Alfalfa.

[Riverdance]

Well, right away I would not trust anything she has to say. Alfalfa is not acidic, but alkaline. It is why horses that eat Alfalfa do not get ulcers as often.

It is amazing how there are so many articles on the internet written by people who have no clue.

In MN, Alfalfa is all my Morgans and Minis ate along with oats or a low protein grain. Except for the show horses. Here in Fl, I can only get costal grass and have had to up my grain to a 14% as the horses are really loosing weight. Alfalfa is out of the question here as it is $18.00 a bail and I used to go through 1400 bales in MN.

 

[JMS Miniatures]

Yep alfalfa is good for horses more prone to ulcers as it helps soothes the stomach. The grain I use has a alfafla based meal in it for prevention.

 

[ohmt]

Excess protein CAN lead to acidosis-that is nutrition 101.

It sounds as though you fed alfalfa according to how it should be fed riverdance, with the lower protein grain. It is about balancing the diet which is why I posted the article. The article does not say that alfalfa is bad. It educates about the risks of overfeeding protein and talks about balancing diet which is why I posted the article in the first place. People forget-it's all about balance.

 

[Riverdance]

Castle Rock... mine like the coastal grass ..unfortunately since I am new here, it has been hard finding anything. I have 13 round bales from one farmer that is holding them for me and I go to pick them up as I need them. I got 20 round bales from one person and they were not that great and my horses were loosing weight. They are now on the better coastal hay. I had another farmer with 17 bales, but he sold them out from under me. My farrier has 200 throw bales that I am buying from him, but at a bigger price than I would have paid for them if I had found some earlier. I guess I am lucky to have found those as most farmers have shipped their hay out to Texas for higher prices.

With 42 head here, I just can not afford Alfalfa. ( I am used to getting it for $5.00 a bale) I would go through about 5 bales a day back in MN. Here it would be 4 bales, but still, that would be $72 a day.

I tried the Miniature horse feed, but they were loosing weight with it ( had them on it for almost 3 months), so I switched to Seminole 14%. We'll see how they do with that.

 

[Connie P]

This has been a wonderful and informative thread!

Thank you! I have always been so afraid to feed straight alfalfa but I am reconsidering.

 

[Genie]

One good thing about living in Southwestern Ontario is timothy/alfalfa throw bales are 3.50 each.

I know that some can get the bales for 3.00 but we pay a bit more to get good quality that has never had any rain on it after cutting.

Maybe it balances out though to the more temperate places where you don't have to feed hay for 6 months of the year?

 

[HGFarm]

OK, alfalfa here is $17.95 a bale, but it's big 3 wire bales. The bermuda we get- that is usually used for bedding during foaling- and yes, like Diane's my horses think it's great to pee on- is usually HIGHER than the alfalfa! Timothy last I looked, was about $23 a bale. There is no pasture where I live- it's all dry lot. I sure dont see that grass is a more economical feed because you have to feed a lot more of it for them to get much nutrition out of it- and they waste some too because they pick in it, scatter it around and really dont like it a whole lot. Other kinds of grass- orchard or timothy, they will eat, but who can afford the price of timothy and there is no orchard grass to be found here period.

 

[Riverdance]

Horse pee on any grass or Alfalfa hay. Back in MN i would throw out their hay and the first thing some of them would do was pee on it. UGH!! I guess it was their way of saying, this is mine!!

If costal grass is grown right, with fertilizers and no rain on it, the protein can be just as high as Alfalfa. I have since found a farmer who grows throw bales just for horses. Many people give just a little Alfalfa with a horses meal, but they need to be able to graze. The nice thing is with the costal grass, it provides ruffage. Since moving down here I have been researching different hays. the costal grass is not bad, one just has to find a farmer who grows it right.

Would I prefer to still feed Alfalfa, yes. Maybe when I am able to sell 1/2 of my herd, I will better be able to afford the Alfalfa. I brought 40 bales of it down with me and am still feeding it to the show horses, but am just about out. Then $18.00 a bale for them. The rest, a top quality feed and costal grass. Still expensive, but doable.