Alfalfa can cause diarrhea - it all depends on the horse, how rich the alfalfa is and how much is given.

Very lush pasture can also cause diarrhea if the horse is not used to it.

Introduce anything like this the same way you would new grain. A bit at a time. Mix it in with the hay you already give him, increasing the amount of the alfalfa mix over time.

This will help curb any issues. Each horse is different, so he may be able to gobble up the mix tomorrow and he may get a bit loose on just one flake.

I've never had that problem. My flies like the horses or the molasses in the grain. Doesn't even have to have molasses…the flies just seem to like certain pelleted foods. And they will hang out in the feed trough if you've fed your horse grain in them. The saliva from your horse after eating grain is an attractant for flies.

But as for hay…never had problems with it alone. Don't think I even have flies in the hay part of my barn. Just where the grain has been dropped on the ground…and I use straight alfalfa, alfalfa grass, grass, and wheat hay.

It was made by T. Whipple Simpson. The EZ unroller unrolls big bales and then rebales them into small square bales. Will this machine work with alfalfa and retain leaf without leaf loss?

my neighbor tried it on straw with good success, but it was still a little damp when he did. alfalfa on the other hand you would probably lose a lot of the leaves as you asked. I would try one and see what it does. sorry I couldn't help more good luck

timothy hay is a grass a hay and can vary on the protein level depending on where is grown. alfalfa is your clover hay and protein levels will vary on where it is grown. we feed a mxture of grass and alfalfa. some alfalfa hay is very high depending where we get it from and can cause problems in horses if fed a lot of it all the time. especially in horses that are not being work daily, the more the horse is worked the easier it is for them to burn feed off . some feeds are to hot for idle animals ….we only feed grain when the ranch or rodeo horses are working heavy

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Does anyone feed alfalfa hay in your horses diet? If you do, what kind of horse and what do you do with your horse? Is it more for performance horses or growing horses or broodmares? I only have a easy keeper morgan right now that I worry about getting cushings so I don't think I would dare feed her this. I bought the land so I can establish a small morgan breeding farm - but should I reseed this with a different crop?
(I just bought an existing farm with 15 acres in established alfalfa hay with minimal grass mixed in)
I can get it tested by a deparment of some sort right? Do I mail it in somewhere or Cooperative Extention?

I like half alfalfa half grass. When I go to straight alfalfa however I shoot for lower RFV (relative food value) ratings than the top qualtiy. Top qualtiy has RFV's ranging from 150 to 250. These are a little too hot for a horse not used to it. However I can get alfalfa with a little sunbleaching with RFV's closer to 100 or even a little lower. I stay with low RFV's due to sunbleaching and not mold or excess stemminess.

I have never had any trouble with feeding this alfalfa. The only trouble I have ever had was a pregnant mare who coliced when the only alfalfa I could get (In fact the only hay I could get that year) had RFV's in the 120's. I saved my mare but she rolled on my leg and I missed a day of work because of it.

BTW

In some parts of the country you must watch the blisterbugs in alfalfa. They can kill a horse pretty fast. My supplier gets his hay from Nebraska (northern part) where it is just north of the bugs' range.

University of Californis says diests in alfalfa hay increassed the stones? (intestial stones) They form around foreign material in the intestine. 61 horses in 2 yrs, referred to clinic due to colic or instedtial blockages caused by stones. The researchers found that only factor associated with stone formation were lack of access to pasture grazing and a diet comprised of 50 percent of more alfalfe hay. Have you ever heard this? I haven't and in winter is when I feed alfalfa and no pastue? So I'll be cutting back. Just thought you would like to know.
What do you all think?
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.
Yep that's were I read it yeterday and I too love the mag:)
I feed in winter grass hay, and oats, but also give plenty, (to much) alfalfa won't any more:) Thought is was a nice treat for her, how very wrong.
Daisy KJ
I know your not starting a fight, and I'm glad to here for 45 yrs no problem:) That's wonderful, and I posted the question cause I want to here what u all think:) thanks
Jeff Sadler: Pickles, LOL good one:)
The more I read and think about this, my horse this past late winter had a bout of colic, for the first and only time, she was 4, and never feed alfalfa till last yr???? I wonder, I blamed it on the horseshorers secert at the time wasn't thinking and thought that was the only thing different, she got taken off it. I still won't chance either one, know. Alos I'm glad to hear others that arn't having a problem, and hope they contuine not too. It's bad enough that in my area with long winters she only get pasture 6 months (if lucky sometime 5) of pasture. I'm also starting to rethink the grain, so true about the hoofs and also I'm thinking with so many teeth problems, is how we feed.

I did read about this, and it isn't really that surprising. there were already good reasons to limit or eliminate alphalfa from horse diets, and people still feed it. I know of a couple horses that were necropsied after colic deaths and were found to have enteroliths that formed around seeds.
In fact, I thought of that when someone posted a question about feeding horses veggies from the garden.
I've also seen many people impactions that resulted from seed enteroliths, so I could tell everyone to core the seeds out of the apples or the watermelon they feed to horses, but people don't want to hear that, so I mostly leave it alone. Most people keep doing what is working until they have a problem with it themselves….I'm guessing the alphalfa sales won't go down all that much as the result of this news.
ADD…what Jeff says is true….research that makes it into the news is often poorly validated and unless you have access to the details on how the research was controlled and validated, there's room for skepticism.

Okay I asked my mom to buy some hay because i've ran out. She came back with Alfalfa hay and I know that it's definetly not the right one. My guinea pig isn't pregnant nor a growing child, shes young, just not couple months young. I've heard that Alfalfa hay can cause bladder stones, I dont want that to happen. My mom refused to exchange hay, so is it okay if i feed my guinea pig the Alfalfa hay?
Because if not, i may have to wait ti'll tomorrow to get some timothy hay, and it's already been a DAY since she's been without.

GRASS HAY: Unlimited high quality, grass hay (timothy and orchard grass are popular) should always be available to each and every guinea pig, no matter what age. Grass hay keeps their digestive system moving and helps prevent their teeth from over growing. It is usually placed in a wire rack off the floor for cleanliness.

Alfalfa hay can be given to young guinea pigs, pregnant, nursing or malnourished adults. But because of its high calcium content, alfalfa should be reserved as a treat for the average adult cavy. Excess calcium could contribute to the formation of bladder stones in older cavies. Remember that alfalfa is NOT a replacement for grass hay, but can be used to supplement the diet of some pigs. Grass hay should always be available to all cavies.

I feed timothy hay currently and my older pony has never liked it. It is very high quality and my other horse likes it. Her mouth is in very good condition and she simply does not like the timothy. She has been given a small amount of alfalfa before and she loved it. Now i am wanting to switch her over to alfalfa hay or alfalfa hay cubes. But since she is older I do not want her to have to eat the hard cubes. So can I soak alfalfa cubes to make them easy for her to eat? Or should I just buy regular alfalfa hay? She is about 14.2 hands and is always a little thin so how much alfalfa would you feed her?

I only feed alfalfa hay. I never soak my cubs either! I feed them often in the winter, we get windy a lot!! I have never had any problems as some people say. I would switch her slowly. You can soak, if you wish.

***edit***
I feed mine 2-3 (depends on size of horse or how under weight or nursing etc. etc. etc.) flakes per horse, & feed 3 times aday. It is better for a few small feedings rather than 1 or 2 big feedings.

My husband is wanting to deliver coastal hay to New Mexico and bring back some Alfalfa hay. anyone know of any sellers?

Go here: http://www.hayexchange.com/nm.htm

And then click on view view New Mexico listings…there are quite a few of them!

Nice smell, but, oh, those bales were heavy for a young kid. And the blazing sun was relentless, and the barest touch of a breeze felt so good. The sweat pored down on your face and into your eyes, and dust and crumbled hay stuck to your face as you stumbled while slowly carrying a bale toward a hay stack. Then using your back, knee and arms to lift and stack that bale in place. Remember how your pant legs would eventually be worn through by the sharp alfalfa stems so that those stems would then scratch on bare skin. Such golden memories. Yes indeed.
Do you remember feeling exhausted after stacking that one bale, then going back to get another?
Oh yeah, the smell of clover; great aroma.

Oh, Lordy, do I remember!

The back breaking strain of piling each one precisely onto first the wagon for the trip in from the fields, and then off the wagon to the conveyor belt that took the bales up into the loft of the dairy barn.

We were lucky in that our baler made the "small" bales of 75 lbs each–the more common was the 150 lb bales.

Doing that all day long, AFTER finishing the morning 5 a.m. milking, and then making sure you're back to do the 5 p.m. milking as well….long, long days.

Getting burnt as brown as a nut by the relentless sun, and being glad of it, because overcast means a chance of rain and rain can lay ruin to a whole field of hay if the bales get soaked before you can get them under cover.

I worked for two summers doing that and more at a school friend's family dairy farm. And after that first backbreaking day I can remember that old farmer coming up to me where I hung on to the edge of the flatbed in exhaustion (so that I wouldn't fall down). He looked me straight in the eye and said "You're a keeper." then clapped me on the shoulder before going on to his next chore. I was SO proud of myself that day!