Choosing Hay

[Skips11]

Whilst I am more educated than before, I still don’t really know what I’m looking at despite using my plant ID app!

This is a farmers field about to be cut for hay, and I need to decide whether I want to buy it for 2 retirees this year. Not EMS horses or any particular needs but want to feed a good meadow hay and obviously don’t need high sugar.

What sort of mix am I looking at here? And would you buy it?
Obviously I will look at it once it is made into hay before I load it up too. It’s being cut this week.

Sorry for bad pics, hard to get one when the wind is blowing!

 

[Lady Jane]

I think you would need to get it analysed to really know what you are feeding. The farmer should be able to tell you what the grass mix is roughly. Someone here may be able to identify from the photos but I'm not that knowledgeable

 

[Burnttoast]

The only species I am fairly sure of from the photos are cock's-foot (definitely) and false oat grass (possibly). The latter is unpalatable when mature (it's the tall grass you sometimes see untouched in otherwise hard-grazed fields) but may be more acceptable in hay, I don't know. I'd want to know if it had been sprayed this year. As far as DE goes, you'll only know if you analyse it.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Can you try a bale or 2 before committing to buy a load? I can't comment on what's in it and if it's OK for your ponies as I don't know enough about hay!! We make our own and my boys love it. My friend at the yard makes her own, often looks nicer than mine, but my horses won't touch it!

 

[Polos Mum]

I would think the quality of how it is made is almost - if not equal to grass species. It's clearly no all 100% rye (which for retirees is best avoided)

Whether it's really dry (can the farmer be patient enough)
Turned enough but not too much
Any rain / dew
How low it is cut - too low seems to flick dust in
Not too hot so it's scorched on the outside

Making quality hay is a real art and the nicest field can produce the C$%pest hay if not made properly.

I wouldn't commit to buying until it's made - 1 thunderstorm and it could be a write off

Other reasons horses hate hay is spraying / muck spreading - some more picky than others

 

[SantaVera]

Can't help with advice but I think it is lovely how people want to care for their horses and do the best for them x

 

[criso]

Things like time of day cut, weather conditions up to harvest and first or second cut have more effect on the sugar content.

I think what's being harvested at the moment is quite rich.

The lowest sugar haylage available locally is actually ryegrass but is produced in a way that means it's low sugar.

 

[Skips11]

Thanks for all the advice. I never gave it a second thought before, and it’s definitely more of a minefield the more you learn!
These bales would be collected ‘off the field’ and so if I want them, I need to decide quite quickly. I normally would try a bale first but I don’t have the option this time.
Just got to weigh up the risk of it not being suitable vs the cost saving by doing it this way, but it seems it really is just luck if I don’t try a bale first!

 

[rabatsa]

If you have had hay from this field in previous years and the horse liked it then the grass species are edible and only the weather would spoil it.

 

[Lucky Snowball]

It also depends how you store it and how big your stack is. Outside bales are not usually as good as inner ones.