Hay(ledge) from yard's own grazing?

[Tickles]

Sort of following on from an earlier post re: price per slice of yard's own hay... but also from my musings in the feed shed earlier...

Is it beneficial for a horse who is out 24/7 and not usually fed in the summer to have hay(ledge) from the same area (yard/farm/neighbourhood) in winter so as to not upset it's digestion by changing the nutrients etc too drastically? Or is the switch from fresh grass to dried/partially fermented (that is sort of what happens to hayledge, no?) so big as to make the additional change to slightly different grasses insignificant?

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

It's haylage hun. Don't know the detailed science behind the fermenting process and how it affects the nutrients in the grass, but the real bonus of using the yard's own haylage is a) you know there's no ragwort in it and b) you know the quality will remain fairly consistent all winter (even if it's crappy lol) x

 

[ISHmad]

Ours have hay cut from our yard and I'm really glad about it. As BOF says you know that there's no ragwort in it and also the quality of it as well. Huge bonus in my book.

 

[Haniki]

You may need to have the haylage analysed. If your horses are fed on grass / forage from the same area and the soil is deficient in something this may impact on your horse. I know someone whose land is coppeer deficient so she buys in hay.