Grass has stress
Pay close attention this period with horses and the ponies on the pasture, as the grass is stressed!
Is the grass very short? Is the land unfertilized? Has it been dry for an extended period of time? Did it freeze?
These are all situations that cause the grass to stress. When the grass is stressed it stores a lot of sugars. Normally, these sugars are used for grass growth, but that is not the case now.
Fortunately, rain is on the way! But this does not immediately eliminate the danger….
For what does the grass do now that it is cloudy but there is enough water for growth?
It converts the stored fructan and starch back to fructose and glucose, again sugars!
This is a fairly slow process and it takes a while for the grass to actually convert these sugars to growth. As a result, during the first days of cloudy weather with rain after a long dry period, grass contains a lot of sugars!
That takes a few days, once the grass really starts to grow visibly those sugars disappear again, but so those first days are very dangerous. Especially for animals that are extra sensitive to laminitis.
For questions you can always contact us