supplements. The supplement is just to make sure he's getting his vits and minerals as we have poor grazing too.


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## RachJeremy (Sep 14, 2012)

Teddy-dog said:


> Haha I'm sure they're eating it fine - it's full of sugar! It's like candy to them.
> 
> If they're both good doers, do have a good think about whether they _need _hard feed, a lot of cob and cob types could live off air and don't always need hard feed (unless they're in heavy work - most leisure horses aren't!)
> 
> My WB gets a token amount of chaff as he's a good doer too. He basically gets a handful of the dengie good doer chaff just to mix with his supplements. The supplement is just to make sure he's getting his vits and minerals as we have poor grazing too.


I give them a feed purely to give supplements. Both get turmeric, partly due to my colt having juvi warts. And after trying the brand i use on my mare it helped with her forelock growing (as she was a punk-pony when i got her and been battling her forelock growth for a year now!). And really they only both get a 'token' feed anyway. Literally handfuls, nothing massive at all. But that being said i don't want to give them something thats going to be worse for them!


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## Teddy-dog (Nov 2, 2017)

RachJeremy said:


> I give them a feed purely to give supplements. Both get turmeric, partly due to my colt having juvi warts. And after trying the brand i use on my mare it helped with her forelock growing (as she was a punk-pony when i got her and been battling her forelock growth for a year now!). And really they only both get a 'token' feed anyway. Literally handfuls, nothing massive at all. But that being said i don't want to give them something thats going to be worse for them!


Ahh that makes sense then. Yeah it would be best to get them onto something less sugary. TBH I'm thinking of changing the good doer down to something with less sugar as it's not all that low (even though it's labelled as a good doer) but I've only just changed his supplement so don't like to change too much at once!

Horse feed is a minefield!


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## RachJeremy (Sep 14, 2012)

https://www.instagram.com/rach46773/

Go to the Link, the latest pictures of my colt and filly are on there XD both are rather plump!


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## RachJeremy (Sep 14, 2012)

Teddy-dog said:


> Ahh that makes sense then. Yeah it would be best to get them onto something less sugary. TBH I'm thinking of changing the good doer down to something with less sugar as it's not all that low (even though it's labelled as a good doer) but I've only just changed his supplement so don't like to change too much at once!
> 
> Horse feed is a minefield!


It really is! XD you'd of thought it'd be a lot easier to sort out... But no! 
My older horse, is literally on Dodsen and Horrell Safe and Sound, been on it for years now and it works for him... But my filly, Skye won't touch it! >.< Tetley, my colt eats anything put in front of him... So i just give him a token of chaff and pony nuts at the moment so he can have his turmeric. Skye gets a pasture mix and chaff, or nuts and chaff depending on what we have. But i want to have her back on a balancer, and put Tetley on a balancer too. I've had Skye on TopSpec, and she's fine on that, so i might just put them back onto that. :\


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## Teddy-dog (Nov 2, 2017)

RachJeremy said:


> https://www.instagram.com/rach46773/
> 
> Go to the Link, the latest pictures of my colt and filly are on there XD both are rather plump!


Ahh they're lovely - and looking very well


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## RachJeremy (Sep 14, 2012)

Teddy-dog said:


> Ahh they're lovely - and looking very well


Looking very plump! XD To be fair, the colt has lost a considerable amount of weight since we got him, he came to us resembling a pot-bellied pig ahaha.

Skye just loves her food and is like her mum, just has to look at food and she puts on weight!


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