Rye grass stalks

[mrsbloggett]

Does anyone know if rye grass stalks is suitable to feed to lamintics?

We have bought rye grass this year (for the winter forage)instead of hay as one of the ladies can't afford hay for her two ponies.

My Pony is recovering from her first bout of laminitis , so I want to make sure I don't feed her anything which might jepodise her recovery. I have only fed hay before. If ryegrass is unsuitable I'd better get my skates on & order some hay.

Advice appreciated.

 

[pottamus]

Sorry, can't help with the rye grass hay stuff but I would have thought a better bet would be some of last years hay...as it will have hardly any goodness left in it...ideal for laminitics?! I would steer clear of any grass type stuff no matter how stalky...but that is just me.
See what others think on the rye grass...interesting.

 

[parsley]

When you say rye grass instead of hay I am not sure what you mean. Rye grass is just a variety of grass (like timothy). OR do you mean rye cereal? I rememer years ago we had some hay stuff made out of rye (with the ears still on)?

 

[Perissa]

Do you mean thrashed hay? if you do then that is very suitable for laminitics.

Rye Grass is usually grown for grass seed so it is left to grow for much longer then grass for hay. The 'goodness' is concentrated in the grass seed head which is removed by thrashing it to collect the grass seed. The resulting stalks which are left is like hard stalky hay with a much lower nutrient value then normal hay making it suitable for good doers and laminitics.

 

[mrsbloggett]

Sorry - should have explained better, its the rye grass stalks that is cut after the seed heads have been harvested and then made into bales, like meadow hay.

I phoned the Laminitis Trust yesterday who advised that Ryegrass stalks is a BIG no-no for laminitics as there is alot of Fructans left in the stalks, much higher than meadow hay. Ideally I need to find hay that is made primarily of Timothy grass.

 

[Perissa]

I find that very surprising. I fed it to my laminitic for years with no problems (she died of old age), I feed it to my shetland ponies with no problem and I feed it to my arab who is on box rest because it is so low feed value that you can feed lots of it. It is so hard and stalky it takes ages to eat too.

Threshed or Thrashed Hay
When grass is grown to produce grass seed, the threshing or thrashing process removes the seeds and the stalks are left to dry. These stalks and the limited amount of leafy material are baled as threshed or thrashed hay. The nutrient levels in this type of hay are often rather low as the grass is usually quite mature and stalky when the seeds are ready for threshing.
http://www.horsehage.co.uk/eqsub3.html


THRASHED RYE A very low protein high fibre product suitable for bulking out other haylages or for the laminitic horse.
http://www.haylage.net/products.htm

 

[mrsbloggett]

Thanks for your thoughts on this. I don't think I will take any risks and will follow the advice of the Laminitis Trust and will get some hay in. I've just got the results on the pony's xrays and discovered she has pedal bone rotation - The last thing I want to do is take any risks with her recovery or reoccurance of the lami.

 

[Tia]

Very sensible.

My farm produces hay, and I can tell you with conviction that ryegrass is definitely not the grass of choice to feed to laminitics. You are far better going for a timothy mix hay.

 

[TGM]

If you have difficulty getting timothy hay you can get Timothy Horsehage which is marketed as safe for laminitics. More costly than hay though.