Timothy hay

[circlew]

Can anyone tell me about it? Wife's barrel horse coliced and the vet said we needed to switch our hay from costal to timothy or alfalfa. Any thoughts, advice, or suggests on the timothy would be appreciated.

 

[Angus Cowman]

don't know much about Timothy other than it has been considered horse hay around here for yrs
that and Brome

I don't reccomend Alfalfa for horses or if you do use it it needs to be just a small portion of their diet
Alfalfa is hard on a horses kidneys

 

[dcarp]

Most cases of colic in horses eating coastal due to them eating too much. I think if you manage their diet closely you could solve the problem. I would never allow a horse unlimited access to hay. Feed what they need not what they want.

 

[circlew]

We manage them to the T. They have been eating coastal for 10 years or more with no problems. The vet at Auburn said he really didn't know what happened but he would start him on a different hay.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

don't know much about Timothy other than it has been considered horse hay around here for yrs
that and Brome

I don't reccomend Alfalfa for horses or if you do use it it needs to be just a small portion of their diet
Alfalfa is hard on a horses kidneys

same here,, atleast not pasture horses,,performance maybe.. but i wouldnt feed any grain with it..kinda hard to imgine coastal giving a problem after all those years ... how old is the horse?? you havent thrown any corn shucks out to em have you???

 

[circlew]

He's eleven. Naw I doubt he has ever seen a corn shuck. This is his second colic in 3 years. Last time he had to have surgery this time he didn't thank God.

 

[jscunn]

Is there any Timothy hay anywhere near you? I am just south of you and never heard of anyone with Timothy.

 

[Lucky_P]

Sorry, that's BS. Coastal hay isn't what's making this hayburner colic. Switching to timothy won't make a difference. He/she's just recommending you do something different, 'cause there's nothing else THEY can do.
I grew up in UCLA(upper corner of Lower Alabama); got my DVM from AU. Seen a lot of colics in my day.
I'm not buying the 'change to timothy' as anything other than...just a change.

You won't likely find timothy hay unless it's imported from way north/west of you. I can just about guarantee that no one in AL is growing it (unless it's somebody way north of Birmingham. It'll be pricey, and there's nothing magic about it. Horses were designed to eat GRASS - not alfalfa, not grain. Dietary mismanagement accounts for most colics since the ivermectins came on the scene in the early 80s and decimated the Strongylus vulgaris populations.

Even up here in the 'frigid northland' of southern KY, timothy is a short-lived perennial - I've planted it, and got a good stand, but it lasts one, two years, max, and then it's gone, other than a clump here and there.
'bout the only thing it's good for, here, is to use the seed as a relatively cheap 'filler' to dilute out clover seed so I get better coverage when broadcast seeding in mid-Feb-March; the seeds are about the same size, and any timothy growth/production that first year is just sort of 'gravy'.

 

[jedstivers]

What do corn shucks have to do with it? Are they bad for horses?

 

[circlew]

When we picked him up yesterday they gave us a bale of timothy and it had a bigger stem than the coastal and was longer and harder. I didn't see where it was any better than the coastal

 

[Lucky_P]

Uh-huh.

 

[1982vett]

When we picked him up yesterday they gave us a bale of timothy and it had a bigger stem than the coastal and was longer and harder. I didn't see where it was any better than the coastal

I'm still bewildered by the thought of all the unfortunate horses prior to the release of Coastal Bermuda in 1943.....still haven't figured how they survived centuries upon centuries without it....

 

[Howdyjabo]

Just get some crappier coastal if it makes you feel better-
Some of the really good coastal may be too fine and soft. I avoid the good stuff for feeding free choice with my horses.
Mostly cause they get fat.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Can anyone tell me about it?

Timothy and red clover was the standard hay mix back in the day.
The soil bank up here is full of timothy and if takes over in damp spots after a little hoof tillage.
Tasty young and a huge first crop, but poor regrowth.
They raise it for export hay in Canada. $$$

 

[Lucky_P]

Steve,
It may be the real deal up in MN, but as they say down here, 'it ain't much punkin' down South.
I'd heard of 'timothy' but had never seen any 'til I was up in my 40s, when I had to plant some here to satisfy NRCS when I was foolishly chasing those EQUIP $$$. There may be some in the soilbank here, but there's no danger of it taking over.
Our hayburners have always just had to eat whatever we fed the cows - if they'd needed something else, they'd have had to go on down the road. That was Coastal bermuda when I was still in AL; guess we probably fed some timothy &/or brome when we were in MO, in TN and now in KY it's 'mixed grass' - fescue, OG, Johnsongrass, crabgrass, Ladino clover - whatever's growing in the hayfield.

 

[hayray]

I grow alot of timothy, all of it is volunteer as like at Steve's location there is a pretty good seed bank around. It was all the fad for a while with the thoroughbred people which I thought was stupid. Seems to test out no higher then 8 or 9% unless you get it the first week of June which in alot of years we don't have the weather yet.