green hay?

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LittleMouse

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what does it mean if hay is slightly green? as in not mouldy green but the hay itself is slightly green coloured?

does it have more calories? or is it just cut later or something x
 
LittleMouse said:
what does it mean if hay is slightly green? as in not mouldy green but the hay itself is slightly green coloured?

does it have more calories? or is it just cut later or something x
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I am thinking this would be an early cut? More lush. I have only ever really gone for the less green, lower quality stuff (still good and dust free etc) as she doesn't need anything lush looking :)
 
Lucky you having green hay, most was cut so late due to the rubbish weather that the green was gone :-(. Ive been lucky my supplier has some good hay, but much of the rest had been really quite weathered
 
our ponies are over weight and we dont have the facilities to soak...is it ok to feed this? they live out and currently have haylage...but have got some hay...note the green haha :P z
 
My hay is all green. That's because we bring it in the barns as soon as it's cut. Some of the large round bales that are kept near the entrances of the barns will yellow a little if the sun can reach them during the summer. We have incredibly hot summers where I live so hay can be bleached very quickly if left out in fields although they will still be green inside.

ETA yes you can soak green hay. It's just better quality hay than yellow hay
 
Would it be the chlorophyl? Anyway, the longer hay is left out in the sun, the less green and more yellow it becomes because it bleaches. Green hay will probably contain more vitamins but the sugar content depends on the stage of growth, grass species, and the time of day it was cut so I doubt whether you can tell by the colour. Just feed according to the condition of your ponies. It doesn't take a moment to feel for ribs and crest and with practice and experience you will soon learn to judge condition.
 
OMG green hay......................can't remember the last time I saw green hay.Most people these days don't know how to make good hay even in a good year.Last year was dreadful.Our silage not turned out very good & hay we bought in not brill but that's all that's available.Looks like this year not gonna be any better-very depressing.
 
The hay i'm currently buying from a local farmer is lovely and green, really good quality hay :-) However it is from last years crop which was much better than the stuff he managed to bale this year in the hideous rain, which isn't as green but still good stuff!
 
LittleMouse said:
our ponies are over weight and we dont have the facilities to soak...is it ok to feed this? they live out and currently have haylage...but have got some hay...note the green haha :P z
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Your green hay should be nice stuff, I've just finished using last years hay & some of that still had a greeness to it. If your ponies are being fed haylage at the moment then I wouldn't worry too much about soaking the hay as the haylage will be far richer than the hay. We feed haylage but with the horses having spent a few days in their stables due to the horrible weather recently we have mixed the haylage with some hay as they were finding it too rich for their systems & were squitty.
 
I had some lovely green hay at the start of this year, I am now having to attack the 'to one side' pile as I am using 3 x more than I expected.. I just get such a good price that I can give as much as I want when I want (£2.20 for a small rectangle bale). The hay I am having to use is not as nice and was the last cut (so all bleached and yellow as had a massive heat wave in France this summer).
 
If you want to get rid of the greenness just stack it in towers so the outside is exposed to the sun/ air and it'll soon go yellowish. We were really lucky this year and made nice hay, we stack it straight away. The bales at the front of the stack are yellow (on the outside) the next layer in - lovely and green.
I much prefer the green hay and feed the outside bales to our pigs - I'd be interested to know if it's lower nutritional value just because it's a little bleached?
 
The green-ness is a function of (i) whats in the hay (mixed species meadow hay containing clover and stuff tends to stay greener longer than monoculture ryegrass seed hay and (ii) whether it has sat outside or exposed to light.

The sugar levels could be anything, depends on when its cut, what grass species etc.

In theory, it if a mix of species it should be better for the horses (assuming no ragwort) as there will be a mix of plants and herbs some of which will give different nutrients.

Our small bay meadow hay is always pale green and absolutely loved by the animals (horses and sheep)
 
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