FERMENTATION
by Laurie
McNally
The process of fermenting foods has been
used in many societies and cultures for 5000 years. Foods are fermented to improve flavor, texture and
overall palatability but mostly used to preserve and retard the growth of dangerous microorganisms, and to
naturally enrich the nutritional content. We know fermentation brings these values to human food and the same
process can be applied to horse feeds, which is essentially what Chaffhaye is; Fermented green fresh cuts of
alfalfa and grass that is organically grown.
Chaffhaye is fresh prime quality alfalfa or grass forage. The plant is harvested at
its nutritional tender best, and dried to only about 50% moisture. This proper moisture level is met just before
the feed is chopped and misted with a small amount of molasses and two forms of live beneficial bacteria. (Known in
the horse world as probiotics.) These three ingredients start and complete, the fermentation process to the fresh
chopped plant material when sealed in an airtight vacuum package, a specially designed plastic for the
“fermentation process” to occur right in the bag. Because the feed is sealed within four hours of being harvested,
it is always pristine and sterile when you open the bag; it is just like opening a fresh nutritious salad of
delicious greenery for your horse.
The fermentation that occurs in Chaffhaye is very similar to the
natural digestive process that takes place in the hindgut of a horse. The hindgut is a huge fermentation tank
that through a remarkable process can breakdown cellulose and convert it to a significant amount of the
energy that a horse needs, especially when working, exercising, or competing.
It is estimated that half of the organic carbon on earth is
cellulose yet no animal can digest it directly; it takes the process of fermentation to make the energy of
cellulose available. Fermentation either in the Chaffhaye bag, or in the horses’ hindgut produces a vast and
varied number of microorganisms that breakdown the cellulose and other non- soluble carbohydrates to a
useable form. The end result of fermentation of feeds is that that fatty acids and vitamins, especially the B
complex, with amino acids are easily available to the horse for its energy needs and life requirements, with
little waste passed through to the colon for disposal.
Horses fed Chaffhaye can absorb almost twice as much of the
nutrients over dry and manufactured feeds because of the fermentation. Horses fed Chaffhaye will
produce about half the manure when compared to horses fed traditional rations. The manure from Chaffhaye fed
horses has very little intact plant matter because of the more complete digestion and use of the nutrients in
the horses’ body.
Digestion in a horse starts in the stomach, and then moves to the
small intestines and finally to the hindgut. The stomach and small intestines are the only area where
significant absorption of amino acids the proteins and simple sugars occur. The foregut is very efficient in
absorbing nutrition, but because the food moves through relatively quickly, significant nutrition is missed
from dry or processed feeds. Chaffhaye is fermented and pre-digested providing more protein and vitamins with
needed “life energy” and easier to be extracted in the foregut with less being lost through the hindgut and
passed as waste.
What is even better from the horses’ point of view is that
Chaffhaye is very palatable, and most go immediately to eating and enjoying the delicious smell, and ease to
chew consistency. A recent study of horses who are fed fermented forage reveled that horse eat over
longer periods of time, and enjoy the slower feeding and continue to “graze” in a more natural way when the
feed is preserved in this method, when measured against horses fed dry baled feed.
Animal nutritionists and veterinarians for
many reasons have recommended Chaffhaye: as a superior source of roughage, protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals. It
enhances appetite in sick and horses under treatment or in recovery. Good quality nutrition also naturally enhances
the auto immune system, aiding in the body’s defense against environmental stresses and disease.
Chaffhaye is an all-natural solution to many equine problems than can be addressed
with fermented nutrition. A large part of its worry free status with owners, is the added bacteria’s that are the
pro-biotics needed to stimulate and maintain the healthy micro flora in a horses digestive system. The by-product
of the bacteria added before fermentation is live yeast, appearing in the bag. Yeast is a very healthy and
beneficial addition to a horse’s diet, and one that owners cannot find in most feeds, only in expensive
supplements.
Commonly horses with sensitivity to sugars and starches, and
issues such as laminitis, obesity, insulin resistance, or other problems like dust allergies, gum and teeth
issues, tying-up, impaction or gastric colic, lack of water intake, dry coat and skin, and summer fly
infestations, respond with excellent reports in 30 days of being converted to Chaffhaye.
Horses naturally foraging, choose to eat
tender and moist plants that are nutritious full of fresh flavors and nutrients that are not difficult to digest.
Domestic horses often do not have the option to choose the best tasting tender sweet plant tops, and they are
offered dried baled stored dusty grasses and plants that are hard to eat and also hard to digest; which causes many
problems for our equine friends.
Clean fresh food, with clean fresh water, are any horse owners’ insurance policy for
keeping and enjoying a healthy horse. Most Chaffhaye fed horses are referred to as “easy keepers” with no more
feeding issues.
Can you say this about your
hay?…..
“I can haul it in my car on the back seat with no mess, Carry the bags under one arm,
stack it, feed it easily, no longer buy extra supplements, and saved $1200 this year, and I never have to buy
another rain hay tarp!!!” Bill Bridges, owner - 5 horses and Chaffhaye
convert, over one year.
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