Yikes! Sorry for the screw-up. Hadn't had the caffeine yet this am!
Jen (who needs a proofreader before she sends out info) and
Sunman (who doesn't care, just gimme alfalfa)
----------
From: Jennifer Heim
Sent: Monday, December 02, 1996 10:45 AM
To: ridecamp; Wrecksduke
Subject: RE: Hay - Off Feed
You're absolutely right, first cut alfalfa is too rich. First cut
alfalfa is over 25% protein - far too much for any horse, regardless of
circumstances (in foal, working, racing, lactating, etc). This can shut
kidneys down, create enormous stocking up problems and cause sweat so
thick it looks like frosting. First cut alfalfa is actually cattle feed.
A way you can check for first cutting is to break a thick stem of
alfalfa. If it is hollow, it is first cut and buy something else. If
the stem is solid, it is of a later cutting. I try to find third or
fourth cutting, but in my neck of the woods (near San Francisco), I have
to find hay grown in Nevada or Oregon because some locally-grown alfalfa
sold this time of year is first cutting. My horse, too, is a finicky
"alfalfa-only, dammit" eater, so I try to find the third cuttings to keep
his weight up. I have to slide oat hay in there every now and then
during the winter when I can't find the alfalfa I like.
Jen & the Sunman (the alfalfa and rice bran inhaling machine)
----------
From: Wrecksduke[SMTP:Wrecksduke@aol.com]
In the winter, my mare seems to go off her hay (Alfalfa. She doesn't
like to
eat much oat/barley.) Could this be because the hay we get now is the
"first
cuttings" of this past season? Maybe she knows its too rich.