Cubes are considered long stem fiber forage so they can be used to replace hay in a forage diet. For any animal that consumes forage, either fresh or in hay form, they can consume our cubes. For simplicity, 1 lb of cubes = 1 lb of hay or forage. If you make your own hay and are short 50% of your typical hay crop, our cubes could be the other 50%. If your pastures are dry, cubes can be your sole forage source. When out on the road cubes are a very convenient forage source. Cubes can be 1-100% of your animals’ forage source. Pellets on the other hand are used to supplement your forage. If your forage is lacking protein, our ALFATEC Dehydrated Alfalfa Pellets are high in protein and can help increase the amount of protein your animal is consuming. If your animal preforms better on timothy, we have our ALFATEC Timothy Grass Pellets to supplement your forage when needing access to high quality timothy.
Our ALFATEC Alfalfa Cubes are made from 100% alfalfa hay. Our ALFATEC Timothy Alfalfa Cubes are made from a minimum of 40% alfalfa hay and 40% timothy hay. The other 20% is a mix of timothy and alfalfa. We need to have a minimum of 40% alfalfa in our cubes to keep them together as alfalfa is our natural binding agent and what keeps our cubes together. Our ALFATEC Timothy Grass Pellets are made from 100% timothy grass hay and our ALFATEC Dehydrated Alfalfa Pellets are made from freshly chopped alfalfa which is all grown within 40 km’s of our plant. We work with landowners in the area to grow alfalfa and then we take care of the rest. We mow it down, chop it, haul it to our plant and then dehydrate it and turn it into a pellet within 24hrs. This captures the nutrient value of the alfalfa and is the reason why our ALFATEC Dehydrated Alfalfa Pellets are so nutritious!
Animal preference first, owner preference second. Our products are all designed to be fed dry however when it comes to the cubes, most folks do soak them. If soaking your cubes, the warmer the water, the faster they soak, and you want to just cover the cubes in your bucket with water. You also don’t want to soak them for more than 12 hours as the longer you soak them the higher the chance is for bacteria to develop. Soaking also makes it easier for older animals to chew the cubes, it encourages water consumption and decreases the chance for choaking. As for the pellets, most feed them dry but soaking them can be a strategy to mix in harder to feed things like powdered supplements.
Alfalfa is much lower in sugar than timothy, so our ALFATEC Dehydrated Alfalfa Pellets are low sugar with an average of 5.5% NSC. Our ALFATEC Alfalfa Cubes are on average 7.8% NSC. Our Timothy Alfalfa Cubes are on average 8% NSC and our ALFATEC Timothy Grass Pellets are on average 13% NSC. These numbers are all being expressed on a dry basis. If you ever want the current detailed analysis on one or all our products, you can contact us.
When stored in a well ventilated and dry space our products will last for months. Take extra care to keep moisture away from the bags and mold will never be an issue.
Cubes can be fed to all ages & types of horses. Mothers teach young horses how to eat cubes and there’s a more efficient growth rate from high quality feed.
Cubes are compressed, saliva is sufficient enough to break down the cubes.
Cubes are produced to specific hardness, size & shape to facilitate maximum chewing time. Horses adjust to being fed cubes and, if cubes are fed regularly, they will eat them just like hay.
One thing we do to help ensure consistent quality all year round is that we further dry or ‘dehydrate’ our hay before we make our cubes. Doing so reduces the risk of mold or bacterial contamination. This extra step in our process sets up apart from many other cube options available in the market.