About 6 weeks ago Sue (UK) was in the Cappadocia region of Turkey. She managed to get a sample of the forage the 'Yilki' horses of Cappadocia were living on.
Many roam freely and were generally in great condition. Some of these horses are used as mounts for very inexperienced tourists to ride. Bearing in mind, at the same time there are even more equally inexperienced tourists zooming around on quad bikes with little regard for those on horse-back.
Sue was very impressed how 'good' these horses were, they certainly weren't 'nose to tail' robots, the horses were willing and energetic but at the same time felt very safe in what were sometimes alarming situations!
The comment was made that the ride would not have been so enjoyable had the horses been grazing green, vegetative grass growing on organic soils as we have in NZ, UK and many regions of Australia!
The forage analysis of some of the 'sedgy' grass in the photos:
Dry Matter 78.5% - younger green grass is lucky to be 25%
Crude Protein 12.6% - ideal
NDF 586g/kg - on the high side at 58.6%
ADF 343g/kg - good at 34.3%
Sugars 10.6%
Potassium 0.75% (this is nice and low because of lack of rain)
Sodium 0.10% low as in our grasses
Chloride 1.10% - this is high compared to average of our grasses
DCAD - negative, no metabolic effort required to maintain internal electrical equilibrium. Green grass is inevitably 200, often 300-600
Copper - 2.5mg/kg : Zinc - 19.3 mg/kg
Cobalt - 0.40mg/kg - these are good levels compared to NZ forage samples
Overall we could see how this grass would be great for horses - and easy on their metabolism compared to the grass growing in our higher rainfall climates!
The Cappadocia region is known as the 'Land of the Volcanoes'
It is located in the central Anatolian highlands of Turkey. It is a semi-arid plateau with an average height of over 1000 m and is marked by its steppe-like vegetation, with some quite narrow valleys where there were a few shrubs and juniper trees.
The climate consists of cold, damp winters and hot, dry summers. The landscape is characterised by strange volcanic rock formations.
The region has always been ideal for sheep and horse breeding, these being the main sources of revenue for the Cappadocian people over the centuries.
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