I live between Auburn & Grass Valley, and have
a few black oaks & many blue oaks. The only problems I've had are 1) the
horses chewing on the trees, so I quickly wrapped the trees in chicken wire to
save them because if the bark is chewed off all the way around, the tree will
die. Actually, any damage to the bark can allow disease to enter & cause
death as well. 2) my laminitic POA gets inflamed if she eats any acorns, and
she's learned to scoot them into her grazing bucket, so I absolutely have to
keep her in an acorn free paddock.
One of my neighbors used to pay his kids
to fill buckets of acorns to feed to his horses. Another neighbor
inadvertently cleaned out a pump house where my horses were pastured and swept
about 2 gallons of acorns (stowed away by squirrels, no doubt) into the pasture.
My horses ate them all without any ill effects. However, another neighbor picks
up the acorns as they fall so the horses can't eat them due to concern of colic.
So, hope this helps!
