Scorched grass - nutritional value

Leam_Carrie

Leam_Carrie

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 August 2012
Messages
928
Location
Leamington Spa
Visit site
My grass looks more like hay! What does this mean for the nutritional value? My mini Shetland is looking fat on it and the horses seem to be holding weight. I’m assuming it means there’s less in it? My fields have long grass, which I’m told is lower is sugar? So now it’s scorched is there even less sugar?
Any advice welcome... thank you :)
 
my horse is on a brown field which was topped so there is dried grass(hay really) laying around....she comes in to a ffed of 3/4 scoop alfa a and her supplements and isnt interested in her hay net. both her and her grazing partner are fat so there must be goodness in the grazing....we are not putting hay out yet..
 
Despite being on restricted grazing on scorched grass, I've had to reduce the soaked hay my girl gets, as she's put on weight. How much of that is due to the fact we can only walk on hacks, as the ground is like cracked concrete, I don't know, but she's certainly getting calories from somewhere.
 
I'm pleased to hear you all say yours are doing well on it, I was a bit surprised when my mini was putting on weight! As always I guess there's more out there than it looks. And both my Arab and mini are good doers.
 
Surprisingly very fat ponies - they are out 24/7 having a holiday.. I swear they are all in foal - even the geldings! There really doesn't look like anything out there, but looks say otherwise!
 
I did weaken earlier and gave them a new strip to graze! There is plenty of poo picking to do - much more than when my horse has been in a bare paddock previously, which should have told me they’re getting plenty to eat.
 
We are bringing in during the day and giving them a strip of new "grass" each night. Average amount of poo picking to do, but they are having 12lbs hay each plus a bucket of molasses free hifi, plus a tea of 1/2 bucket hifi and supplement. Still yelling for food, both of them.
 
I'm putting hay out for the big ones but my grazing is poor and weedy at the best of times. They all look good though, even the poor doer Connie, hay is by the barrow, they aren't allowed a big bale in the ring feeder. My two littlies are getting nothing extra, their paddock is barren but they're both fat. Lami prone one is in at night with soaked hay.
 
We have 4 out on about 2 acres, and they all look well even though the field looks bare, they're obviously getting enough. It's definitely growing too as a bit that was bare has bounced back to a reasonable covering fairly quickly.

So I have a dilemma as it's just about too short now for me to feel comfortable having mine out on it muzzled but equally without the muzzle she grazes quite happily and given the tubby state of the others I'm a bit worried about taking it off. She's only out in the day- she's in a bare coral with timothy haylage and straw chaff at night. Any thoughts?
 
Mine come in during the day out of the heat and get some soaked hay but fat tb stubbornly remains fat and skinny tb is holding the condition he picked up in spring.

Picture showing skinny finding something to eat.

ZfgCrin.jpg
 
Last edited:
Retired fat pony is, sadly, still fat. God knows what she’s eating but it’s obviously got some nutritional value. She is strip grazed and gets a new little bit of scorched earth each day.
In work TB is holding weight just fine. Both come in out of the heat / flies during the day but neither eat much of their hay (fat pony has never been known to turn down hay!!)
 
little_critter said:
Retired fat pony is, sadly, still fat. God knows what she’s eating but it’s obviously got some nutritional value. She is strip grazed and gets a new little bit of scorched earth each day.
In work TB is holding weight just fine. Both come in out of the heat / flies during the day but neither eat much of their hay (fat pony has never been known to turn down hay!!)
Click to expand...

I’m keeping my mini in during the day to restrict his grazing - and he’s not eating much of his hay either. I think he uses it as sleeping time so he can eat all night!!
 
mine are finding plenty to live off!

my B stallion (quite a buzzy playful sort) is just about spot on weight wise. I have opened up a strip of long hay like grass but he only picks at that and prefers the short scrubby stuff which suggest there ARE shoots coming through.
He's getting ad lib haylage over night and chaff and oats twice a day and looks spot on.
He walk hacks twice a week and does 1 x 20min in school.

Kids sec C gelding is FAT still despite being on total scrub and desert sand(much less than my B), soaked restricted hay and no hard feed. He is also worked 6 days a week and schools, jumps, does interval training etc. He got ALL the survival genes!

so they are clearly finding little shoots as soon as they poke above ground level.

what i am doing with both is a course of physillium 1 week out of each month to protect against sand colic.
 
Side on and from a distance, my horse looks quite a nice shape. Front on, her belly sticks out either side like a balloon. Her field is mostly brown scorched grass but if you look closely there's green shoots peeping up here and there.
 
Mare is a condition score of 5.5 and gelding likely a six? (Spillers condition scored my mare last weekend at camp when they weighed her) and my grazing is all but nothing really and my horses have never looked so good. They get a small scoop of pony nuts and a balancer in the morning but I've stopped putting two haynets on the yard once a day because they just dont seem to need it or eat much of it!

My heart is telling me to feed them .. there is no grass!!!! But my head is saying dont you dare, they look great so clearly its all good at the moment :)
 
Just been told about two local ponies that have never had laminitis that have developed it despite being on scorched non existent grass ! How does this compute ?
 
Penny Less said:
Just been told about two local ponies that have never had laminitis that have developed it despite being on scorched non existent grass ! How does this compute ?
Click to expand...

Not sure lol but it's possible - in a dustbowl, my NF's gained weight. Not sure how but gutted about it; I'm probably the only horse owner in the country happy about the heat as it's killed off all the grass (or so I thought!)
 
Glad I'm not the only one to be slightly baffled. My poor-doer TB who normally drops off every summer, hasn't this year!? I was half putting it down to how much she LOVES to be warm so the weather is good for her. She's out 7am - 7pm and has a section of haylage over night as normal. I'm far from complaining though!
 
Penny Less said:
Just been told about two local ponies that have never had laminitis that have developed it despite being on scorched non existent grass ! How does this compute ?
Click to expand...

If you read the Spillers article above, the scorched grass stores sugar. Our vet told me she had never seen so many cases when she came to do our jabs last week.

Ours are on the field which was cut for hay about three weeks ago - it's not as scorched as the other fields so I'm keeping everything crossed for no laminitis. However, they are both definitely well covered...
 
MotherOfChickens said:
anyone got the lammi app? I don't, but native owners on FB groups say the app is shwoign high risk even in very parched areas.
Click to expand...

Yes, it’s sitting very high on the app and has been for weeks. So I guess it’s down to what quantity of short parched grass your horse can access. My sisters EMS horse is getting pulses even with a couple of hours on what looks like a bare track with the others.
 
The lami app was stuck on 98% for many weeks for these parts, including when we had scorched brown grass.

We had a few hours of very heavy rain on Friday, the grass though still very short has greened up, and the lami app risk is now back down in the green on 25% :eek:.

I've just ordered some psyillium husks, thanks for the idea H2012 :). The neds must be ingesting more grit and sand than normal atm.
 
I will put this out there as well-especially those on livery yards who get restricted turnout-the more damaged your grass is on top, the more damaged the roots are and the longer it will take to recover.
so be careful what you wish for amount of grass-wise because lack of grass leads to damaged, muddy fields with lying water in winter. not so bad in areas with a longer growing season but I am going to have to get mine off their current field soon to give it a chance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top