mown grass

[vickers22]

i was always told mown grass gives horses colic-but yesterday i saw a little shetland in his field and he had been given a whole wheelbarrow of mown grass-looked fresh. so please could you tell me what the deal is?!

 

[AmyMay]

Each to their own - but I wouldn't feed it.

 

[_OC_]

Grass cuttings diffo NO!

 

[Rambo]

They ferment in the stomach i believe which can lead to colic and other unpleasantness

 

[Loupride]

I always thought it depended on the length of time it was since the grass was cut????

 

[spaniel]

No it shouldnt be fed.

Mown grass has been chopped many times along its length which is different to say hay grass which is only cut once at the bottom. The action of cutting the stalk many times creates a reaction within the grass stem that is renowned for giving animals colic. It will ferment incredibly quickly.

 

[Loupride]

Very interesting - thanks Spaniel

One thing that does surprise me though is that at a rather well known show over here, held in the city, large amounts of grass is brought in for the stabled horses? Would this be cut in a different way? I cant imagine all those competitors risking giving their horses colic

but maybe Im wrong?

 

[PapaFrita]

So that's why! Thanks Spaniel

As we don't have much grass here, lots of people feed their grass cuttings to their horses. Personally I'm not willing to take the chance. At my yard in the UK my landlord's gardener once chucked some cuttings over the fence for the horses (he thought he was being helpful), but they wouldn't touch it. Perhaps it had already started to go bad?

 

[vickers22]

ok thanks for clearing that up spaniel

wont be taking any of my grass cuttings away from my garden!

 

[K9Wendy]

I also think it is to do with the speed at which the horse eats it, the mown grass balls up and can cause choke as well. Normal grazing is a slower process.

 

[Cahill]

i`m suprised there is debate about this,it`s a deff no no.think how the compost bin hots up and why you should never leave grassbox on mower unenptied(fire hazzard from combustion)

 

[TGM]

Was it definitely grass cuttings from a lawn mower, not hand cut long grass?

 

[bensababy]

well my pony got Lammi through some idiot chucking grass cuttings over hedge - i do not advise feeding this

 

[vickers22]

yeh it was definitely mown grass not cut. poor ponio-i hope he wil be ok, it was alot for him as well, hes only tiny

 

[juliebrewer]

if fresh then ok, but when it is left a while 1hr+ then it gets hot and is no good..

 

[Capriole]

the show horses may have been having hydroponically grown grass? we used to have a machine, the 'grass' grows like a 'mat', its not the same as grass cuttings which is incredibly dangerous to horses