Feeding Straight Alfalfa

[desertmyst]

HI COTH,
I had a friend mention to me that she is feeding her horses straight alfalfa and nothing else based on her vet telling her it would cure ulcers if her horses had them.
Truthfully - I’ve been thinking about lowering my horses grain consumption (having two cribbers and high energy horses) and adding more alfalfa to their diets.
I know in CA they do have all alfalfa diets, I’m in texas though so the costs are much higher to do that here.

1. Would an all alfalfa diet be beneficial for ulcers?
2. Would they need an additional supplement?
3. Would pellets or the actual hay be better?

Right now none of them are in work. age varies from 4-19 (and one really old pony I board who is 33).

Just a thought and I figured I would ask.

thanks!

[tazycat]

I feed straight alfalfa free feed all winter long. Don’t think it kept horses from having ulcers or healed active ulcers. Not feeding alfalfa now horses are on pasture.

Even with alfalfa I still feed some senior feed.

[Halt_Near_X]

Most of the horses at the boarding barn where I grew up were on a hay-only diet, and it was a mix of alfalfa cubes (the most cost-effective way to ship in the alfalfa in that case) and timothy hay. If the horses are getting all the calories and nutrients they need from the hay, there’s no reason to add a supplement. But you need to have the hay tested to know for sure, which is why you see many people adding a supplement in by default–that’s the easiest (but not necessarily cheapest) way to cover all your bases.

There have been studies that show alfalfa helps with ulcers, like the one described here. In that study, they were fed some sort of grain in addition to the alfalfa, so I don’t think it’s necessary to feed only alfalfa in order to get the benefits of it.

I personally go for longer-stem products over cubes. Right now it’s chopped alfalfa, because that is the easiest to manage at my boarding barn.

Be aware that there are risks to alfalfa. The risk of enteroliths may be higher, and blister beetles in alfalfa can be deadly.

[candyappy]

I grew up in CA and alfalfa was the hay that was fed at the barn I boarded at for 13 years. It was fed to every horse no matter the age or breed. We did 2x a day feeding and the majority of the horses did well on it alone. We had no grass or pasture. Horses got grain only if the owner choose to feed it themselves. Ulcers were unheard of.

No issues with founder or obesity as it was not free choice, and I would not recommend it be fed free choice unless you have hard keepers or use an alfalfa mix and monitor closely.

If feeding to prevent ulcers, I would suggest you look at why your horse might develop ulcers in the first place.

[EmilyM]

alfalfa has a lot of calcium and causing a buffering effect to the stomach. so my ulcer prone horse is given that. I’m not sure it can heal ulcers that have already formed, but I have been advised by multiple vets that it helps reduce the stomach acid.

[enjoytheride]

@tazycat

I feed straight alfalfa free feed all winter long. Don’t think it kept horses from having ulcers or healed active ulcers. Not feeding alfalfa now horses are on pasture.

Even with alfalfa I still feed some senior feed.

Didn’t you have quite a bit of soundness problems, weight issues, and colic related to your feed and general care program?

[enjoytheride]

Locally we get alfalfa mix, The halter horse people feed straight alfalfa because the extra cost is worth the pounds added to the horse. When a former boarding barn ran out of mix and fed all the normal horses straight alfalfa my gelding became unrideable and basically unmanageable until he was back on his regular mix.