I also top dress with a good mineral mix. The garlic I feed is crushed garlic; this photo shows how much I give them, as well as how much nettles. I call it their gourmet dinner. Nothing like getting horse kisses with garlic breath!
Beamer and Chickory also get this concoction, but they only get about a cup of grain, just enough to mix everything up; they are plenty fat and are loving the hay from this area.
So to those of you who have stinging nettles in your barnyard; don't get rid of them; harvest them! Feed them to your chickens, your horses, your dogs ( the commercial feed I give my dogs has nettles in it) and even yourself!
9 comments:
the garlic sure made a difference last year with Cat& Andee! thanks for the info. One of the things I like about blogging is the sharing of our "trade secrets"
i always think home made remedies are a lot better than the garbage you can buy in stores these days, what with all the chemicals in them and who knows what else they put in stuff we eat these days, be you human or animal or not. sometimes its better to have something homemade than store bought.
Love your new Header Photo Excellent.
PS. You now need to change the color of the text but still excellent. Great action shot.
Very interesting. Never would have thought you could feed nettles to a horse, or dog!
"Nothing like getting horse kisses with garlic breath!"
LOL! Is there such a thing a horse mouthwash or mints? (just kidding). It's such a relief for me to know that you own these horses. I know that with you they are getting good care and plenty of TLC :0)
Don't the nettles tingle their mouths when they eat them? I don't think we have any stinging nettles around here, though. We do have poison ivy and oak way up in the higher elevations.
I wonder if my picky mare would eat garlic? Do you ever have any horses that balk at it? She turns her nose up at most everything but carrots and fresh apples (sliced, of course). She won't even eat peppermints or bagged apple treats. But she love Horse Candy (cookies). :)
What do you think of adding flax seed? I've been thinking of doing that for my mare, but not sure about the benefits.
~Lisa
Lisa, most horses love garlic. I've had them pout ad not want their grain when I ran out of garlic!
On my post there is a link about the nettles, here is what it says:
Stinging nettles have long been of considerable value as fodder for livestock, although when they are growing they won't be eaten by the animals because of their known stinging power. However, if harvested and left to wilt they lose their sting and are then relished by livestock, particularly cattle which respond to a nettle diet by giving more milk, and poultry which respond by laying more eggs. In Sweden and Russia the stinging nettle has even been cultivated as a fodder plant. Horses are known to prosper on nettles and in many countries horse dealers mix nettle seeds with horse feed in order to help their horses develop a sleek and lustrous coat.
Nettle stems are very fibrous and the strong fibre taken from them has often been compared to flax, hemp and linen. It has been used in the past for making string, ropes, sacks and sails, a good quality paper and fabric for use in clothing. In the first world war nettle cloth was used in Germany for making their military uniforms. There is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen called The Princess and the Eleven Swans, in which the princess weaves some coats out of nettle cloth.
sting of the nettle is but nothing compared to the pains that it heals.
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