Feeding Alfalfa pellets

[wingnut]

I want to add alfalfa pellets to my hard-keeper's diet. Bought a bag today but am not sure how to start her on it. I know that many people soak the alfalfa before feeding it.

Any suggestions/input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Little Wolf Ranch]

PLEASE do be careful with the alfalfa pellets. . .if anything, spritz down the alfalfa pellets. Back in January of this year I had a junior mare choke on me from having a blockage from the alfalfa pellets. They were fresh out of the bag and not soaked or anything. She had a large appetite and so combined with her gobbling it down and the pellets being dry, she got choke. $250 later & at 8pm at night she was fine!

I don't feed them anymore - she won't even touch them. But if you do want to feed them, I would start out at maybe 1/2 or 1 cup per feeding SOAKED or atleast wet.

Others may be able to help. Hope all goes well!

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I always soak, they are so hard, I just do not think they would enjoy them unsoaked.

Rabbit took a long time to get used to them, I think he did not like the sharp taste much , and he still doesn't but I can mix them into his feed now and he will still eat it, when I started feeding them he turned his nose up, so I fed them separately and mixed in a bit of honey (molasses would do) Now that the grass is coming through he is once again picky, but he has to eat them, it is his only food! (He has no teeth and gums the grass then spits it out)

 

[S Bar P]

We soak our pellets at a one to one ratio (1 can of pellets to 1 can of water) this would depend on the sizes and condition that we are trying to achieve or maintain. We soak for 12 hours to ensure that they are completely soaked, so when done feeding we mix up the next set of buckets. One great advantage is that you can mix in almost any type of medication or daily wormer and they don't even know that it is there. We use pellets in our show horse rations to ensure that we are getting enough water into them. And have not had a colic in our show string since going this route. The best thing about soaking is that we get plenty of water into any horse even at show grounds that have strange smelling water, the smell of the pellets covers up the water smell. We still give some long steam hay to them to keep them content.

 

[Relic]

OMG l fed my daughters mare the pellets unsoaked one year and she choked...had to get a vet out. l soak mine now if l use them.. to scared of my daughter mouth to do that again

 

[Becky]

I've been feeding alfalfa pellets for 20+ years and I've never had a problem with them. Never had a choke. I use 1/4" pellets and I do not soak them before I feed. All of my horses eat them dry. It's no different than any other pelleted feed. I use those plus a concentrated protein/vitamin/mineral supplement and grass hay for the majority of my horses here. They do extremely well on them. I weigh mine. I might start them at 8 ozs twice a day and work up to a full coffee can which weighs 1.7 pounds twice a day, depending on the size and needs of the horse. Most of my horses get 1/2 coffee can twice a day. Some of the pregnant mares plus those nursing foals get more. All of my horses are under 34".

 

[Mominis]

Good thread! I've had ads out on craigslist for about two weeks trying to find alfalfa locally that someone will sell in small quantities, but so far, no luck. I may have to go the cube route. I've used them before when I was a teenager, and did not know about wetting them down. I'm counting my lucky starts that nothing terrible happened. I did have a choke, but it was the pelletted feed that did it, not the alfalfa cubes.

 

[disneyhorse]

I've never had a choke on alfalfa pellets. But soaking them shouldn't hurt.

Start out with a small amount and increase with time. Not sure your goal of what to feed her in the long run?

For instance, If you are wanting to add two pounds of pellets to her diet, start with half a pound and work your way up by half a pound each week.

Andrea

 

[S Bar P]

Have to agree with Becky the 1/4 pellets are the only way to go. Have heard to many horror stories with cubes and the minis. Another thing we like about the pellets is the quality does not change from batch to batch, but some times hay quality is hard to duplicate if you switch suppliers and different cuttings.

 

[wingnut]

Thanks everyone!!!

I did purchase 1/4" pellets and soaked them all day. The good news is she ate it without fuss or any special "dressing". I gave her about 1/4" cup post-soak. I also did a one-one ratio of water & pellets. It was complete mush!

I am not sure how much I want to get her to per feed. A lot will depend on if she continues to eat it (she's a VERY picky eater) and how well it does to give her the much needed additional weight I'm after.

 

[chandab]

Thanks everyone!!!
I did purchase 1/4" pellets and soaked them all day. The good news is she ate it without fuss or any special "dressing". I gave her about 1/4" cup post-soak. I also did a one-one ratio of water & pellets. It was complete mush!

I am not sure how much I want to get her to per feed. A lot will depend on if she continues to eat it (she's a VERY picky eater) and how well it does to give her the much needed additional weight I'm after.

I wouldn't soak them all day, as they might become sour, especially in warm/hot weather. Most 1/4" pellets are pretty much wet and broken down in less than an hour (some really hard pellets may take longer); so unless you have some sort of time constraints (work away from home or something), I wouldn't soak all day.

Oh, and 1/4 cup post soak is only a couple bites, so you can probably safely up it to at least 1/2 cup or even 1 cup post-soak measure to start. [i know pellets vary, but the 1/4" pellets I have are about 5-6 oz per cup dry weight.]

 

[wingnut]

Thanks Chanda

I went with a really small portion just to see if she'd eat it. And there's no guarantee she'll it today...she's is THAT picky of an eater.

Thanks for the input about spoilage!

 

[Marty]

I"ve had big horses choke on the cubes but never the pellets. I feed alfalfa pellets in the dead of winter, about a cup each in with their food. Not soaked. The pellets I have are as small as their feed so I never thought they could choke on them. Wow, I better be careful though.

 

[chandab]

I"ve had big horses choke on the cubes but never the pellets. I feed alfalfa pellets in the dead of winter, about a cup each in with their food. Not soaked. The pellets I have are as small as their feed so I never thought they could choke on them. Wow, I better be careful though.

I've never had horses choke on the pellets either, and I always feed dry. I have heard and read that horses that bolt their feed are more likely to choke, so if you don't have any super piggies, you'll probably be fine. I do stick to the smaller pellets, nothing bigger than 3/8", most are 1/4" and smaller that I feed; but I have seen some 5/8" and bigger forage pellets that are labelled for all livestock (or labelled as packer pellets), I don't feed these (don't really like the quality and the pellets are just too big for anything more than using as a treat).

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I soak all pellets, I never feed anything dry.

I got that from a very, very canny lady, whose show horses were always in such fantastic condition, young, old, stallion, mare , gelding, ALL shone like the sun.

I asked her how she did it and she told me "Turnout on good grass, every single day, whatever the weather, even on a show day, for at least two hours minimum, and soak all the feed" She only fed stud pellets, and she soaked them and mixed them with chaff (as I do) and fed them as a "long" feed.

She had Anglo Arabs, and at the time had the premier stallion in the country, so I took her advice!

It has never failed me.

I would be inclined to feed her as much (within limits!) as she will eat, and you could easily go up to one full cup.

Does she have grain with this, as well?

And how much hay is she actually eating, is she picky with that, too?

 

[wingnut]

I would be inclined to feed her as much (within limits!) as she will eat, and you could easily go up to one full cup.Does she have grain with this, as well?

And how much hay is she actually eating, is she picky with that, too?

She picks through her hay a good bit...especially compared to the others. She is the boss mare so she gets as much as she wants of the 3-4 flakes I put out 2x day between 4 horses. They are on a dry lot for now, so that's why I'm giving this level of hay. Our lower pasture won't be ready for them until May or so and they've totally laid waste to the upper, smaller pasture. We'll reseed that when they go on the lower/larger pasture and we can block them from it. I think it will be of great help when they have a grass area to graze again, with obvious care to avoid the issues that could lead to founder.

She's getting 1lb of Omolene 300 2x a day with a weight supplement. She was on a senior complete feed (that included beep pulp) but she started refusing it about 4 or 5 weeks ago. Simply wouldn't eat more than 1/4-1/2 lb, if that much. I can't give her as much of Omolene as she needs calorie wise. I also don't want to give that much grain (and sugar). Even if I thought it prudent, she barely eats the lb at each feed. She simply stops and won't eat much beyond that. So, I have to find ways to get her a good calorie boost in a small amount of food. The only reason we went to the Omolene 300 was it was what we had on hand that she WOULD eat. I'm looking at moving her to Ultium because of it's high calorie load from a small portion.

She's not the average mini who will plump up with little effort. She was thin we got her and, despite our best efforts, remains so. She checks out health wise (i.e., no issues) and had her teeth floated in early January, which helped a great deal. I think we just haven't hit upon a good "program" that works for her.

Here's a photo of her from last July. This is about as heavy as we've been able to get her thus far (we've had her since May '09). Ideally, I'd like to see about 10-15 more pounds on her. I'd like for her backbone and her hip bones to not show the way they do.

 

[maggiemae]

How can you tell when a horse is choking?