# Oaten Chaff or Lucerne Chaff?



## HombresArablegacy (Oct 12, 2013)

WoodyTheWelsh said:


> Hi,
> 
> So I recently bought my first horse and have just started to give him small doses of oaten chaff. During my years as a non owner at pony club, I have always been told to steer clear of lucerne hay as it has a high sugar content. Many other experienced people have told they absolutely live by that and only feed their horses oaten chaff. Except yesterday a friend told me about her welsh foundering. She followed the whole no Lucerne rule and used oaten chaff when in fact the oats in the oaten chaff had a whole lot more heated sugar in it than Lucerne.
> 
> ...


Lucerne hay, or alfalfa as we call it here, is very nutritional, high in protein, and you can feed less of it than grass hays. It's also more digestible. I would ask your vet what they recommend. There could be other factors that caused the Welsh to founder.
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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

From country to country a lot gets 'lost in translation' but as someone who lived in the UK most of their life my interpretation of Oat chaff is chopped oat straw - no actual oats in it at all
Its a very low calorie feed but has low nutritional value so usually fed with a blend of chopped hay or Lucerne (alfalfa) or with a ration balancer


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

jaydee said:


> From country to country a lot gets 'lost in translation' but as someone who lived in the UK most of their life my interpretation of Oat chaff is chopped oat straw - no actual oats in it at all
> Its a very low calorie feed but has low nutritional value so usually fed with a blend of chopped hay or Lucerne (alfalfa) or with a ration balancer


So much hangs on individual cultures usage of terms, doesn't it?

Chaff, where I am, essentially looks like bran and was generally made from wheat. I haven't seen any in years but as a child it was quite common to have a grain bin full of the stuff that had been made and saved from harvesting. It was fed to the cattle although we occasionally used a little of it to catch reluctant ponies.

I agree with the other poster who said there were other factors in play that caused the pony to founder.


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