Question about feeding Alfalfa hay

[Bealsbarnyard]

Hello All,

I have always fed my mini's a nice grass hay, In my area grass hay is very hard to find but Alfalfa is in good supply. I had no choice but to buy Alfalfa this time, it is very nice 2nd cutting. My question and concern is that I only have 20 bales of grass left to make the switch to Alfalfa, the switch will be quicker that I would like. Any ideas? how much alfalfa would you add daily to the grass? I only feed each mini 1/2 flake grass morning and night at this time with their grain. After the switch how much Alfalfa would you feed daily? I have 6 bred mares, 3 stallions and 12 mares/geldings between 1-6 years old that are show/driving or just pets. Would you cut out the grain on the horses not bred or working? I do have pasture mineral tubs available in all paddocks. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Sue S]

I have 17 horses, 7 big and 11 minis, they all get alfalfa hay and their grain, the minis get 3 flakes aday and the big horses get 4 flakes besides their pasture, this winter we will give the big horses more.

 

[Margo_C-T]

I am a 'fan' of good alfalfa,and at one time, fed it as the ONLY hay-for years, to my 'big' horses, and for the first few years I had minis(had them since '84). Now, I always feed a combination of alfalfa AND grass hay. If your horses are on dry lot(meaning, no pasture/grazing), and have been used to only grass hay, I would strongly recommend that you try to find a way to continue with a MIX of alfalfa and grass hays! Other options might be to find a source of grass hay PELLETS(which should probably be soaked before feeding, to help guard against choke), or grass hay cubes, or even, 'some' beet pulp-again, soaked before feeding-that you could feed along with the alfalfa.

My reasons for this position are: alfalfa is likely to be considerably higher in protein level, calcium, and overall nutritional level than grass, so would likely require an alteration of the rest of your feeding program. More important(IMO, at least), is that BECAUSE it is so high in nutritional value, you cannot safely feed enough of it to satisfy the horses' need to 'forage'. They will scarf it down in a shorter time, leaving them without the time of 'grazing/chewing' that all horses need to be psychologically 'satisfied', so to speak--yet if you feed the amount of good alfalfa that it would take to 'keep them happy', you might well be risking laminitis/founder or an increased likelihood of colic, at worst, and extreme overweight, at best! Dry-lotted horses that finish their 'forage' quickly and thus go a longer time between meals are also more likely to develop risky/destructive habits, like cribbing and wood-eating.

I certainly 'feel your pain' about the hay situation--I too am in an area where alfalfa is abundant, and good grass hay, much harder to find--and EXPENSIVE when you do find it!

If you simply can't get any more grass hay, then do switch the horses over as GRADUALLY as you can. If at ALL possible, try one of the alternatives I've mentioned, also introducing/switching to them GRADUALLY, while observing how the horses are reacting,noting the appearance of their poop, etc. You may indeed need to adjust your grain feeding program, too-the higher percentage of alfalfa you have to feed, the more likely you are to need to make this adjustment, IMO.

Best of luck; it really STINKS to have these problems getting the kind of feed you need, doesn't it??

Margo

 

[Bealsbarnyard]

Thanks for all the advice Margo, I will always keep my eyes and ears open for grass hay but it's like gold around here. I will look for grass hay pellets but beet pulp I have, I've been only giving it to the young horses so far. All the horses were on pasture but the frost has already hit here in Ohio so they have now been moved to their winter drylots. All horses are out during the day but stalled at night. My question to you is if I cannot find grass hay after my small supply is gone how much soaked shreaded beet pulp would you add with how much alfalfa for an average 250-300# mini? they have also been on a 12% grain and fed according to age/size/use. I do have a scale so getting a proper weight is not a problem. Is there a wesite out there somewhere that has suggested amounts of different hay/feeds for horse weight? All my horses seem to get fat on air so I'm concerned about their health and the switch. I will also give my vet a call today to gets his opinion on things, Thanks again for your opinion.

 

[HGFarm]

I have fed alfalfa for about 35 years now with no problems- just start to gradually switch- maybe a quarter of it alfalfa with your grass for a couple of days and increase... We do not feed grain though unless it is very pregnant or nursing mares or horses being worked HARD all day. The vet said they dont need it, and we find they do fine without.

 

[Margo_C-T]

Bealsbarnyard, I know that there are limits on how much of a horse's forage can safely be 'replaced' with beet pulp, and I do NOT know what those limits(percentages, whatever)are considered to be, but I do know that the information is easily available. Personally,I give two cups of the SOAKED beet pulp once daily,in the evening, to my @ 250 lb. horses, 4 cups to my @ 400 lb. B mare, @1 1/2 C. to the smaller(@ 190 lb.)mare-in the summer, and about 1 cup MORE per horse in the winter. My horses are all getting both grass and alfalfa hay, though. I don't believe you could COMPLETELY 'make up the difference' of having all alfalfa and no grass hay, by using beet pulp. Try googling 'Susan Evans Garlinghouse' for a good treatise on feeding beet pulp(and probably some links to other info on the subject)-I'd bet you can find grass hay pellets, and that should be a help--and as you said, ask your vet!

Again, good luck!

Margo

 

[dangerranger]

When you change to alfalfa, youll find that they are getting way more protien and calcium. you may need to add a ration balancer. I have used stabilised rice hulls. that adds phosphorus to reduce the calsium imbalance. it doesnt take much, maybe a 1/4 cup per day. one of mine doesnt do well on streight alfalfa as it is too rich and causes her founder problems. but she does fine on a blend of grass and alfalfa. because its so rich youll find that you need to feed less to keep there body condition up. if you can find a grass hay to mix with the alfalfa it helps to reduce an imbalance. I try to find a 50/50 mix. this is the only horse that we have had that didnt do well on alfalfa tho. good luck DR.