Seasonal Tips and Topics

With Christmas rains and warm temperatures in south-east Queensland bringing tropical pastures into rapid growth, horse owners need to check that animals calcium to phosphorous levels are correct to avoid big-head. When high-oxalate pastures such as kikuyu, setaria, green panic, pangola and signal grass are the major source of feed for horses, the oxalate crystals can ‘tie up’ calcium otherwise available to the horse, causing unbalanced diets. Note that native grasses, temperate grasses (like ryegrass) and some introduced tropical grasses including rhodes grass, paspalum, couch and creeping bluegrass are not hazardous.

To avoid the risk of Big Head, avoid grazing horses on high-oxalate pastures for long periods (more than one month) and plant low-oxalate grasses mixed with legumes (such as clover). Ensure that supplementary grain and pellet feeds contain sufficient calcium and phosphosrous to balance the diet. It may be necessary to further supplement with a 2:1 mixture of dicalcium phosphate (DCP) and limestone.

NEW PRODUCTS

Look out for our newly launched Alpaca Pellets!! These provide a great quality feed specifically formulated and balanced for healthy and productive alpacas.

Coming soon!!! Our new range of horse feeds, including muesli-style mixed grains.

Recent Media Coverage of T&T Grains

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