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 I hate cooking and cleaning
Posts: 3314
  
Location: Jersey Girl | As a preventative for ulcers? Because I board, I was looking for a way to make things easier on the care taker. I would prefer to feed the actual hay but was hoping this might be a good alternative since it can be given with the daily feed.
Pros and cons?
Edited by fulltiltfilly 2014-12-26 7:19 AM
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Expert
Posts: 1280
Location: Texas | I am curious about them as well. I have seen people say that they can be substituted for hay, but my gut tells me that horses NEED long stemmed hay. I know that alfalfa pellets have high fiber, but... |
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Location: South Dakota | I feed about 2 lbs a day soaked...just to add to their grass hay...also I make a point to feed 1 cup or so... soaked,to my mare before I ride, as I have read that it helps with ulcery horses.
I have had a horse choke on them, resulting in a vet bill, so I stay faithful with soaking them. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 288
| I feed alfalfa pellets as my grain. Both my mares can be ulcery..so they get lots of hay (prob 50/50 mixture grass/alfalfa)...then their grain ration is alfalfa pellets with essential k gc, optiferm, a squirt of 747. I just bought some cocosoya to add for fat, although i prefer flax seed, but havent been able to get to the feed mill that sells it... They also get omeprazole in the summer when hauling heavy. Being on this diet, neither mare has shown signs of an ulcer flare up. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1357
Location: Mississippi | I feed the alfalfa-Timothy mix pellets soaked along with my other feed and a mixed grass hay. They need the long stemmed hay for roughage. The alfalfa pellets have really made a difference in my horses. I feed the Timothy mix because my gelding loses his mind on straight alfalfa. All the horses love the pellets. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 639
Location: God's country...aka TEXAS | The pellets are good, but don't count as long stem forage. For ulcers or ulcer prevention, I would feed soaked alfalfa CUBES. These count as long stem forage. Therefore they help the stomach by reducing acid by the horse producing more saliva while they eat them. |
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Meanest Teacher!!!
Posts: 8555
Location: sunny california | i buy the 5/32 alfalfa pellet. that is very small as in rabbit pellet small. I feed them dry but only 1 large scoup per feeding. the rest of the ration is timothy hay. works great |
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Extreme Veteran
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Location: Lost in the corn of Iowa. | I have fed pellets for over a year. I don't substitute my hay for the pellets though. I get a pretty good deal on large round bales, but they are water way grass hay. So I don't think it's too high in nutrition. I started feeding the alfalfa pellets to help with keeping weigh on in the winter. I have a mare that is ulcer prone and she get the pellets year round, about 2 c. daily, FORCO. I don't soak them, just give them as they are once a day. |
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 I'm Cooler Offline
Posts: 6387
Location: Pacific Northwest | Mine get alfalfa pellets but not as ulcer prevention/treatment...they all get beet pulp & alfalfa pellets. My ulcer-y mare has free choice hay in front of her at all times and SmartGut Ultra mixed with the beet pulp/alfalfa pellets. It seems to work for her, because back when she was on grain (Strategy Healthy Edge, and then Ultium) she would barely eat any of it, but she cleans up all her soaked beet pulp & alfalfa pellets and actually eats her hay. |
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I hate cooking and cleaning
Posts: 3314
Location: Jersey Girl | Thanks everyone for the replies! I am not wanting to replace long stem hay with. Sounds like it won't be any easier then reg alfalfa hay because of needing to soak it.
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12842
| I feed about 1 cup of pellets a day in the evening feed. (not soaked) Not a good thing to over feed. Take a cup and soak in water. They swell like crazy. Horses stomachs are not elastic. Alfalfa contains calcium. That is what helps with stomach ulcers--I do not feed it as a preventative for ulcers, just as part of their supplement. |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | Hmm never heard of them being used for ulcer prone horses! I feed one of my horses alfalfa pellets instead of grain. He gets half a scoop once a day. They're mainly just a vehicle for his supplements. I don't soak them but he's a VERY slow careful eater and has to be seperated from his pen mate while being fed so I'm there the whole time anyway. He still gets a big pile of hay morning and evening. I wouldn't completely eliminate real hay from any horse's diet.
Edited by cavyrunsbarrels 2014-12-26 5:51 PM
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