Can You Feed Lucerne Silage To Horses?

Lucerne is a high-quality feed and a valuable component of many, if not most horses’ diets. There are good reasons though why it shouldn’t be used as the only source of roughage for horses. Lucerne is a high-quality feed and a valuable component of many, if not most horses’ diets.

Can u feed horses silage?

When preserved properly, silage is an acceptable feed for horses. Silage should be green or greenish-brown, be uniform in texture and moisture content, and have a pleasant smell.

Can horses eat Lucerne?

Lucerne is a valuable source of energy, and it can help keep your horse’s weight in check. Due to the level of proteins, it is very useful for feeding horses that are growing, horses in intense work, or mares used for breeding. The fiber found in Lucerne is a great source of the energy.

How much Lucerne chaff should I feed my horse?

As a rule of thumb, allow 1.5 to 2 kg of feed per 100 kg of the horse’s body weight. However, it is safer to use 1.7% of body weight (or 1.7 kg per 100 kg of body weight) to calculate a feed budget.

Is Lucerne chaff good for laminitis?

Because it is lower in ‘sugars’ than grass, Lucerne/Alfalfa is often recommended as forage for horses and ponies with EMS and laminitis.

Will silage hurt horses?

While horses can be fed baleage, silage and haylage, we recommend horses be fed primarily dried hay. Transition to these feeds (or any new feedstuff) should be done gradually. Just like evaluating dried hay for mold and dust, baleage, silage and haylage should also be evaluated for mold.

Which is better hay or silage?

Hay is usually a more efficient purchased feed because it has around 10% water while silage has up to 60%. Silage must be remain sealed, to exclude air. Once the seal is broken, eg a hole in the plastic or the silage is opened, then it will start to heat and spoil.

Can horses have too much lucerne?

With performance horses, as with growing horses and pregnant mares, Lucerne must be fed in moderation. Unlike the above classes of animals, excess protein in the diet of working horses, particularly those that are stabled, can be detrimental to their health and performance.

Can lucerne cause colic in horses?

Indigestible fibre does serve a purpose in the horse, as it keeps the digesta moving through the digestive tract, like a laxative, which is also important for the health of the horse. But too much indigestible fibre increases the risk of impaction colic and reduces the energy supplied by the hay.

What are 3 things horses should not eat?

Here are eight foods you should never feed your horse:

• Chocolate. ©russellstreet/Flickr CC.
• Persimmons.
• Avocado.
• Lawn clippings.
• Pitted fruits.
• Bread.
• Potatoes and other nightshades.
• Yogurt or other milk products.

Why does Lucerne make horses hot?

Lucerne Hay contains approximately 18% Protein, 28% Fiber and 16g/kg DM (Dry Matter) of Calcium (https://www.feedipedia.org/node/275). It’s also high in Vitamin K and E. Due to the high amounts of Digestible Energy released it does tend to make horses go hot when fed on its own or in high quantities.

How much Lucerne can a horse have?

Lucerne (otherwise known as alfalfa) is a legume not a grass and due to its high nutrient density and digestibility it should only comprise approximately 1/10 of your horses total forage ration.

Is Lucerne chaff high in sugar?

Lucerne is relatively low in sugar and starch, containing about half the amount of cereal hay (oaten, barley and wheaten) so it doesn’t cause large insulin spikes and blood sugar level fluctuations and is very useful as a component of feed for horses with laminitis or metabolic issues such as insulin resistance.

Can too much lucerne cause laminitis?

Actual protein intake depends entirely on how much is fed. There are some insulin resistant/elevated insulin horses that can’t tolerate Lucerne and these horses should never be fed Lucerne. In this case, Lucerne for these horses is a risk factor for laminitis.

Can laminitic horses have lucerne?

For a laminitic prone horse/pony, low sugar roughage sources may include Teff hay, Rhodes grass hay, lucerne hay, beet pulp or soaked grass hay.

Can you feed too much lucerne?

However, you may have to caution customers to watch a horse’s intake of lucerne, as too much can quickly cause weight gain. A horse that eats a diet rich in grass hay can eat more of it without worrying about becoming too heavy.

What are the disadvantages of silage?

It requires a silo (a permanent structure) in comparison with the simpler methods of field curing and storing hay, this is likely to mean higher costs for small farmers. Wastage my be more, if silage is not properly made. Poorly prepared silages are not accepted by animals.

Is silage highly digestible?

The high level of grain in finishing rations results in a very poor ruminal environment for fiber fermentation. The stover fraction of corn silage therefore is probably very poorly digested when fed in finishing rations.

How long do you leave silage before feeding?

How soon can I feed silage? Ideally you should leave a clamp closed for at least 4 weeks but if you are desperate, you can feed it within a few days even though the fermentation will not have stabilised yet.

What animals can eat silage?

Silage (/ˈsaɪlɪdʒ/) is a type of fodder made from green foliage crops which have been preserved by fermentation to the point of acidification. It can be fed to cattle, sheep and other such ruminants (cud-chewing animals).

Is silage the same as haylage?

Today the most common definition is that haylage is drier than silage, and some haylage is so dry it is hay wrapped in plastic. In the feeding experiments presented on this website forage with dry matter (DM) concentrations between 50-70% are called haylage and between 35-50% are called silage.