Alfalfa hay offers several benefits for horses, including high protein and mineral content, which supports growth and lactation. It is also valued for its tolerance of drought, heat, and cold and for the remarkable productivity and quality of its herbage. However, moldy or dusty alfalfa should be avoided due to the risk of forage poisoning and respiratory issues.
What Makes Alfalfa Hay a Good Choice for Horses?
What are the nutritional benefits of alfalfa hay for horses?
Alfalfa hay is very nutritious and palatable to livestock, containing about 16 percent proteins and 8 percent mineral constituents. It is also rich in vitamins A, E, D, and K. High-quality legume hays, such as early bloom alfalfa, are preferred for horses, especially those that are growing or lactating.
How does alfalfa hay compare to grass hay for horses?
Early horsemen preferred grass hays, such as timothy, prairie grass, orchard grass, and bluegrass, especially for racehorses, because they were usually free from mold and dust and tended to slow down the rate of passage through the intestinal tract. These hays are low in digestible energy and protein, however, and must be adequately supplemented.
What are the benefits of alfalfa as a cover crop?
When grown as a cover crop or as part of a crop rotation, alfalfa improves the soil nutrient levels and lessens the need for synthetic fertilizers. The primary root of alfalfa can attain great depths, an adaptation for drought tolerance. These long taproots also improve soil quality by decreasing soil compaction.
How does alfalfa hay support horses’ digestive health?
Good quality grass-legume pastures, in addition to iodized or trace-mineralized salt, will supply adequate nutrients to maintain an adult horse at light work or mares during pregnancy.
What factors affect the quality of alfalfa hay?
Like all crops, alfalfa is beset by the hazards of climate, diseases, and insects. Among the more serious of these are winterkill, bacterial wilt disease, alfalfa weevil, lugus bugs, grasshoppers, spotted aphids, and leafhoppers. In humid areas and in irrigated areas, alfalfa stands of three or more years of age have often become badly thinned by infestations of the soil-borne bacterial wilt organism Phytomonas insidiosum.
Practical Considerations for Feeding Alfalfa Hay
How much alfalfa hay should I feed my horse?
Weanling foals require three pounds of feed per hundred pounds of live weight per day; as they approach maturity, this requirement drops to one pound of feed per hundred pounds of live weight daily. Horses normally reach mature weight at less than four years of age and 80 percent of their mature weight at less than two years of age.
What are the potential risks of feeding alfalfa hay to horses?
Moldy or dusty feeds should be avoided because horses are extremely susceptible to forage poisoning and respiratory complications. Silages of all sorts should be avoided since horses and mules are extremely susceptible to botulism and digestive upsets.
How can I ensure the alfalfa hay I feed my horse is of good quality?
The green material should be chopped fine enough to assure good packing and the exclusion of air from the mass of chopped material. A high moisture content in the ensiled material facilitates compaction and the exclusion of air.
Alfalfa hay can be a beneficial component of a horse’s diet due to its rich nutrient content. However, it is important to consider the horse’s specific needs, the quality of the hay, and potential health risks.
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