Feeding Alfalfa to Older Equines

[fuzzyp]

Any opinions on this subject pls? I have had two conflicting views today, one person said it was absolutley fine to feed to old horses as it is brilliant for condition and weight gain and then the other person sais that you should never feed it to older horses as it gives them diahhroea as it is has too much protein in it?!

 

[pocket]

I'm not a nutritionist, but I think that Alfalfa products are probably the best form of fibre that you can feed a horse. I have been feeding it for years to all my horses and my old YO who knew everything fed it to all his horses and the rescue horses that we had come into the yard.

I dont feed pure Alfalfa A, I feed Dengi hifi light and my horse looks great and has had it for the past 7 years and was fed it by my old YO when he came into the yard as an RSPCA rescue as a yearling, he's now 10. I'd never feed anything else.

If you have any concerns, have a word with Dengie and they can give you advice. But I know what I'll be feeding, my friends horse is 23 and she has the same, looks good and has no problem with digestion at all

 

[fuzzyp]

Thanks

 

[alicedove]

I am feeding good quality alfalfa to a middle aged fit ish horse on one month's walk, and to a tiny pony who is 16, both no diarrhoea, and all good.

 

[DuckToller]

Yes, feed alfa a to all mine, aged from 10 to 20+, no problems with any.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

My 22 yr old gelding gets a handful or two in his (mainly chaff) feed every day and his coat is so glossy you can do your make up in it. No diarrhoea. No fizz. No problems at all. The reason he gets D&H Alfalfa is because I also have a rescue mare with severe ragwort poisoning and she needs a very careful diet low in protein but what protein she does have has to be of good quality. She has D&H Alfala, as recommended by Prof Knottenbelt of Liverpool Uni, a world eapert on ragwort poisoning. So other horsey-o gets some too!

 

[TGM]

I feed my veteran mare AlfaBeet (a combination of alfafa and unmolassed beet) and she does incredibly well on it and definitely no diarrhoea!

As regards protein, Dengie Alfa A is 14% protein, which is the same level of protein as Spillers Senior Conditioning Mix!

 

[aran]

It's fine to feed Alfalfa to oldies. You may need to soak if their teeth are a problem though (alfabeet or simple systems)

 

[Capriole]

all of mine have alfalfa as the principle part of their diet, ages 2 to 21. def. no diarrohea! (sp) never heard that one before but from my own expereince its rubbish

 

[Tia]

It's very doubtful that the alfalfa you use over there would give any horses the squits as I expect it is processed alfalfa and not fresh alfalfa like we use and grow over here.

Yes fresh alfalfa can definitely give horses the runs if the horse has not been gradually acclimatised to it. It can also cause colic and blow some horses brains out if used at too high levels......but this is fresh alfalfa, not your bagged stuff which you have in the UK. I once bought a bag of that and to be honest now that I grow alfalfa in all of my hay fields and see what it looks like cut and baled, the stuff you get in the bags in England doesn't resemble what we grow here; yours looks more like dusty twigs so is likely totally non-harmful.

I do feed more alfalfa to the old horses (and foals) here as it is high in calcium and selenium; my horses have all grown up being fed alfalfa in their diet. We use it with caution however and never feed too high a percentage of alfalfa hay to ours. The horses are never allowed to graze our alfalfa fields as it can cause laminitis and colic at certain stages in the alfalfa plants life cycle.

With regards to protein levels; well this really depends entirely on when the legume was harvested. We wait till our alfalfa is at least 3/10ths in bloom before cutting and baling. Harvesting before this stage and the protein levels are sky rocket percentages and not suitable or safe levels for regular riding horses.