DAN: "Can you explain why alfalfa is not
good to feed exclusively?
More specifically, is feeding a hard keeping
senior full alfalfa forage during winter OK?"
DR LYDIA GRAY: So alfalfa--
DAN: What a great topic.
DR LYDIA GRAY: It is.
It is, because I get asked it a lot.
And like the carrot question earlier,
it's a bit controversial in that,
depending on where you live and what kind of horses you have,
there are people who love alfalfa,
and there are people who hate it.
I'm not sure I know anybody who's in between.
Sort of like, meh.
People feel very strongly about this.
If you're in California, they have a lot of it
because it grows in more dry conditions.
So places in our country that are wetter
are not going to have as much of it.
DAN: Mm-hmm.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So that said, I think the reason she is
concerned or has heard warnings about it is because the vet
school in California, UC Davis, issued a report that said
almost 100% of the horses they saw for a certain colic
surgical condition-- enteroliths,
which is stones in the intestinal tract--
those horses, when they did a survey of why maybe you
have this, the horses who were on at least a 50% alfalfa diet
had the stones.
So there is a link.
There is a link between feeding of at least half your diet,
half your forage in alfalfa, and the development of enteroliths.
Now, we know alfalfa is high in calcium,
but it actually seems to be the magnesium in the alfalfa
that it is linked to stones.
DAN: I would have assumed it was the calcium.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Right, yeah.
But they're like struvite crystals in cats.
So it's magnesium.
But alfalfa-- so the good side.
That's the bad side.
The good side is it's high in calcium, it's high in protein,
and it's high in calories.
What is surprising to a lot of people
is that it's not high in the non-structural
carbohydrates-- the NSCs, the sugars and starches.
It's actually usually lower than grass hay.
So people who are not feeding alfalfa
because they're worried about sugars and starches,
they've got it a little bit backwards.
DAN: That's commonly the theory there.
A lot of people say that it's because of the sugars that
were in alfalfa usually.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah, I know.
It is high in calories, though.
So she wants to feed it to her senior horse, who I suspect
is maybe thin or underweight.
Well, she said a hard keeper I think.
DAN: Especially during the winter.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah, and that makes perfect sense.
I mean, when I had an off the track
thoroughbred who was a hard keeper.
I fed him alfalfa, a little bit, like one flake of alfalfa
and maybe four flakes of the grass hay.
So I mixed it.
It wouldn't have to be just long-stemmed forage.
You could also feed alfalfa hay cubes or alfalfa hay pellets.
Easier to soak, and they're more condensed,
so they fit in a feed tub better.
Hay can be messy and bigger.
DAN: Yeah.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So good for the underweight horse, and good for
horses that need to be on a higher plane of nutrition.
So your late-term pregnant mare, your lactating mare,
young and growing horses, race horses,
horses that are expending a lot of energy working.
And we also found, there were some studies years ago
that said horses prone to gastric ulcers
do better when they're given alfalfa hay.
DAN: Is that kind of--
DR LYDIA GRAY: Go ahead.
DAN: I was going to say, because of the higher
calcium that would be in it?
DR LYDIA GRAY: Well, they think, but they're not sure.
They think that maybe the calcium buffers the stomach
from the acid that causes the ulcers.
But again, it's not a straight diet of alfalfa hay,
it's adding to their grass basis.
Add a flake here, a flake there.
Maybe they get grass hay ad-lib, all the time,
and then they get a flake of alfalfa at meals,
and a flake at morning and night.
So not all the time.
DAN: Something you brought up, that I thought
was also good point, was talking about the soaking
of alfalfa cubes, which could also potentially
be a good option for her if she's feeding it
to her senior horse in the winter, just
another option of making sure to get moisture and water
into the system as well.
So that would be awesome.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah And I don't know
if this is part of her issue, but alfalfa is really tasty.
We call it ice cream at my barn.
DAN: [LAUGHS]
DR LYDIA GRAY: We always have some,
and we use it when horses--
they get it as a treat if they need a distraction.
So right now they're not allowed on the grass pasture full time.
We're building their tolerance up.
And so, when they're brought in and they're a little bit
cranky, because they have to be on the dry lot,
then we give them some alfalfa and suddenly the sun
is shining again.
It's all better.
DAN: [LAUGHS]
DR LYDIA GRAY: The way I would not
use it is, the horse is overweight,
because it is very nutrient-dense, very
high in calories.
Since it's got so much calcium, its ratio
of calcium to phosphorus is way above what
it's supposed to be--
it's supposed to be 1.2 through 2 to 1.
And this can be 4 to 1.
I've seen some as high as 6 to 8 to one.
DAN: Wow.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So in those cases where
it would not be beneficial for there to be too much calcium.
So you don't want to even give the pregnant or lactating
broodmare or the young horse full alfalfa,
because it's just it's too much calcium and not enough
phosphorus, and the balance isn't there.
But also, times where if excess protein is a problem.
So if you feed a horse too much protein,
they're eating more than they need, they just pee it out.
So especially in the winter, if the horse doesn't need it,
they're going to be drinking more and peeing more
and stinking up the barn with the ammonia in the stall,
right?
DAN: Nobody wants that.
[LAUGHS]
DR LYDIA GRAY: Nobody wants that.
But on the other hand, it's good for the horses it need a better
top line because there's more protein in it, specifically,
the amino acid lysine, which we know is the first limiting.
DAN: Yes.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So you want to think carefully about alfalfa
and use it judiciously.
It's not a terrible food, and it's not a perfect food.
It has it's places.
DAN: Well, that's what I was going to say,
it sounds like used a little bit strategically with the horse
that you're currently working.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Exactly.
DAN: It's not just like a blanket
thing where everyone in the barn gets this much alfalfa.
It might have to be adjusted based on your horse's
personal needs, and work condition,
and things of that nature.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Exactly, very well put.
DAN: Thank you.
[LAUGHS] Well, hopefully that helps
you guys out and hopefully helps your senior out.