Does anyone feed grass nuts ?

[rambling]

As my chap isn't allowed haylage/hay following his soft palate injury , he gets very sad at night when he doesn't get his usual tub of haylage.

A friend gave me some "grass nuts" and they soak down to the same consistency as the Alfabeet and Quickbeet he's allowed. She however is trying to get weight on hers . I just want to give my chap more eating time when he's in but he doesn't need fattening.

Does anyone have any experience of feeding them ? I would be grateful for your replies , thanks.

 

[crazyhorse4727]

Hey
If its not condition your trying to put on your horse I really wouldn't use grass nuts, we have used them, not on horses, mainly on cattle and sheep, which are just for fattening.
I would say a soft feed that won't put on to much weight or provide to much excess energy, if your boy isn't in much work atm, is speedibeet. It is more a fibre feed with lower energy and conditioning qualities and higher fibre. Which keeps the gut functioning safely. And if you make it with a little extra water you can use this to soften any other feeds he may be able to have. I use this for my highly laminitic cob, where only the sight of starch sends him lame.
The other thing you could try is bran mash, which is good to bulk out a feed, and also high in fibre, but its not nutritionally as good if feed regulary as its low in calcium, and vitamins and minerals, which would have to be added as a supplement.
I hope this helps and you find something to cheer your boy up!

 

[Angelbones]

Is he allowed chaff - if so then why not find one that is lo cal and can be used as a hay replacer and give him a tub of that? If he's not allowed chaff then he's really going to need a lot of fibre in other forms.

Re grass nuts - you can get different types. Some are made from rich grass and therefore more fattening and some are made from older grass and therefore not so fattening. I feed mine soaked into a mash with Allen and Paige Fast Fibre which, if you are worried about protein levels, are much lower and are a very good source of fibre. Sometimes we also add Alfalfa nuts to the mash, it all ends up like a big sloppy green porridge. No reason why you couldn't add Speedibeet to all this.