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Discussion on Manure eating
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Member:
Meggles
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Posted on Sunday, Sep 18, 2005 - 3:57 pm:
Dr O, My mare is the one on regumate due to epileptic seizures related to her seasons....
I've recently moved her to a new home where I have more opportunity to ride and less lush grass in order to get her weight down. She is grazed with a 9 year old gelding and they get along very well.
My question is two fold. I saw her field companion eating my mare's fresh DrOppings today. He got very excited before doing this, smelling them and circling around them for a while, then ate them (the whole pile!), then he stretched out over them as if to urinate on the area where they had been and then started to circle and DrOp as if he wanted to roll there. My mare stood watching him and chased him off in the end as I think she probably thought his behaviour was peculiar. Both horses are fed around 2.5% of their bodyweight of good quality stemmy hay and chop by way of roughage each day to ensure their fibre intake is adequate as their grazing is intentionally quite sparse. They have access to fresh water, a mineral lick and their feed is supplemented with an all round vitamin supplement. Is there anything else we should be doing for them feed wise?
Second question, is it safe for this horse to be grazed with my mare given the fact that she is on regumate, particularly if he is eating her DrOppings. I've never considered this before and haven't been warned of any consequences of shared grazing by my vet. Can the hormones be passed into the ground via urine for example. Any advise on this would be appreciated.
Thanks
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Monday, Sep 19, 2005 - 8:35 am:
What do you estimate the protein of the hay and chop and what is in the supplement?
I don't think this represents a risk to the gelding though off the top of my head I am uncertain of the amount excreted. I would be worried about mares intended for breeding however.
DrO
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