I told you I would be the only one recommending fescue. It would be hard to sell to horse people. Most people are familiar with it when it's cut too mature. Horse people are different everybody knows that. It is interesting to see somebody pull up in a steel trailer, with a cucabur in their horses tail, and a belly full of fescue hay take all their entry fees at a rodeo. It kinda stirs the pot a little.
Best to plant for premium horse hay?
- Thread starter ohiosteve
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houstoncutter
Well-known member
Am always amazed at how people can take an animal that used to be able to survive off of what ever a cow ate, and have now turned it into a hothouse plant.
James T
Well-known member
houstoncutter":2xs5ybdc said:
I couldn't agree with you more, HC. We have a horse next door that the land owner inherited when he bought the land. The horse is fairly healthy given its age and all it has to eat is whatever happens to pop up naturally out of the ground, which isn't much. The land has a wildlife exemption so the owner doesn't plant any grass at all and the horse has been doing fine for the last three years. I suspect that "horse hay" is really any hay that is bought from a feed store and costs in excess of $14 per small square bale.
chippie
Well-known member
Selling hay as "horse hay" is catering to the pet horse owners. It is sort of like buying a bag of pine shavings. You could buy a bag at Petsmart for your pet for $25 or go to Tractor Supply and buy the same size bag & product for $4.50. The only difference is that the pet store bag has pictures of bunnies and other little critters on it.
Our horses eat what our cows eat, but then we buy a good quality hay whenever possible.
Our horses eat what our cows eat, but then we buy a good quality hay whenever possible.
ohiosteve
Well-known member
I talked with the neighbor last night and we decided to go with 100% alfalfa this fall and see how good of a stand we get. If it's good we'll leave it a couple of years or if it's poor we will sow some orchard grass with it. Any advice on what seed to get? Also any advice on a pre-emergant herbicide? Thanks.
ALACOWMAN
Well-known member
horses have a more delicate digestive system,, then a cow. a change in diet can colic em... mine graze fescue in the summer, and get fescue hay in the winter... horse quailty, pretty much means good clean , mold free hay... id bet you'd be surprized with the customers will buy it.. the quality aint as good, but the price is....
My horses get the same hay that my cows get . My pastures have bermuda and Bahia grasses along with clover in the spring . Ive never had one colic . If they have to be babied then they won't make it on my place . Now as far as selling hay goes I'll play the " horse hay " game . It's worth 3 dollars more a square bale . And it comes out of the same fields as my cow hay .
James T
Well-known member
JSCATTLE":35q3l3fd said:
JS, I know squat about horses so my opinions are simply observations. Yesterday I noticed a long horse rig (Semi type tractor pulling a trailer with horse and operator accomadations) pull in to a horse ranch nearby where they unloaded the horses. These are the same horses I saw at a local cutting horse competition. I saw the same horses grazing pasture that was just bluestem nawed down to the ground. The operator probably had some decent hay in the stalls but I'm willing to bet it was just run of the mill balings. With that said, some of the owners at the competition mentioned some numbers spent on horse and rider training that would make your toes curl.
houstoncutter
Well-known member
ALACOWMAN":hjxmd9nf said:
Some horses have a more delicate digestive system. Horse hockey, they are that way, because that is how we have made em that way with so called modern breeding pratices. Indians rode a horse all day and if it flaked out they ate it...Ol Zeus out here is now 25 years old and he doesnt get rode much anymore, but he eats what my cows eat....even the lick tub if I put one out for the cows. He is a roping quarter horse from Montana. When I bought him 20 years ago I asked the previous owner what he fed him " he said nuthin unless its snowing, otherwise he eats what the cows eat". By the way ol Zeus is probably 1500 lbs he is a big boy
wildsawmill
Well-known member
my horse has allways been on fescue mix pasture her hole life, ate what cows ate , minerals, salt,hay etc.. she is 15 years old. this spring she foundered on pasture grass.no feed, just a xmas candy cane every other day (her treat for 15 years) & grass shes been on for years. she could not walk , laid down barley got up, later her hoves growed out crazy. this is first time i seen this on her . i dont understand it, had the vet out. vet says i need to feed her hay, allmost year round to prevent it from returining something about the fescue to potent in spring . well never had a problem the first 15 years so i dont get it.
i guess in the wild they just died at 15 i dont know
shes is the 3 generation we have had science 1978
confused for sure
so at 15 is she to old to breed?
mabe i need to get a 4th genreation started so i can still go check my cows the prefered way ,on horse back ,as this one seems to be having problems
i guess in the wild they just died at 15 i dont know
shes is the 3 generation we have had science 1978
confused for sure
so at 15 is she to old to breed?
mabe i need to get a 4th genreation started so i can still go check my cows the prefered way ,on horse back ,as this one seems to be having problems
ALACOWMAN
Well-known member
my old rope horse from Alabama died last year at 30... dont matter the reason for it , they have one stomach,,, cows got a dam processing plant....houstoncutter":3vo8vbw9 said:
Lucky_P
Well-known member
Since you specifically asked about 'premium' horse hay, KY-31 is out of the picture - and while it's good forage for geldings and open mares, I would not graze or feed KY-31 hay to bred mares past the midpoint of the pregnancy. Even top-quality fescue hay from high-endophyte stands can cause issues with thickened placentas, weak foals, and lack of colostrum/milk in the mare.
'Premium' horse hay may vary from place to place, but in my experience most of those 'discriminating' horse folks - whether they intend to pay 'premium' prices or not - are gonna want some incarnation of alfalfa/orchardgrass/timothy - whether it's necessary or not.
IMO, most of the colics we see anymore are due to dietary mismanagement; horses were meant to eat GRASS, not alfalfa, not corn, not oats, etc.
Yes, if they're a hard-working animal(like a draft horse/mule that's actually being worked on a daily basis), they may have to have some grain to provide the extra amount of energy that they can't get just from grass. But these pasture ornaments or stall-dwellers don't, for the most part, need much of anything other than some mid-quality grass hay.
They hayburners on my place eat the same stuff as the cows - round bales of mixed-grass hay.
'Premium' horse hay may vary from place to place, but in my experience most of those 'discriminating' horse folks - whether they intend to pay 'premium' prices or not - are gonna want some incarnation of alfalfa/orchardgrass/timothy - whether it's necessary or not.
IMO, most of the colics we see anymore are due to dietary mismanagement; horses were meant to eat GRASS, not alfalfa, not corn, not oats, etc.
Yes, if they're a hard-working animal(like a draft horse/mule that's actually being worked on a daily basis), they may have to have some grain to provide the extra amount of energy that they can't get just from grass. But these pasture ornaments or stall-dwellers don't, for the most part, need much of anything other than some mid-quality grass hay.
They hayburners on my place eat the same stuff as the cows - round bales of mixed-grass hay.
You might check on teff. It's an annual so you might like that. Grows tall lots of tonnage. Cut early before boot leave 3-4" stubble. I'm in western Nevada and the horse people go crazy for it. I get 15.00 a bale in the stack. Its hard to find much info on teff but it plants like orchard grass. Don't plant deep no frost.
chippie
Well-known member
I hadn't heard of Teff hay, so I looked it up. It is originally from Ethiopia.
This is an article about the hay and planting it: http://hayandforage.com/hay/grasses/teff-adaptable-appealing
This is an article about the hay and planting it: http://hayandforage.com/hay/grasses/teff-adaptable-appealing
Cabo
Well-known member
Steve, you may be too far north for it but Wrangler bermuda is supposed to be very cold tolerant. Bermuda is the only thing horse people in my area will buy and it has to be weed free, have a green tint to it, and smell good. Horse people are different to say the least.
