Mixed Grass Hay, Foxtail and Horse Nettle

[leeave96]

I've got a field of Timothy mixed grass. Walking it today, there are some patches of foxtail and a few pieces of horse nettle.

At what point do you disqualify your hay for cattle consumption due to the presence of foxtail and horse nettle? How much of it is to much?

There is some decent grass in is this field, along with some stemmy purple top coming up. It is otherwise weed free. I hate to just bush hog it down. Maybe Goats? Can they tolerate that stuff?

What's your limit on buying/feeding bales of hay where there is potential for foxtail and a bit of horse nettle? If anyone has a pic they could post of a field "over-run" with foxtail or a bale of infested hay - I'd like to see it for reference.

Thanks!

PS - this post is on multiple forums for a broad audience - thx!

 

[A.J.]

We've got some fields the landowners let us get the hay off it for free, but the owners are kinda odd and won't let us spray it, so it has some weeds like foxtail mixed in it. Not a lot by any means, but there is some there. The cows eat around it when we feed it out. I'd prefer no weeds, but the other grass is too good to pass it up. You just have to watch for weeds to pop up in your pastures if you're gonna bale it. I know horsenettle can be a pain to get rid of.