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Discussion on Alfalfa Only Diet?
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New Member:
klowe
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Posted on Tuesday, Oct 9, 2007 - 11:22 am:
Hi, I am very new as a horse owner but I did have a similar problem when I switched my horses from alfalfa to timothy hay (and probably not timothy of the best quality, retrospect).
When I got tired of raking up wasted/trampled hay I did 2 things. First, I started giving them less. Second, I scattered it around in as many small piles as I could, since they are wandering around on 2 acres (including my front yard, I might add!). Once they started to eat most of it, I started increasing the amounts, and I haven't had any problems since then. When I just fed it in a pile per horse, they would pick through it and just eat the "best" pieces, and then trample the rest.
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Member:
boomer
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Posted on Tuesday, Oct 9, 2007 - 2:33 pm:
Hi Kathy,
That's funny, I used to do that too. I think it's a great idea. I can't do that in the winter, the paddocks right now are way too muddy (I live in Western Washington). I'm with the Doc, give them grass, they will eat it when they realize that's it. Then they will like it.
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New Member:
klowe
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Posted on Wednesday, Oct 10, 2007 - 9:10 am:
Hi Patricia,
Fortunately here in NM we are blessed with mostly dry weather (at least I find it a blessing, having lived in both Missouri (humid and hot) and Vermont (humid and cold). However, since we have clay, when it does rain you end up with 10 lb. clay boots the minute you go outside!
I had read somewhere about feeding in small piles, which made sense to me as moving around from place to place is how they eat naturally. Plus I have way too many weeds right now and a malfunctioning lawn-tractor. I was actually hoping more of the weeds were palatable, but since they're not, I will settle for trampling!
On a side note, I worry about them eating weeds that aren't good for them...hopefully as they are approx. 11 and 15, they have some experience and mostly know what to avoid.
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