Is it detrimental to feed mainly Alfalfa?

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sonjafoers

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I have read a few things recently where people suggest not to feed too much alfalfa. Can anyone give me any more info on this please. I do feed it as a chop added to balancer etc but in the winter will be worried about upping the amounts to mix in with hard feed.

Thank you
 
My previous horse spent 4 years on Alfa-A oil as his only feed (with a balancer to ensure he got all his nutrients). I wouldn't feed him a mix or anything as he was a bit of a challenge to ride and he didn't need it for weight.

He was an active 16.2hh warmblood, and he looked fabulous on it.

JUST alfalfa (without any vitamin/mineral supplements) can be unbalanced, but so long as you balance it out, it should be fine. It's a great source of fibre and slow energy.

Only thing to be aware of is that it is a little higher in protein than some other feeds, but not compared to most mixes.
 
i feed it, with balancer and have done for a couple of years with no ill effects. I think like anything, some horses react differently to others.
 
Not really. As mentioned horses in spain pretty much live off it. Only thing to think about is there isnt much energy in it if your only feeding alfalfa but if you are only adding a bit in as chaff to a hard feed its fine. Any excess protein that a horse consumes in their diet is actually excreated in their urine so nothing to worry about. Only thing is horses with liver damage shouldnt be fed any alfalfa due to the protein making the liver work harder.
 
It is more of a problem when alfalfa is fed in substantial quantities as a hay replacer and forms a significant proportion of the diet - it is not just the level of protein but the balance of minerals in the diet. If you feed in relatively small amounts as hard feed then it shouldn't be a problem - Dengie put maximum amounts to be fed on their feed sacks, not sure whether other manufacturers do.
 
Foreage analysis seems so be showing that UK grass/hay is high in calcium. Alfalfa is high in calcium. Together it is often too much.

My horses improved alot when I ditched alfalfa in favour of Fast Fibre from Allan and Page.
 
we feed speedi beet, alfa oil and a balancer to horses hunting twice a week with no problems at all. They are good doers, so it wouldn't suit every horse. But I know of no reason why it would be a problem if the nutrients are balanced.
 
I feed it to mine as he has a calcium/magnesium deficiency. Not a lot though, a handful with various herbs supposed to be good for liver/kidney function.

I don't up feed rations in winter.
 
Feeding alfalfa alone is not so much a problem (add a vit supp/balancer) but you do in fact need to be careful if it is over approx 6kg as you can get calcium overload. If you do feed more than this amount (bear in mind that beet is also high in calcium) it is a good idea to feed bran.

Horses in spain are fed alfalfa as their main chop but they tend to give oat straw as long fibre.
 
I feed Alpha A with Badminton Base Feed, both mine seem to do well on this, I just increase/decrease the Alpha depending on the quantity of grass they have have (ie on moving paddocks spring & autumn).
 
Thank you for your replies everyone.

Amaranta I had read about the calcium issue which you mentioned but I didn't know how much alfa would be considered too much with respect to this. I would feed a max of 3 heaped stubbs scoops a day when hunting so will be well within the 6kg, and always feed a balancer so it should be ok.
 
A feed balancer wont even out an excess though, which is why one clever poster said to feed bran too. High calcium in the diet can cause a deficiency of phosphorus, so I would look to actually balance with a phosphorus only supplement or a feed which has an inverse proportion of ca:p.
 
Alfalfa should not be more than 50% of the horse's diet. The
reason is the high calcium is hard on the kidneys, and there is
an increased risk of causing enterolithiasis (intestinal stones).

Conversely, alfalfa can act to buffer the acid in the stomachs of
horses with ulcers.
 
Ok, I think I need to give this a bit more thought before I start merrily scooping it into their bowls in the winter!

Would it be better if I mixed the alfa with Readigrass or similar does anyone think, just to reduce the amount of alfa whilst giving them the same bulk ?
 
As others have said, horses over here really only have the option of oat straw or alfalfa hay. Mine have lived off mainly alfalfa hay for most of their lives. It is pretty much all that is grown in my area. I can get oat straw for a few months during the summer, but during the winter, its alfalfa hay or nothing. So far, at 15 and 11, I have noticed no adverse effects on either of them (apart from being porky!).

Strangely though, a few years back there was a major shortage of hay here and we couldn't get it from anywhere. During that time, for a few weeks, we were feeding Spillers chaff and alfalfa cubes, soaked (like sugarbeet), to bulk their fibre up. My 11yr old Haflinger had a reaction to the protein levels in the cubes, but has always been absolutely fine on the dried alfalfa.
 
YasandCrystal that article is frightening! I had also been reading about skin problem when feeding alfalfa and that sort of explains the reasoning behind that argument too - thank you for posting it.

I know we have to keep things in perspective and try and give an overall balanced ration but that really does give me concerns about feeding alfafa. I will definately mix mine with readigrass or similar before feeding.

One of mine won't eat many chaffs Tallyho unless they are so coated in molasses that they are doing more harm than good. Neither will she eat any Dengie products so I am a bit limited to what I can give her.
 
Lke Becca 84 I live in Spain. I won't touch alfalfa except on very rare occasions. Mainly because our water here is so incredibly hard it is a known area for kidney stones in everything from people to cats, so I am not adding any more calcium to my horses' diet. Ari also has what is known as 'mezcla' or mix, which contains a lot of protein in the form of beans and peas, so don't want to add anymore of that either!

We have easily available stuff over here called avenate, which is basically still greenish oats cut and baled, heads and stalks. At the moment it is about £3.50 for a 35kg bale. I feed this in preference to the alfalfa as my forage and then supplement it with rough old wheat straw just to give them something to eat.
 
sonjafoers said:
I have read a few things recently where people suggest not to feed too much alfalfa. Can anyone give me any more info on this please. I do feed it as a chop added to balancer etc but in the winter will be worried about upping the amounts to mix in with hard feed.

Thank you
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I was advised by my vet to give my 32 year old a bucket of Alfa A Lite, so I'd say its not detrimental, apparently there's iron in it which is the reason I'm feeding it at an increased amount.

98% of the horses on my yard are fed some form of Alfa, Alfa A, Alfa Oil etc
 
Just be aware that that article could have been written and published by anyone, so don't automatically take it as gospel. I haven't the knowledge to know if its any good or not, am just saying don't panic over one article on the internet :)
 
NOISYGIRL said:
I was advised by my vet to give my 32 year old a bucket of Alfa A Lite, so I'd say its not detrimental, apparently there's iron in it which is the reason I'm feeding it at an increased amount.

98% of the horses on my yard are fed some form of Alfa, Alfa A, Alfa Oil etc
Click to expand...

In Jan 2009, my elderly Arab suffered his first ever abcess in a foot which dragged on and went into the bone. It was an ordeal and by the end of it, he looked quite poor. A few months later he suffered an infection to his salivary glands which turned nasty and dragged on - and after he looked poor...!

At this time the vet said his teeth were poor and he needed a foreage replacer diet. I made one with herns and balancers and based it around alfalfa pellets.

He put on weight and looked great and carried on looking great for a year later.

But his feet - which had always been good (for a horse who had been shod for most of his life) had lost all the concavity and become flat just after he got the abcess in 09 and they never recovered. Trimmer and I were scraching our heads as to why.

Last winter I had a foreage analysis and bespoke mineral profile done. From that I added copper, zinc and lysine and swapped alfalfa pellets for Fast Fibre - the change in his feet happened within a few weeks. He got the shape back and his feet are no longer flat!

I believe it was the alfalfa causing the problem. My foreage analysis showed 200% NRC calcium just from the haylage he eats! Yikes!
 
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