grass sickness.... a bit worried

hihosilver

hihosilver

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I have a super new young 5 year old gelding. I have gradually increased his time out and he is now out mostly 24/7. The grass is very rich. He is fit and slim. I just heard today that a cow in another field has grass sickness. Should I be worried??

Any info advice appreciated :D:D
 
Do cows get grass sickness? not sure they do in the same way horses do, I would not worry unduly but it can help to prevent it if they have access to some hay each day.
 
I have not heard of grass sickness being caused by rich grass, they do not know the definite cause of grass sickness, there is, I believe, a link to poor grazing and disturbed ground ie after harrowing, if it was just rich grass that caused it prevention would be much easier. Colic can be a problem but if introduced carefully you should be fine, again access to a feed and forage can help with digestion.
 
Grass sickness is suspected to be caused by bacteria in the soil, as opposed to the grass itself. Though there has been a rise in colic and laminitis cases recently due to the rich grass.

No idea about the cow though.
 
cows do not get grass sickness, they are ruminants, not hind gut fermenters but they can suffer from various mineral imbalances when the grass is in full flow. OP I suggest you do some research and go the the grass sickness site-many vets are woefully ignorant when it comes to GS.
 
Check out the equine grass sickness website for advice - sounds to me like you need to be more worried about laminitis. If you are worried about EGS, then keep a mineral lick in the field and keep feeding some hard feed. Keep field disturbance to a minimum ( harrowing rolling)
 
The cow probably had Grass tetany, a serious, often fatal metabolic disorder characterized by low levels of magnesium in the blood of cattle. It is also called grass staggers. It isn't related to equine grass sickness.
 
I will check the site and have a look. The farmer just said the cow had grass sickness but I guess he wouldn't know for sure. I am feeding happy hoof and some hay when he comes in.

Thanks for advice.
 
That certainly sounds like staggers the cow had the farmer may have used grass sickness as a figure of speak.
So I doult that your horse is at any more risk of GS than he was.
 
Please check out the grass sickness website, it can give you vital tips to help minimise your horses risk. It is not, as suggested, linked to poor grazing and any horse/pony/donkey on any grazing can be exposed to it.
 
toffeeyummy said:
Please check out the grass sickness website, it can give you vital tips to help minimise your horses risk. It is not, as suggested, linked to poor grazing and any horse/pony/donkey on any grazing can be exposed to it.
Click to expand...

Trues sort of re the grazing. If the grazing is so poor that there are bare exposed patches of earth then the risk would be increased.

But the example of the fatal case of the racehorse Dubai Millennium does illustrate that any horse in any regime with any sort of management can be affected.

OP I think laminitis is much more of a risk. It's much more common than GS and a risk factor is rich grazing.
 
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