Many animals, such as cows, goats, sheep, rabbits, guinea pigs and geese, will enjoy eating the freshly cut grass clippings as well. If you're doing this, ensure the clippings are actually fresh and haven't been bagged up for a long time.
Sheep: Yes, if Fresh-Mowed or Fully Fermented
Similar to cattle, either feed fresh clippings or allow them to complete the fermentation process before offering small amounts to your sheep.
Some common garden plants, such as azaleas, chrysanthemums, acorns, buttercups, daffodils, holly and elderberry are poisonous for sheep to eat. Therefore, ensure they do not have access to garden areas, and when gardening ensure you don't throw garden waste into your paddocks, and that your paddocks are well fenced.
I feed freshly cut grass to my goats all the time when available. HOWEVER - not cut with a lawnmower, but the long stuff cut with the blade/brush cutter attachment on the strimmer. It stays long, contains quite a few thistles and other weeds and the goats go crazy for it.
NO! Feeding horses on lawn mower clippings can be very dangerous for several reasons. When lawn mower clippings are fresh they are fermenting (this is why they are warm or even hot when you put your hand inside a fresh pile of clippings).
A good guideline is to wait until there is 5-6" of growth before grazing.
A good rule of thumb is that a field or pasture should be allowed to rest until the grass is about 4 – 6 inches high. If you have several fields that you can rotate this shouldn't be an issue, if you don't then you may have to adjust this accordingly.
I live on a farm and can say with certainty that cattle and sheep will absolutely eat grass clippings. All of our grass clippings from the around the house go to the animals, along with a significant amount of other garden waste.
Lawn clippings usually do not need to be bagged. Recycling lawn clippings can reduce your fertilizer needs and improve your soil. Recycling clippings to the lawn does not contribute to thatch. If you must remove clippings, they can be composted or used as mulch.
Grass clippings should not be fed to donkeys. Once fresh grass is cut, it begins fermenting quickly. Because they don't have to chew the clippings due to their smaller size, clippings are swallowed without mixing with their saliva that typically aids in an equine digestive process.
Bloat is typically caused by two culprits in mature sheep: excess grain or overeating fresh, lush grass in the spring. When sheep eat too much grain too fast or consume the lush legumes like clover or alfalfa, the gases build up in the rumen and cannot escape fast enough, causing bloat.
This includes sheep away at wintering. The most common plants to cause poisoning in sheep are Rhododendron and Pieris which both contain a toxic agent, grayanatoxin. Many home owners purchase the shrubs for their attractive looks, and do not realise how toxic they are.
Pasture is best (and cheapest)
But not all pasture is the same! Many hobby farms have poor quality pasture, for a variety of reasons. Sheep will generally do well on these poorer pastures if, and only if, you don't overstock (see below).
Sheep will eat 2–3% of their bodyweight each day, although younger sheep or ewes with lambs can eat up to 4%.
Sheep are grazing animals. They eat grasses and other low-growing vegetation and ruminate (chew the cud). They spend most of the day alternating between periods of grazing and resting/ruminating.
Kentucky bluegrass is commonly used in many sheep pastures. This grass is more traffic tolerant than most grasses. It is very high in forage quality and very palatable. It is more drought and flood tolerant than many grass species.
You can add some organic matter and plant materials to your grass clippings, such as dry leaves, coffee grounds, or compost. This will provide a source of food for decomposers, which will help them to break down the grass more quickly.
Leaving your grass clippings on the lawn provides a great natural fertiliser for your lawn. It does not create thatch like some people believe. If you cut your grass weekly and remove the clippings from the lawn every time, you may actually be harming your lawn as you will be creating a nitrogen deficient.
Leaving them behind when you mow, also known as grasscycling, can help build a healthy lawn. Contrary to popular belief, clippings do not lead to thatch buildup, which damages the grass. Instead, they can act as a natural fertilizer, reducing the need for additional nitrogen fertilizer.
Small handfuls of grass no longer than a couple of inches are safe and healthy enough for your hens, however, anything longer than that is likely to cause problems, making them ill and in extreme cases causing death.
Wild animals like tiger, wolf, lion and leopard do not eat plants.
Yes! You can add dry grass clippings and deciduous leaves to your worm farm, as long as you keep food scraps and dry waste balanced. Avoid adding fresh lawn clippings, evergreen or native leaves, and sticks or woody stems.
Remember resting the pasture is key to vigorous forage regrowth. Dragging paddocks two to three times a year helps break up manure piles and kill parasites. Often, horses pick an area to defecate in and not graze. Dividing the pasture into smaller paddocks can help solve this problem.
Lawn clippings, like grains, are high in sugars and carbohydrates and their fermentation in the hindgut creates an acidic environment. The acidic environment causes microbes to die and release endotoxins into the bloodstream which in turn can trigger laminitis.
Now the grass is topped, we can see what weeds are underneath to establish what weedkiller we need to use. Horses must not be allowed to graze the pasture until any cut grass has completely dried out or has been removed. We have a number of selective weedkillers which can help you out.