Toxicity of Oak trees

[Dona]

I've heard that Oak trees are toxic to horses........but HOW toxic, and what parts of the tree? Do horses really eat the acorns if they have lush pasture available?

I'm fixing up a place to move my minis to, and there is a beautiful, HUGE 100 year old "Bur" Oak tree (the acorns have large fuzzy caps) smack dab in the middle of where the pasture will be. It's the only tree in the pasture for shade, so I would really HATE to remove it, if not absolutely necessary. In fact, it's so big....removing it is NOT an option. I could probably fence around it, if necessary.

Would like to know if there are others who have grazed horses in areas where there are Oak trees, and if it was a problem, or not.

 

[h2t99]

I have lived with Oaks in our pastures forever!! In 30+ years we have never had a problem with horses and oaks or from eating the acorns!! Our horses love eating the acorns, they are like treats to them. I know black walnut is toxic, I had actually never heard oaks are toxic!! I would not worry about the oak.

Heidi

I just did a quick lookup about oak trees and horses have to eat Large quantities of acorns to be affected. Everything I found said large quantities so that must be why our horses never had any problems.

 

[user 488]

Dona, for what it's worth I have a lot of big beautiful grandfather oaks and scrub oaks. In 35 years I have never had ONE colic with the minis when I had them or my Arabs. But I think problems go hand in hand with how you manage your horses overall. I don't see someone like you having problems.

 

[Marty]

Hi Dona!

OK Dona look here: we have these stupid darn dirty oak trees on the outside of Sonny's pasture. There are six of these things that plague my life.

Unfortunately, we have been unsuccessful in getting anyone to take them down for us because

1. They are over 60 stupid feet high

2. They may have been used as fence posts some 50 odd years ago and might have nails in them from the slaves or something I have no idea, some hillbilly fok, which explains why MY STUPID HOUSE is held up by a twig and no self respecting logger is cutting them down no matter how drunk he is. So, for now, we wait until they finally decide to fall over on our house and kill us all one windy night in our sleep.

Ok so, these stupid nasty trees have stupid nasty leaves and for some darn reason, Sonny and my other horses that used to be in there have eaten them from time to time. They did not die or get ill, but got black tongues. HOWEVER! The acorns they shed are deadly toxic to some horses. A morgan breeder here very respectable lady I know of lost a couple of her best broodmares eating them and so did my friends down the road who have horses also. There have even been cows up here died due to them as well. And yes, Sonny has eaten them too with plenty of good grass and hay right there. He didn't get enough apparently because as they fell, (they never stop falling I swear) I'd be out there raking like a fool several times a day trying to get them all up till I have blisters on top of blisters from the raking, which of course is impossible. He LOVES those acorns and I mean LOVES them like you cannot believe and he will leave his food to go get a mouth full which I had to go drag back out of his big fat mouth. FINALLY! I copped a brain and put up a temporary hot wire around that area where they fall to keep him out of them. So here's me like a big stoop running hot wire through the stupid air for miles until I could attach it to the charger some 300 stupid feet away. UGH~

I am so not looking forward to the acorn season but hot wire around the whole tree is the way to go!

 

[Dona]

Thanks so much for your quick responses. I feel better about about the tree now.....that is, until Marty responded.

Guess I'll go ahead & let it be, but watch the minis really closely for a while after I get them moved here, to see if they are having any colic problems, etc. If so....then I'll be fencing the tree off.

 

[Marty]

Well I'm sorry! But apparently according to this the leaves are poison too .What next. Please don't shoot the messenger!

http://ohioline.osu.edu/b762/b762_25.html

http://www.horseadvice.com/horse/messages/4/50258.html

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/f...7163626138.html

 

[mizbeth]

Hi Dona,

I have oaks too and was concerned about them at first. The horses eat the acorns, love them and it keeps weight on them too

They eat oak leaves too from time to time. They are well fed, so it must just a different flavor for them that they like. I'm not sure how many acorns is too many tho. but they eat plenty of them. Many of my friends around here also have these huge oak trees their big and small horses run on, and eat them too. No problems with my horses or theirs.

The only problem I have had is with mesquite beans. My horses love them, stand on their hind legs to get them and they "do colic on those". I do not have mesquites any more.

 

[targetsmom]

I have had horses in pastures with oak trees since 1960 and never had a problem. Well, I did have a slight problem when that first horse stripped the bark off 2 descendants of the famous Connecticut Charter Oak (the one on the state quarter) and killed the trees!! But the horse suffered no ill effects and of course I had no idea at that time that it might be an issue. I have to admit that since I have heard that oak leaves and acorns can be harmful, I do rake them up in the fall when I start to get worried. But not before the minis have eaten some.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Okay, I guess I'm the odd man out here, but we have problems almost every year when the acorns start falling! Nothing really bad, but usually a couple mild belly aches before I realize what's going on. We're surrounded by oaks! No way to get rid of all of them, they're everywhere! Here's what our vet told us. Every year he has a rash of colics at the clinic when the acorns start falling. Some horses develop a taste for them, and will eat every one they can find! That's where the problem comes in. A few won't hurt them, but when they eat a belly full, the tannic acid in the acorns is toxic. It's sorta like eating an overload of grain. After a hard freeze, the danger is gone. So, my advice is to just watch for anybody standing under that tree for a long time!

Melba

 

[SandyWI]

I don't have oaks around my pastures, but I have black walnuts right next to my dry lots, and have had my minis in there for five years. this time every year the leaves start falling and some of them get into the dry lots and the horses will eat them. I spent the entire first year madly raking them up, and the vet said to stop worrying about it. so I stopped worrying.

I've never had a problem. never had a problem with foals, either. of course, it's not a lot of leaves they eat, but I do see them nibbling on them. I've never had a horse founder and I've only had one mild colic, and that was in July one year, way before any of the leaves had fallen.

Red maples are deadly to horses. It's Acer rubrum, so I would make sure you have none of those on your property where the horses are.

 

[Jill]

Every one of our paddocks used to be wooded and when we had the property cleared, we left TONS of pin oaks. Never had a problem. Every paddock we own has pin oaks in it.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Acorns, of any kind of Oak, are poisonous.

That's it, I'm afraid.

I have Oaks in my fields and I have grass.

They prefer the grass.

If you have dry lots, you have a problem as you are keeping the horses in artificial conditions and they will eat anything that falls in the lot.

If you have grass pastures your horses will eat the grass first.

BUT (isn't there always a BUT??) just once in a while you get a horse that has a fondness for acorns and then you really do have a problem, and the only way round it is to fence the horse off the acorns.

I don't let my horses into the acorn field until around now, or later, when they have started to rot or germinate.

I would never stand and watch my horses eat acorns.

Acorns are poisonous...it takes a few to kill a horse, but a friend of mine had just that happen, and she tried everything to keep the horse off them, unfortunately she had a line of Oaks in her only available field and the hot wire was not enough.

The horse finally died after colicking four or five times.

She raked up, she hot wired, she had no stall to keep the horse up in, and she lost the horse.

So, my advise??

Approach with all due caution!!!

 

[candycar]

I'm so glad this came up. I've been fighting the acorn/oak leaves battle for 4 years!

I panic every year when they start to fall. My girls love them and have no pasture, only drylot surrounded by oak trees that are not mine to cut down.

The first year Jelly Bean coliced on them (I assume that's what it was) and I have been vigilant ever since.

Now I'm not as confused as to how much it takes to create a problem. I guess a few won't hurt, but I will still keep them "on lockdown" during heavy falls.

Thanks Marty for the links. Try a leaf blower to get rid of them. I was surprized at how well the acorns roll away when blown. Of course it helps when it's only dirt you're cleaning off!

 

[Laura]

[SIZE=12pt]PLEASE BELIEVE ME ON THIS-Acorns will KILL horses![/SIZE]

For several years in a row, each fall, we would have 1 or 2 weanlings or yearlings come suddenly begin exhibiting severe neurologic distress and baffling colic symptoms. We lost at LEAST one horse per year. We went from thinking it was west nile, PHF, Tetanus to everything in between, but none responded to syndrome specific treatment and often they died. We eventually gained more information about acorn and oak leaf toxicity in horses.

Well fed horses WILL eat acorns, but it's an individual thing. Some love them, some won't touch them. It was ONLY young horses affected at our farm, but oh, the losses

We eventually kept all horses out of those areas until spring. Our old farm was a giant oak grove though, so many trees were cut down

I don't *think* they will eat the giant acorns, but the leaves could be an issues

 

[faithfarm]

I also have had problems with acorns. I have live oaks and some of the horses have a fondness for eating them; on the mature horses it is usually not a problem other than mild colic which we treat with Banamine and oil. The major problem is with the young horses but not all of them. We had four 2yrs ago that required treatment by the vet with oil and charcoal. Last year we had 2 with severe problems, the vet treated with oil and charcoal and 1 quickly recovered. The other required IV's and hand feeding by syringe and still had edema from lossing protein. She was given a very poor prognosis, but after much prayer, 4 IV treatments per day for over a week and $1200 dollars later, she recovered.

Use caution with those acorns and if you notice that the horses are eating them, remove the horses or rake up the acorns or get some pigs to clean them up.