While most horse owners are mindful of the hay they offer their horses, Crandell is perhaps more vigilant than most. © Copyright 2020 Kentucky Equine Research. The red clover tends to sweeten up the orchardgrass enough for horses to really want to dive in,” Crandell said. The true test of hay quality rests with the horses, though, and if they offer up their approval by consuming it readily, selection was a success. To have really good feed value it should be cut before the heads emerge. Horse hay and feeder hay $190 (eug > Creswell) pic hide this posting restore restore this posting. As far as physical characteristics, Crandell assesses color to determine how the hay was harvested. Pure legumes are rarely roundbaled, but if faced with tightly wound round bales that cannot be opened, an instrument designed to remove core samples from the inside of hay bales, called a hay probe, can be used. The phalaris plant is more commonly known by the name of canary grass. 1. There was no difference by diet in apparent dry matter digestibility of nonstructural carbohydrates, starch, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, copper, and manganese. During certain times of year, hay may be the only forage available to horses and therefore the selection of well-preserved hay harvested at the appropriate stage of maturity is critical. Good Horse Grass Crested Dog’s Tail. High-quality, properly fenced pastures are one of the best and least expensive sources of summer feed for a horse. Small bales can be opened easily, but the same cannot be said for larger round bales. Grass hay typically is quite a bit lower in protein than alfalfa hay; the energy content of grass hay is also generally lower than alfalfa hay. Forages as hay or pasture make up the significant share of the daily intake of a horse. Fescue has gained much attention over the last couple decades for its sometimes detrimental effects on pregnant mares when it is infected with an endophyte fungus. Some horse owners prefer grass/legume mixes over pure legume because a mixture more or less averages the content of certain key nutrients to make it appropriate for different classes of horses. Mixed hay is usually defined as a blend of grass and legume plants, though some hay producers and horse owners may define it as a combination of several grasses. Legumes add nitrogen to the soil, so growing legumes with grasses can cut down on fertilizer needs and growing costs. Both hays were provided in excess of voluntary intake for two weeks, and the amount of hay consumed was recorded twice a day. Rhodes grass Rhodes grass. “I have seen … The study “Voluntary intake and digestibility of reed canarygrass and timothy hay fed to horses,” was conducted by AL Ordakowski-Burk, RW Quinn, TA Shellem, LR Vough University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742. Understanding the ins and outs of hay selection is an important aspect of horse ownership. When evaluating legume hays, Crandell first establishes the type of hay. All Rights Reserved. Our marsh hay is an effective erosion control when used as a bale check and/or mulch for seeding projects. © Copyright 2020 Kentucky Equine Research. Productive, well-managed pastures can provide most of the feed requirements of horses for the least cost. Timothy hay is usually lighter in color than orchardgrass unless the orchardgrass is harvested at a very mature stage. Cereal hays should be light green in color; a yellow, straw-like color would indicate that the hay was harvested too late and will be of lower nutritional value. At the same time, p… It is very important you know what plants your horse has access to. Mixed grass hays usually include a medley of grasses, some grown specifically for hay intended for horses and others not, while common grass/legume mixes include timothy/alfalfa, orchardgrass/ alfalfa, and orchardgrass/clover. Aside from marginal nutrition, if the stems are too mature, horses do not particularly like to eat them,” added Crandell. Our dairy and horse hay has a Relative Feed Value (RFV) of 115-120. She fed six confirmed headshakers and six nonheadshaking controls a diet of alfalfa and grass hay at a standard 1.5% of each horse’s body weight. Although the most popular legume used among horse owners is alfalfa, other legumes such as red or crimson clover, lespedeza, birdsfoot trefoil, and peanut hay are often fed, and these provide horses with high-quality nutrients. The first involves improvement of the land. These hays are made from leaves, stems, and grains of oat, barley, and wheat plants. While hay can often supply adequate calories, keep in mind that depending on the origin of the forage, additional minerals and vitamins may be necessary to balance out the deficiencies of the forage, which can be supplied in an equine vitamin and mineral supplement or a ration balancer. canary reed grass toxic ??? The authors stated that the objective was to evaluate nutrient composition, voluntary dry matter intake, and apparent dry matter digestibility of timothy and a low-alkaloid reed canarygrass hay to evaluate it as an alternative to timothy hay for horse. Known as slaframine poisoning, excessive salivation is not life-threatening. For the digestibility experiment, horses were maintained on the same type of hay at a rate of 2.2% of body weight daily. And/Or supplements ) is likely to have it tested under optimal conditions, the hay was not digestible... Golden in color sugar, and mixed the importance of good-quality hay of grass... 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