VERY long grass, youngsters - colic worry?

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My two youngsters (2 & 4) have access to 24/7 turnout if i want, however at the moment their field has gone a bit bald and they're sometimes coming in hungry. Im a bit reluctant to stick haylage in the field so soon and the yard owner has asked if i'll put them on another patch of grazing to eat it off. It clearly hasn't been grazed for ages and the grass is SO long. My two would be the only two that are suitable to go on the field as all the others are cobby types who don't need any more coverage!
I'd like them to have more grass as they could do with the weight, but with them going onto long lush grass from short, im obviously concerned about them colicing.
How long would you suggest i stick them out for on that field for the first time? Half an hour? Could i gradually bring it up without risking colic?
Thoughts would be appreciated!
 
I prefer longer old grass as it should have less sugars than stressed short grass. One of ours though is prone to colic and has coliced in the past when she escaped through the fence into a patch of long old grass which was wet from rain. She was only on there for a couple of hours and then had an episode of gassy colic (and associated vet call!). Because of that I wouldn't just put her in a field like that, but (esp if it is dry) I would strip graze it, is that an option? That said, if yours are made of tougher stuff it shouldn't be too much of a worry, though I would still make the move of feed stuffs carefully.
 
If it is long and stalky it will not be as rich as short new growth so I would just put them in for a few hours over the first day or two then leave them overnight, after another couple of days they should be fine.
 
Mine all went out onto exactly this last year.
Hadn't been grazed in probably 3 years and was very long and stalky.
Turned out for half a day, for a week and then full days after that.
 
My vet always says that you should turn your horses out on to new grazing full. I know he was talking about turning out horses who had only had access to mud paddocks all winter and were being turned out on fresh grass, but he said that if they had full tummys (hay/haylage and their usual feed) going out they wouldn't stuff themselves immediately and the more gradual intake of grass would be fine. He said the ones turned out hungry stuffed themselves very quickly and problems would arise so I guess the same could be said in your situation. Most colics he was called to at turnout time were ones that went out hungry.
 
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