Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Brrrrr in sunny(?) Florida

>  Heidi,
>
> we are all also concerned about the other dangers of feeding too much
> alfalfa,
> (high incidence of calclium and magnesium), but what is you feeling about
> really
> stepping up the feeding of alfalfa in the winter,...and backing off rest
of
> year?
> Do you think this will allow enteroliths to get a start?  Or will I be
okay?
> Purina makes
> a pelleted feed called Strategy....you can get either a formula designed
to
> be fed with
> grass hay ,or alfalfa.  I wonder if the alfalfa formula is trying to
> compensate for these
> out of whack cal/phos levels in the alfalfa.
>
> Anyway, since i have a huge stack of alfalfa, and dwindling stacks of
grass
> and oat
> hay, would be better for me if I could feed more alfalfa!
> Karen

Enteroliths seem to be such a local phenomenon--although they are not
unheard of in other areas, they seem to mainly come from southern CA
alfalfa.  (In veterinary school at Washington State, we just read about
them, and looked at the one in the vet school's museum--never saw a single
one in 2 decades of practice, with LOTS of alfalfa feeding, but I understand
that SoCal equine vets see them pretty routinely.)  It is all a matter of
relative amounts of things in the diet.  I'd sure hate to feed straight
SoCal alfalfa, but I know a lot of folks down that way who seem to have no
problems whatsoever using alfalfa as only a portion of the diet.  Up here,
our alfalfa is not as rich, and we don't have the magnesium problems, and we
can safely free-feed first or second cuttings in winter.  Combined with oat
hay, you shouldn't have any problem with leveling out the calcium and
magnesium levels.  Susan G might be able to add more details here.

Heidi


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