Hay cubes in a food processor?

[Red_Barn]

I suspect that the age of the cubes actually has more to do with their hardness than anything else.

I regularly buy a Canadian brand called Semican, for example, from one of two local vendors, both with pretty good turnover. Once in a while, though, I’ve picked up the very same cubes from somewhere else, perhaps with less turnover, and, on several occasions, they’ve been much harder. It might be age; storage conditions might also make a difference.

I never buy Standlee cubes, and I agree that they’re granite-like. I’ve always supposed that this is because Tractor Supply isn’t local to us here in Maine, but maybe it’s just a brand characteristic.

Anyhow. Maybe look for a vendor who turns over a lot of the stuff . . . ?

Hard to do, I suppose, in certain parts of the country, but possibly worth a try.

[roseymare]

[QUOTE=buck22;8539607]
The standlee cubes I get from TSC I soak overnight and even then there are some middle bits that are still rock hard. I have to fish through the mush every morning pulling them out so my toothless coming 36yr old doesn’t choke on one.

Hot water helps heaps, but not always entirely.[/QUOTE]

I wear yellow dishwashing gloves and then hand break them and fluff them. Some bags are not as hard as others. That takes around 15 minutes as well. I don’t know where these cubes are coming from that go poof in hot water but I can’t get them. Even the pellets take a while to fluff. Maybe it has to do with water also. We have very hard lime and iron filled water.
I also get a bags of cubes from a broker that come out of Quebec. There are sometimes softer but not always.

[Red_Barn]

The ones from Quebec are probably Semican:

http://www.semican.ca/english/products/horsefeed/index.htm

I just made some of their alfalfa cubes up for the horses’ supper - rapidly boiling water, 9 minutes, and they’re good to go.

But I’m in Maine, which might make a difference.

[Ghazzu]

[QUOTE=Red Barn;8539612]
I suspect that the age of the cubes actually has more to do with their hardness than anything else.

I regularly buy a Canadian brand called Semican, for example, from one of two local vendors, both with pretty good turnover. Once in a while, though, I’ve picked up the very same cubes from somewhere else, perhaps with less turnover, and, on several occasions, they’ve been much harder. It might be age; storage conditions might also make a difference.

I never buy Standlee cubes, and I agree that they’re granite-like. I’ve always supposed that this is because Tractor Supply isn’t local to us here in Maine, but maybe it’s just a brand characteristic.

Anyhow. Maybe look for a vendor who turns over a lot of the stuff . . . ?

Hard to do, I suppose, in certain parts of the country, but possibly worth a try.[/QUOTE]

My guess w/the Standlee hard as rock cubes is that it minimizes the bulk, which makes storage of large quantities less expensive for them.
doesn’t make much difference on a small scale, but imagine a warehouse full.

[Red_Barn]

That, too, is a good theory.

If I have time on Monday, maybe I’ll just drive from Tractor Supply to the Farmers’ Union and measure both Semican and Standlee bags.

[caper]

Some alfalfa/tim hay cubes are like concrete. Even soaking in hot water it would take very long and he would have difficulty.

I have switched to alfalfa pellets and they soak much better. I am feeding a 36 year old horse that can’t eat hay well anymore. I also soak his hi fat hi fibre feed in the mix.

[roseymare]

[QUOTE=Red Barn;8539657]
The ones from Quebec are probably Semican:

http://www.semican.ca/english/products/horsefeed/index.htm

I just made some of their alfalfa cubes up for the horses’ supper - rapidly boiling water, 9 minutes, and they’re good to go.

But I’m in Maine, which might make a difference.[/QUOTE]

They are labeled Quebec dehy and in generic packaging. They are brokered so probably a mix from Producers

[China_Doll]

[QUOTE=Hermein;8537414]
I can´t get grass hay pellets where I live, but I can get alfalfa/Bermuda cubes. So–I wondered whether I could break them down in a food processor, with or without water.

Anybody ever try that? Did it work?[/QUOTE]have them special order you I. Pellets.

[Iride]

I’ve done it! With a powerful blender (food processor won’t work). It creates dust, yes. It’s tedious, yes. I stopped doing it, yes.

The Standlee cubes are hard as concrete. Even soaking in HOT water, they don’t usually all break down.

And you’re not really supposed to use very hot water for cubes (or for beet pulp either) because you end up “cooking” the hay/pulp which depletes the nutrient load.

I’ve been soaking the cubes for him in a small amount of water and then breaking up the remains by hand. It’s incredibly tedious and time consuming but you love your horse, you do it.

I now soak them in “molasses water”…my horse isn’t sensitive to sugar, and doing this makes them more palatable. Otherwise, he’ll go on Cube Strike for dayzzzz.

It’s a never ending battle. AND, I HAVE tried feeding him Lucerne Hi Fiber. While he really likes it, he can’t really eat it. His molars are flat, he can’t chew hay. The Lucerne chopped hay products are chopped WAY too long for a toothless horse. He ends up gumming it up, and leaving the icky mess (can you blame him) in the bucket.

I’ve written to Lucerne to ask them to chop smaller. No reply.

I’ve written to Standlee asking them not to compress the cubes so tightly/hard. No reply.

My horse WILL NOT EVEN LOOK AT any alfalfa cubes made by a brand other than Standlee. I’ve tried Purina, Triple Crown, Semican. They must add something to the product that he doesn’t like. Hard as they are, the Standlee alfalfa cubes are the best hay, and that’s what he wants.

Lately, I have been putting the Lucerne Hi Fiber chopped hay (not the cubes) into the blender. When I have time. Then, when I feed it, he eats the entire thing. I just don’t have time to do enough of this every day.

This is all so maddening because up until a couple of months ago, we fed him a product called TNT Chops (TNT Forage) which was chopped alfalfa/timothy with molasses. It was chopped very small and he was not only able to eat all of it, but he loved it so much and it kept weight on him like magic along with his Triple Crown Senior feed. But the company closed (to the disappointment of A LOT of customers) for some reason and our panic was for good reason… there is no other product like it. Someone should buy their plant/formula and continue the business.

[Ghazzu]

@Iride

And you’re not really supposed to use very hot water for cubes (or for beet pulp either) because you end up “cooking” the hay/pulp which depletes the nutrient load.

.

That is highly unlikely.

[PeteyPie]

I reported the advertising post.

[grayarabs]

I wanted to comment. The other day I found bits of hay in my pockets. This after my blue jean shorts had gone through the washer and dryer. I had a funny thought: using a washing machine to soak/rinse hay. I had a vision of nice clean no-dust hay against the walls of the washing machine after the final spin . I assume no one has ever tried this - just for fun.
Years ago when I had to feed a horse dry cubes - I used a nutcracker to break them down into small sections . Worked like a charm. I watched TV while I did this. In the house. Bucket to the left of me filled with whole cubes. Bucket to the right of me the sections.
Oh - remembering…I think I read years ago about someone running over the cubes with their truck tires. One would think that would do it - but …?

[Robin]

Never tried a food processor or a wood chipper or leaf chipper, but have used a few different machines to reduce pelllets for easier feeding. Started with a hand powered grain grinder which I purchased in late 1999 when many folks were fearing social breakdown if/when computers all were supposed to go crazy. Similar devices are available in kitchenware stores that sell to home bakers who want to crack grain when making bread or similar foods. Works fine, can be adjusted for any fineness desired but is rather tedious if you need to do very much.

We then went to a small roller mill which we bought from a gentleman who makes these to sell to home beer brewers who need to crack their barley. We put a small electric motor on ours (a benefit of DH being an electrical engineer is he can handle such projects) and it worked very nicely for breaking down hay cubes or grain but was still a bit slow for significant volume.

We now use a Harvestore roller mill to break down grain regularly for our older horses. It is
off a dairy farm and is both quick and powerful. Might need to have the rollers reworked in another decade or so.

When we needed to feed beet pulp to a toothless old horse, we found a source of pellets sold in ton units which had pellets the size of a large man’s thumb. These were clearly going to take quite some time to soak soft. We had the local feed mill put the ton of pellets through their grinder for use and the delivered product was reduced to granules a bit smaller than a beebee each. They said they could have ground to whatever size we specified. Cost a whole extra $10 over the cost of the product. Nice to live by a real feed mill used to mixing custom rations for the livestock farmers in my area; they have equipment and supplies for a lot of needs.

[jdunn]

@Hermein

¨ East is east and West is west and Never the twain shall meet¨ when it comes to available feed, I´m sorry to say. The nearest thing we have locally to a national feed supplier is Tractor Supply, and they´re somewhat intransigent about branching out from Purina and Nutrena.

The TSC website has free shipping to their stores, so I would think you could order whatever you wanted from them. My local one (in Arkansas) carries the mid-size pellets. The brand name is Dumor. I use them for treats because that hammering alfalfa cubes thing is definitely too time-consuming.

[Ambitious_Kate]

My feeling is that they are so dry it isnt good to feed them to your horse without wetting them down. Then, wetting them down breaks them up and you don’t need a food processor. I wouldn’t feed them dry.