Posted by Nancy Howell on June 28, 2010 at 19:51:27 from (75.20.225.31):
In Reply to: OT-- HAY BUYERS posted by gitrib on June 27, 2010 at 19:05:40:
Some horse owners are just idiots when it comes to hay. They don"t bother to learn about the horse"s digestive tract.
There are two concerns with feeding alfalfa to horses. One is blister beetles. If it comes from anywhere south of Colorado, it needs to be certified to be free of blister beetles. 1/4 of a blister beetle will kill a horse.
Two is protein level. Most alfalfa is way high in protein for horses. People get all excited and say its great because it takes less of it. They don"t understand that a horse"s digestive tract is designed for quantity, not quality. Because of the high protein level of alfalfa, it doesn"t take much to satisfy what a horse needs in protein, but you may very well have a horse that"s still hungry.
Here"s my opinion. At 20%, your hay is really top notch stuff, but at that high a protein level, I would feed only very small amounts as a supplement. My horses are "easy keepers" and it doesn"t take much to keep them in good flesh.
If I was feeding dairy cattle or raising cattle for market, I would buy all I could afford.
For my horses, I prefer a good quality grass hay that runs about 10%. A horse can eat all they want and never founder or colic on it. My horses are pleasure horses and don"t require the nutrition and protein of say a race horse or performance horses.
Each horse owner has to determine what it takes to keep their animals healthy and happy. Hopefully, its an educated decision. Too often, its not.
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