What is the best hay for horses?
Timothy hay is one of the most popular hays fed to horses. It can be quite expensive, depending on whether it has to be shipped long distances. Timothy must be harvested in the pre- or early-bloom stage to ensure a high nutrient content.
What are the 4 categories of hay?
We carry a variety of high quality alfalfa, grain hay and grasses for all of your pet and livestock feeding needs.
- Alfalfa Hay. Alfalfa Hay is a high-fiber legume hay.
- Timothy Hay. Timothy Hay is 10% protein.
- Bermuda.
- Orchard Grass.
- Oat Hay.
- Forage Hay.
- Straw.
What hay is bad for horses?
Horses often refuse to eat poor quality hay, and even if they do eat it, there is very little nutritional value in it. Moldy or dusty hay can even harm a horse, in some cases causing hay-induced colic. Unlike cattle, horses are less able to digest stalky grass, so leafy hay is always best.
What are the different types of grass hay?
Composition. Commonly used plants for hay include mixtures of grasses such as ryegrass (Lolium species), timothy, brome, fescue, Bermuda grass, orchard grass, and other species, depending on region. Hay may also include legumes, such as alfalfa (lucerne) and clovers (red, white and subterranean).
What grass makes best hay?
Ryegrass- If alfalfa is the “Queen” of forages, ryegrass is the “King”. Perennial ryegrass is a bunch-type grass that is palatable with high nutritive value. It has a long growing season and excellent yields with good fertility.
What is the difference between brome hay and timothy hay?
Brome is closer in appearance to orchard than timothy, in appearance. Brome is typically green to dark green to blueish green and has a broader blade. This hay is high in protein, but lower in calcium than legume hay. It is highly palatable.
What does good brome hay look like?
Smooth Brome grass is dark brown-greenhay. Its grass grows tall with soft leafy stems. Meadow Brome cures into soft medium-green leafy hay. It mixes well with alfalfa in pastures so some baled varieties include alfalfa.
Does hay make horses fat?
But it’s important for horses to have adequate forage. In addition to the added cost and expense, some owners worry that if they feed too much hay, their horse will get too fat. You know, develop a “hay belly.” However, many nutritionists caution that a hay belly is not the same as body fat.
Why is alfalfa bad for horses?
The high calcium content of alfalfa causes an imbalanced calcium/phosphorus ratio if not corrected by other feeds or supplements. Most adult horses seem to tolerate this, but it’s not ideal for enceinte mares and growing horses.
Is timothy hay or alfalfa better for horses?
Timothy hay is the most digestible of all hays and is one of the most popular hay feeds for horses. While other feeds such as Alfalfa hay can meet energy requirements of horses in high levels of products, low nutritional concentrations of Timothy hay are ideal for many life stages.
Can a horse have too much alfalfa?
While feeding extra protein is wasteful, a high-protein diet in itself does not hurt a healthy horse. It can be detrimental, however, to horses with impaired kidneys or liver. Duren also doesn’t recommend feeding straight alfalfa to endurance horses due to its protein and calcium content.
What is the best hay for older horses?
Alfalfa hay and good quality grass hays are preferable to stemmy and mature hays that have tougher fiber to ferment. The small intestine loses some function – Older horses find it harder to digest protein in the small intestine.
Is alfalfa bad for older horses?
The horse needs to be able to chew and break down the hay, so select good-quality, soft hay that isn’t overly mature; it shouldn’t have thick, fibrous stalks. Coleman has found that mixed grass-legume hay, such as orchard-alfalfa or timothy-alfalfa, is often a good choice.