ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: Grass Hay vs. Alfalfa

Re: Grass Hay vs. Alfalfa

Truman Prevatt (truman.prevatt@netsrq.com)
Mon, 6 Oct 1997 11:08:46 -0400

>Lauren Horn wrote:
>>
>> Just when you thought you had everything figured out:
>>
>> A friends vet just advised against feeding grass hay (bermuda, around
>> here) because, as more people are feeding it, he is seeing more and more
>> cases of colic because the grass strands are longer and get all twisted
>> up in the gut also.
>>
>> Any comment?

This comes up now and again. In general coastal bermuda is the staple of
horses in much of the southeast. If this hay tendied to cause colic, I
would expect you would see higher incidents of colic in the southeat than
other regions. Also none of the vet schools in the southeast have
indicated that coastal was a problem. I do not believe this to be the
case. I would suspect that maybe sand could be the problem rather than the
hay.

The main beef I have with bermuda hay is that it basically only satisifies
the fiber portion of the diet. It is not a good nutritious grass when
compaired with other grasses. So to keep weight on you need to supplement
with some other types of hay, e.g. the dreaded alfalfa, or some other grass
hay imported from the north.

Truman

Truman Prevatt
Mystic "The Horse form Hell" Storm with a lille hellion on the way
The Rockman, a.k.a Misty Jr.
Jordy - Finaly getting his shot

Sarasota, FL

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