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Discussion on Lime on Pastures
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Posted on Saturday, May 5, 2001 - 10:55 am:
I had lime spread on my pastures two weeks ago. As luck would have it, we have had practically no rain since that time. I have been keeping my horses on a dry lot and feeding hay.
My question is. Would there be a health risk to turning the horses out on the pasture for a short time each day? Most of the lime is near the roots, but some remains on the leaves.
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Posted on Monday, May 7, 2001 - 8:04 am:
You would think such a question would have been well answered by now but alas there is no hard data that I have ever found. Most pasture lime is limestone and contains mainly varying percentages of calcium and magnesium salts. These are also the same chemicals used in food grade calcium supplements.
A horse can suffer from toxicity of Mg and Ca but because these forms are poorly absorbed it strikes me as unlikely that anything adverse would happen with light grazing on limed pastures that the leaves showed little signs of contamination. I think what concerns the most is what type chemicals that might be contaminanting the pasture lime, so you do so at your own risk.
DrO
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Posted on Monday, May 7, 2001 - 8:22 am:
a-hemolytic streps are not well established pathogens in horses. S pneumoniae, a a-hemolytic strep, is considered a pathogen in humans and may be a cause of disease in horses but there is some controversy. We use cytology in our practice as the main arbitrator for infection.
DrO
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