Acorns??

[Crugeran Celt]

I have always had very large oak trees around my fields and my eldest horse has lived in these fields for 20 years and has never bothered with the acorns on the ground. I now have a two year old miniature who is gorging on the acorns. I am horrified and have been picking them up since I realised what she was up to. There is plenty of grass for them so not really sure why she has got a taste for the acorns. Having spoken to a friend who has a shetland she also confirmed that once the acorns fall her pony also seeks them out and she is in her thirties so obviously they have not affected her. I have also heard of horses dying of acorn poisoning so what is the truth?

 

[Meowy Catkin]

http://www.petmd.com/horse/conditions/digestive/c_hr_acorn_poisoning

 

[Crugeran Celt]

Thankyou, I had read that earlier today but it doesn't really explain why some ponies like my friend's shetland that has eaten them for years with apparently no ill effects. I couldn't believe it today when my mini ate her tea as quickly as possible then legged it back out the field so I followed her and found her eating the acorns as quickly she could get them down and there were loads on the ground after the high winds last night. I have spent nearly two hours tonight picking them up before it got dark.

 

[AdorableAlice]

Thankyou, I had read that earlier today but it doesn't really explain why some ponies like my friend's shetland that has eaten them for years with apparently no ill effects. I couldn't believe it today when my mini ate her tea as quickly as possible then legged it back out the field so I followed her and found her eating the acorns as quickly she could get them down and there were loads on the ground after the high winds last night. I have spent nearly two hours tonight picking them up before it got dark.

I tape around my oaks and at the moment I have more areas taped out of bounds than I am using. Frustrating, especially with the rain coming in torrents and the horses are unable to shelter under the trees. Our trees are so big they are like natures field shelters and the horses love to stand under them in the heat or the wet.

All my horses will have a go at acorns, age varying from 2 to 24 yrs. The oldest has not shown an interest until this year and will leave good grass in favour of green acorns given the chance.

Countryfile spoke about the bumper or 'mast' crop of all nuts this year. Apparently it happens every 6 to 7 years depending weather conditions. Last year I barely had an acorn on the 7 huge oaks, this year is unbelievable. It will be another month or more before the lot comes down and rots.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

My mini (aka Tiny Fuzzy) is also trying to gorge.
She's in a muzzle during the day when out with FLF, but is STILL escaping on occasions through 4 strands of electric tape (dont bl**dy ask me how!) to get into a tiny patch in the corner - as only tonight I had to undo the end to get her out as she was panicking about being stuck in that corner (eejit pony)

I'm also scraping all the acorns in this small patch (about 10 metres off a corner of the paddock) every evening & again in the dark in the morning.
Otherwise I have every other paddock bar 1 with huge oaks overhanging them

Have spoken to my friend next door who is going to send her 5yr old round with some friends this weekend, am paying them 50p a tub for each that they fill, as the grass in most paddocks is too long to rake the acorns in.

I most definately cannot use the winter paddock till that is cleared..........

Mind you - 2 yrs ago we had a big crop, but not quite as big as this one tho. AA - mine also had a miniscule amount last year.

Ho-hum..........
So - invite kids to collect them for pocket money :biggrin3:

 

[AdorableAlice]

My friend suggested we get a few pigs. I can just imagine what would happen, Ted would play football with them, Alice would faint, the precious, delicate ex show horse would leave home in disgust and the concrete mixer brick outhouse mare would stamp on the poor pigs heads before picking them up with her teeth and lobbing them over the hedge.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

My friend suggested we get a few pigs. I can just imagine what would happen, Ted would play football with them, Alice would faint, the precious, delicate ex show horse would leave home in disgust and the concrete mixer brick outhouse mare would stamp on the poor pigs heads before picking them up with her teeth and lobbing them over the hedge.

Sounds entertaining
I've been told to bag up as many acorns as I can for the 2 elderly pigs who live 2 fields away.

Apart from using child-labour, any other ideas for getting a heavy carpet of acorns out of 6 to 8 inch grass???

 

[AdorableAlice]

Leaf blower on suck instead of blow.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Leaf blower on suck instead of blow.

Really???

 

[xgemmax]

Horse at my yard had to be PTS due to poisoning from bacteria on oak leaves and acorns, would never have my horses any where near! not work the risk imo

 

[Crugeran Celt]

I have been out again and have cleared a huge area so there really are not many left. Due to the strong winds night before last there doesn't seem to be any left on the trees thank goodness. I have opened up the winter field as there is so much grass in there I thought it would distract them but to be honest they are all looking fat already. Fed up of wondering what to do for the best, too many acorns and too much grass!! Never thought I would be saying that after the couple of winters we have had.:smile3: I just wonder why they don't seem to affect some ponies. As I said my friend's shetland eats them and she must be in her late twenties maybe early thirties and she has always hunted them out once they start falling. I had thought of pigs, a neighbour of mine had two for many years that had the run of my fields so maybe having some of my own wouldn't be a bad idea. My neighbours' died a few years back of old age and she decided not to have any more.

 

[millikins]

My Shetland x also makes a bee line for acorns if she is allowed, the other ponies ignore them. I think it's likely she was feral in the New Forest so she has probably eaten them in the past without harm. Which sounds like I don't mind, she's kept away from them now!

 

[Chico Mio]

My anglo poisoned himself gorging on them when we lived in Galicia. He colicked, blew up and his legs swelled up like balloons. No joke his legs were like an elephant's. Vet at 10pm on a Sunday and it was touch and go, fortunately vet had seen it before and I thanked the gods we always do a late night check on the horses. My friend's native pony chomped them up with no ill effects and my other horse won't touch them. I now keep them well away from any.

 

[kellybee]

Apparently its the Tannins in the acorns that make them addictive. Once they've developed a taste for them your only option is to fence them off or switch fields until they've fallen and been cleared up.

Get yourself a "billy goat" - it looks like a lawn mower but actually hoovers up leaves and acorns. Couldn't live without mine, even if it is only used once a year!