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Post by duvers on Mar 12, 2012 13:53:59 GMT -5
Late rains last year ruined most of the grass hay in my area. Until now, we had been able to feed grass hay that had a bit of clover. The horses did well on it, but we're down to our last few bales (using these to help transition to the new stuff). The only hay available of any quality is alfalfa, so this is the hay we'll have to get by on until probably June. Any tips or feed recommendations of something we can use to balance the all alfalfa without breaking the bank until the new crop of grass hay comes in? Any good source of fiber w/o many calories to help keep something in their gut since they won't be getting as much bulk (alfalfa has higher calories, so we'll have to offset with less quantity)?
Thanks!
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Post by michelle77 on Mar 17, 2012 12:37:56 GMT -5
Do you have oat hay in your area? In Texas we typically feed coastal because there is always a lot of it but with the drought the last several years we have had a harder time keeping coastal in stock, even the feed stores will run out for a week or more at a time. A guy that I get hay from sometimes was selling oat hay which I had never seen in the area and had never fed it to the horses but he said they like it and it is fine to feed to them so I bought some and they loved it, and it was cheap. So you may want to see if it is sold in your area.
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Post by duvers on Mar 19, 2012 16:15:56 GMT -5
No, the rains ruined oat, rye, etc...all the grass hays. The little bit that is out there is running over $20/ bale (100 lbs.+ or minus 10) and is poor quality (some got moldy, some has weeds, some is just bereft of nutrition....nothing good). So, stll looking for a good source of filling fiber in addition to the alfalfa. I was considering beet pulp, but I think it has a fair amount of calories in addition to the fiber. They actually enjoy nibbling on plain straw, so maybe that would be something to throw out for them. It doesn't have any real nutrition value, but might help add fiber & keep them occupied between feedings.
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Post by michelle77 on Mar 19, 2012 19:31:22 GMT -5
If you add beet pulp and alfalfa I would think you would have some very fat horses come June or July which can cause problems of it's own. I would think that the straw would be a better choice if that's all you have available. Good luck, we'll pray for rain and you can pray for not to much lol.
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