# Horse eating mowed grass.



## Gleek (Mar 7, 2012)

Something i never got a straight answer from was.. can horses eat grass that's been mowed. Like after a day or whatever can a horse eat shortend grass?


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

The short answer is an emphatic *NO*

As with anything to do with horses there are always exceptions!

Lawn mowings heat very quickly and if the hot, fermenting grass is fed to a horse then you are asking for colic problems. If the mowings are fed very fresh so they have had no chance to heat then it is fine providing that they are spread so they do not heat.

If a field is mown to cut back the rank grass then it is fine for a horse to stay in that field, the grass is sour and if they were not eating it when it was standing they will not eat it when cut. It is also not compacted into a box as with lawn mowings so does not heat in the same way.


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## Faceman (Nov 29, 2007)

Foxhunter said:


> The short answer is an emphatic *NO*
> 
> As with anything to do with horses there are always exceptions!
> 
> ...


I'm not sure she is referring to clippings but rather to the live grass that has just been freshly mowed.

Nonetheless, I would disagree with you on the clippings. I have fed clippings for 30 years with no issues. It does take common sense though. I let them dry about half way before raking, and don't store them - give them directly to the horses. And I give a reasonable amount as a treat - a couple of bucketfuls per horse. I also am careful the clipping are grass clippings and not weeds or leaves. I also only do it when I have a mower that absolutely does not leak any fluids as benzine is poisonous.

After all, what is the grass in a horse's mouth after it rips it off the plant?...clippings...


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## Tianimalz (Jan 6, 2009)

I feed grass clippings all through summer- we have enough land that it actually saves me from buying anymore than one bale of hay for a few good seasons. Agreed with Faceman, you gotta use common sense, either feed it FRESH, or set it out in thin layers on a tarp to dry in the sun; that method though you have to rake through it to make sure it bakes evenly and doesn't ferment. 

Feeding a horse on a lawn thats just been mowed? Well I think that's personal preference... I don't do it, because my mare would rip up all the roots since the grass is already short. And since my yard/pastures are what sustain us 4-6 months of the year, then of course I don't want to get all those roots uplifted  I mow what Indie doesn't eat, and keep her off the grass for a week or two, depending on how long it takes for the grass to grow back.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

Faceman said:


> I also only do it when I have a mower that absolutely does not leak any fluids as benzine is poisonous.


From what I know that's the biggest concern feeding clippings. I never do, BTW, with those that mowed. However when my mom cut the very tall grass around the trees and bushes (those non-poisoned to horses), I feed those "clippings".


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

Faceman said:


> I'm not sure she is referring to clippings but rather to the live grass that has just been freshly mowed.
> 
> Nonetheless, I would disagree with you on the clippings. I have fed clippings for 30 years with no issues. It does take common sense though. I let them dry about half way before raking, and don't store them - give them directly to the horses. And I give a reasonable amount as a treat - a couple of bucketfuls per horse. I also am careful the clipping are grass clippings and not weeds or leaves. I also only do it when I have a mower that absolutely does not leak any fluids as benzine is poisonous.
> 
> After all, what is the grass in a horse's mouth after it rips it off the plant?...clippings...


I did say that if lawn mowings were fed very fresh and not allowed to heat then they were OK to feed.


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## hoopla (Jan 29, 2012)

Foxhunter said:


> The short answer is an emphatic *NO*
> 
> As with anything to do with horses there are always exceptions!
> 
> ...


In absolute agreement with every word said here.


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

Do a search. I think we exhausted this subject last year, here.


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## Gleek (Mar 7, 2012)

yeah i ment the grass thats been mowed. I also ment can horses simply eat grass that gets mowed. Not the clippings.


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## kiwi79 (Nov 11, 2011)

I think there can also be an issue if you are feeding them clippings from a lawn as opposed to clippings from the paddock? If the grass is lawn seed then that can cause stomach upsets but I am not an expert


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## kiwi79 (Nov 11, 2011)

My bad, just read the previous post about not feeding them the actual clippings


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## Derry girl (Nov 20, 2011)

I was actually thinking about this the other day, The man who owns the land my horses are grazing on has a ride on mower (am not sure if that makes a difference) and after doing his entire garden(as far as an away he doesnt put any chemicals etc on the grass), about an arce, he dumped the whole lot over the hedge, by the time I noticed they nearly had the whole lot ate, it was a fairly cold day but very dry weather so there was no worry about it heating up. The horses are fine, they really seemed to enjoy it as the grass in there field is low atm (theyv a bale out), but am not sure if Id want him doing this all summer, because I was told that in some cases it can cause colic. This man is in his 80's can be a bit hard to talk to at times, he hasnt lost his marbles, you'd think he was a man of 60, great for his age. but hes just got his way of doing stuff and Id be afarid of asking him not to dump the cuttings in the field incase he took the hump... any sugestions on how I could deal with this?


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## wetrain17 (May 25, 2011)

How do you think hay is made?


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## MHFoundation Quarters (Feb 23, 2011)

wetrain17 said:


> How do you think hay is made?


True enough but I don't put the chemicals on my hay fields that I put on my lawn. That's what stops me from feeding lawn clippings.


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## wetrain17 (May 25, 2011)

Which I would agree with. But it makes you wonder what suppliers put on their hay fields.


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## MHFoundation Quarters (Feb 23, 2011)

wetrain17 said:


> Which I would agree with. But it makes you wonder what suppliers put on their hay fields.


It definitely does, can be downright scary what goes into the food supply, human or animal.


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## wetrain17 (May 25, 2011)

It is. I can't wait to have my own garden again. People wonder why they get sick or get cancer. All they have to do is look at what they have been eating.


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## Lockwood (Nov 8, 2011)

I think it depends on a number of variable, as other have stated.

Having said that, my mom had an ailing horse who could not go out to graze for over a year and this is what she did:

Her farm had a long (Long!) blacktop driveway. She mowed the _untreated _grass along the driveway so the mower spit it onto the blacktop. When done mowing she went back and spread it very thinly so it dried in the sun like hay, which was pretty quick. Because the grass was mowed regularly there weren't big globs of it.

Once it was all nice and dry, she loosely bagged it and stored it open for later. Because of the length of the driveway and the ease of doing it her way, she was able to store enough clippings to give the horse three or four 5 gallon buckets full each day, spread throughout the day and it lasted for months!

Careful attention was given to the fact that it was perfectly dry before bagging and in the event she grabbed a bag of bad clippings from the stash at a later time, it went right into the compost pile.
I have done similar for my non-horse animals here as well. BUT, one needs to use caution and common sense.

As for fresh cut... my grass is not treated in anyway and is the same as my pasture grass. When I use the push mower I attach the bagger and have to stop quite often to empty it. I do toss it over the fence, but I really _Toss_ it in all diferent directions and spread it out and I have enough animals that is more like a small treat, not a big meal. I do not let it sit around because it will start to heat up very quickly. What the animals don't clean up, the chickens will.

I am lucky in that I buy my hay from one person and he doesn't use anything in his hay fields that I don't know about. He will even call me to ask if "such and such" fertilizer is ok. 
Love my hay guy!!


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## Faceman (Nov 29, 2007)

MHFoundation Quarters said:


> It definitely does, can be downright scary what goes into the food supply, human or animal.


If it hasn't already been done over here, someone should start a thread some time about what has been found in hay bales...:shock:


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