Grass nuts

[helencharlie]

A friend has recommended grass nuts to me for Charlie. He is on poor grazing at the moment. How do these work and how much do you need to feed.

 

[SCMSL]

They are not a hay/pasture replacer but are quite nice to add fiber and calories to horse's feed. As for how much you should feed, this is a difficult question as it seems everyone has a different opinion and it obviously depends on the horse.

 

[BlairandAzria]

You need to soak them ideally as they swell 10x their size ( like speedibeet) I feed one Stubbs scoop of soaked sloppy grass nuts in each feed over winter to my tbx, slightly poor doer, less now the grass has started to come through though.

I noticed a difference when I switched from unmollassed speedibeet onto soaked grassnuts.

 

[BlairandAzria]

They're cheap as well, I feed northern crop driers grass nuts and they're £7.50 a bag. They're basically fresh cut dried and compressed grass. They smell delicious, really sweet and grassy(!) - they do have a higher sugar content than some would like, however my horse is barefoot and copes well with them. I really rate them, especially for those on poor grazing, you're just replacing what should be naturally available to them.

 

[glamourpuss]

I'm another that things they're fab. Brilliant for adding condition. They also seem to provide controllable energy for my TBs.
as said before soak well - doesn't have to be overnight, an hour or so can break them down enough to make them feedable.

 

[Perissa]

I feed Simple Systems Blue Bag grass nuts. I do not soak them as I feed them by the cup full rather than the scoop with well damped chaff.

 

[helencharlie]

Thank you for your replies. I now have a bag of grass nuts but have yet to introduce these to his diet. I think he will like them, as he is not fussy and will eat any food!