Get Grass Smart – Teff Hay Pointers!

We are often asked about Teff Hay - a relatively new option in NZ whereas it has been available to horse owners in Australia, South Africa and North America for many years. It is a great option!

Here are some relevant points for those feeding Teff Hay. The same information applies to those people whose horses are grazing kikuyu grass.

• Teff is a warm season grass like kikuyu so is generally lower in NSC’s than cool season grasses. WSC levels can still vary depending on the stage of growth at which it was harvested and the time of day when it was cut.

• Being a warm season grass Teff stores sugars as starch rather than fructan.

• Teff, being a subtropical/warm season/C4 type grass like kikuyu does contain oxalates which will bind to calcium, to form calcium oxalate. This renders the calcium unavailable for use by the horse. To a lesser extent oxalates will also bind to magnesium and other minerals.

Teff is relatively low in oxalates (kikuyu is slightly higher) than other C4 grasses. Check your multi-minerals are appropriate for the purpose. Both Premium, PremiumMVA & Supreme MVA are formulated to cover this aspect.

Whether your horse(s) require additional Calcium is determined by:

• The cumulative effect of the entire diet: Teff hay alone might not cause your horse problems but if you are also feeding other items that are LOW Calcium such as any of the protein meals (flaxseed/sunflower/lupins/hemp/soy/copra) or any of the grains (barley/oats/rice-bran/wheat bran) then your horse will develop issues relating to calcium deficiency.

• Age and reproductive status. Growing horses are building new tissues/connective tissue/ skeleton, pregnant & lactating mares are ‘eating for two’ and have increased requirement while elderly horses need to be fed to prevent loss of tissue/skeleton.

Signs of chronic calcium deficiency are many and varied. They include becoming ‘stiff’, short stepping, exhibiting off and on ‘shifting’ lameness, have a tendency to be sore all over and may develop bony lumps and arthritic changes.

When further complicated by high potassium which also affects calcium metabolism, from the consumption of cool season grasses you will also observe behavioural changes, muzzle twitching, nose rubbing, irritability and neuromuscular issues can escalate to tight muscles, hollow posture and cramps, tying up.

Low calcium items in the diet (listed above) are easily balanced by the addition of a properly formulated calcium supplement consisting of calcium with the co-factors it needs to make sure it is absorbed and utilised by the horse.

In our XtraCal (XtraCal.au in Aust) we incorporate highly absorbable calcium for the horse along with some inorganic calcium to mop up the oxalates and take them out.

 ‘Remodelling’ of the facial bones show as hard lumps can develop due to chronic calcium deficiency and are not uncommon.(also note the swelling around the bridge of the nose)

After 3 months on XtraCal