Grass Clippings a No-No for Horses

Hay or an alfalfa hay-mix is great feed for horses, but one might be tempted to ask if there are any alternatives. And while there may be other options for feeding horses, one of those is certainly not grass clippings. Even if one doesn’t intend for grass clippings to constitute a horse’s entire diet, grass clippings as a once-in-a-while snack still carry significant adverse health effects.

First of all, the contents of grass clippings can be very dangerous for horses. Any chemicals that have been used to treat the grass—herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers and the like—are unhealthy. What’s particularly troublesome about these chemicals is that they persist in grass for a while. Perhaps their desired effects have worn off, but the residue is still quite dangerous for a horse if it consumes grass clippings that were treated with these chemicals.

Also, various types of weeds that can find themselves mixed in with grass clippings can pose risks to horses than consume them, as well. Certain weeds can be poisonous, and it is impossible to filter these out from a pile of grass clippings.

In addition, grass clippings have high moisture contents. This can be a catalyst for the growth of mold and plenty of bacteria may be waiting sinisterly in the pile of clippings. Consumption of mold or bacteria can be harmful—if not altogether deadly—for a horse.

Even if by some stroke of luck these grass clippings were free of mold, bacteria or toxic weeds, there are still problems associated with feeding horses grass clippings that should deter anyone from considering serving these to their livestock. Although grass clippings may appear clumped together, when they are swallowed, they can get clogged up, which can lead to choking or some of the clippings finding their way into parts of the horse other than the stomach—which can lead to several maladies. Also, it is possible for horses to eat an inordinate amount of grass clippings at once, which is very tough on the animal’s stomach. In fact, overeating grass clippings can lead to severe intestinal problems. The best case scenario if this happens is a horse who is pestered by stomach problems for a few hours; the worst case scenario are bills piling high in order to treat these problems.

Grass clippings may appear to be an intuitive alternative to hay for horses that can serve as a light snack. But one should not fall into this trap—as grass clippings carry with them a great deal of negative health effects, not the least of which are bacterial infection and choking.