# What is the best Horse Hay?



## Hilary (Feb 6, 2007)

Hi there I'm new just joined today..so my question is whats the best hay to feed your horses? I own 2 horses , for one hay isn't an option due to old age and no teeth-so he has senior feed with soaked alfalfa cubes but my other horse foundered quite some years ago so I'm real careful how I feed her, normally I feed timothy but have noticed just recently that shes isn't that interested (shes also getting up there age wise-teeth are fine) would a mix of alfalfa/timothy be safe- or any other grass mix? any advise would be brilliant, thanks a million for your time-Cheers Hilary.


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## ThorArb (Jan 31, 2007)

I feed straight Alfalfa to my stallion and my mare in foal. The others are eating coastal bermuda.


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## horsecrazy15 (Dec 26, 2006)

i feed my ponies and horses horseage or hayledge or just normal hay

working ponies, pregnant or old - horseage or hayledge
non workers - normal hay


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## Skippy! (Dec 18, 2006)

My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE HAY is Alfalfa <3 Just a meager 2 flakes in the morning, and 2 flakes in the evening!

SADLY... Alfalfa isnt native to like.. ANYWHERE near South Carolina.. and costs a whopping 11.50 a bale.. in Los Angeles, it was only 4.50 a bale ;; Instead, I am stuck with Coastal hay. You have to feed half a bale to your horse for each feeding. Its seriously just grass too. I am paying for baled lawn clippings!!

LOL can you tell i have animosity for Costal? Alfalfa is kinda dangerous though.. it is very rich, and could cause colic if overfed. A lot of Southern raised people i have met refuse to feed it because they are afraid of their horse colicing, LOL


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## Friesian Mirror (Jan 11, 2007)

I'm pretty sure that the hay we're feeding most everyone is fescue hay, and my parents 2 Arab's get Alfalfa.


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## ThorArb (Jan 31, 2007)

Id love to pay only 11.50 a bale of Alfalfa! Im paying $35 for these Im getting from Idaho. :roll:

Brittany


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## ThorArb (Jan 31, 2007)

Also wanted to menion, *do not *feed fescue hay to mares that you have that are in foal or plan on breeding soon. Fescue hay is NOT good for mares in foal. :wink:


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## Friesian Mirror (Jan 11, 2007)

:shock: That is so expensive!!


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## ThorArb (Jan 31, 2007)

Yeah tell me about it. Cheapest is $18 a bale and its small and really crappy. Id rather have larger bales that last me longer and are better quality. Especially when it comes to feeding my stallion. He is SUPER picky. If its too dry or has too many stems he wont touch it. My pregnant mare will eat anything. :lol:

I can also get Alfalfa blocks. Anywhere from 700 pounds to 1200 pounds. They run around $120 to $200 I believe. Never tried them though, just heard about a place that started carrying them. Have a couple friends that are trying them out. One friend's horses are doing so well that she has removed their grain intake all together. :lol:


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## Razeal (Jan 29, 2007)

Holy Moly that is expensive! I just got in 36 bales of clover hay for $6ea delivered! Thats the conventional sized normal bales. We are quite lucky in NZ that feeds and grains are quite cheap. The average bag of chaff here is about $16-$20 for a massive sack(20-25kg). Is that cheap?


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## ThorArb (Jan 31, 2007)

Coastal hay costs me $4.50 a bale from out of town. The local guy I was getting it from doesnt have any this year but he only costs me $3. My feed costs $15.40/bag of Triple Crown complete. But I only have to feed very little. I also add in a little alfalfa pellets which is I think $11 a bag. These are 50 pounds so pretty close to what you guys get in NZ.

I just paid $20 for 2 bales of straw. I was shocked, straw should have only been $5 at most! I got them for my mare who is getting ready to foal here pretty soon. Any day now. 

Brittany


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## Skippy! (Dec 18, 2006)

We are having a very bad hay shortage in my area of SC. All of the feed stores have run out of Costal, and the only one that still carries square bales of hay is in Camden (45 minutes away) and they are the ones with the 5.50 bales of Alfalfa (mind you, it is 5.50 alfalfa... you get what you pay for, LOL!) They don't even have costal! No round bales either.

There is one place near me that still has costal.. but for 6.00 a bale!! What a RIP! They know they have something everone wants, so they are charging through the darn nose!


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## ThorArb (Jan 31, 2007)

I get my coastal hay from a private farmer. I dont buy from the feed store (other than my Alfalfa, which as you can see is a rip off!). The feed stores here cost anywhere from $5.50 to $6.50 a bale for Coastal. Round bales run from $45 to $52. The local guys just didnt grow any hay this year. But the guy I get it from now ALWAYS has hay, has never failed. He has acres and acres and even more acres. All which he waters and takes care of really well. 

Brittany


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## englishcowgrl (Jan 24, 2007)

i'm from N.S ( canada) and we feed timothy hay...it's like 1-2 dollars out of the feild and 2.50 or more out of the barn...that what my grandfather sells it for it..other places sell it for more but it's not that explensive


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## QHGurl (Feb 1, 2007)

I feed a Timothy/Orchard Grass mix....its great hay!


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## TudorRose (Feb 20, 2007)

Hearing the variation in hay prices is facinating. Alfalfa is actually not a great horse hay. The Cah ratio is very bad very high in calcium also often high in Magnesium. These 2 together can result in entrolyths which are large gastric stones that are particularly a problem in Arabs. So I would not advise and Arab owner to feed alfalfa. Alfalfa is a very common hay to feed on the west coast because the climate suits growing it and it is grown for feeding to dairy cattle etc and as it is the predominantly grown hay it is the cheapest (often only $4-5 for a 120lb bale). This is not the case further east. 

It is true you can get away with feeding less than you would a grass hay becuase it is so high in nutrients but you also have to consider how the horses digestive tract evolved. Horses evolved to be continual grazers and their gut health is much improved by eating many small meals. Feeding smaller amounts of alfalfa does not support the way their digestive systems have evolved. Feeding larger amounts of grass hay so that they have hay in front of them to eat for more hours in the day will result in better gut health.

According to the national Research Council the energy content and crude protein (CP) content of hays on an as fed basis by pound are as follows.

Mid bloom alfalfa 0.94 Mcal 17% CP
Coastal bermuda grass cut between 15-28 days of growth 0.87 Mcal 10.6% CP
Kentucky Blue grass hay 0.72 Mcal 8.2 %CP
Full bloom kentucky Fescue 0.86 Mcal 11.8%CP
Orchard grass early bloom hay 0.88Mcal 11.4%CP
Rye hay 0.71Mcal and 8.8%CP
Timothy early bloom hay 0.83 Mcal 9.6%CP

So you can see how they vary not that much really between the grasses. So if you have a horse who is a good doer or who is not working you can feed much more Rye than you can alfalfa.

What is intersting is that not even a lactating mare requires 17% protein in her diet. By feeding alfalfa at a level to meet a horses energy requirement you are typically way overfeeding protein. Protein contains nitrogen which can not be stored in the body and therefore has to be removed. It is excreted as urea in urine. This process requires energy and is very inefficient. A horse will burn energy to remove excess nitrogen and so this can be counter productive in a horse that you are trying to put weight on. Plus it will ahve to drink more water in order to provide the fluid required to make the urine. So all in all I personally always recommend feeding horses grass hays with a little bit of alfalfa if the diet is low in protein. I feed alfalfa as a protein supplement not as the major source of forage.


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## TudorRose (Feb 20, 2007)

I forgot to mention that the ideal ratio for Cah is 1:1 but no more than 2:1. That midbloom alfalfa can have as much as a 5.6:1 ratio! This is particularly bad for young horses who are developing bone and who need these minerals in the correct ratios.


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## KANSAS_TWISTER (Feb 23, 2007)

we feed pm6 grass, very good grass and only pay $70 for 1600 lbs of it......yes i'm a southern and will not feed any of my horses alfafa, my horses look at that stuff and get sick


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