Can someone explain to me...

[tinacvt]

I will be moving to an area that offers orchard grass and I have no idea what it is we don't have any here in Az. Thanks!

 

[sedeh]

I use an orchard grass/alfalfa mix. It's nice grass hay and the mini's love it!

 

[Margot]

Most of the hay on our farm is orchard grass and timothy mix. Orchard grass is an early season hay, here in PA it is usually ready to cut in May or June. When cut fairly early it makes a nice soft hay that the horses enjoy.

 

[nootka]

It is a good, soft, grass hay. My vet recommends it for my horses because it is lowest in allergens (I had one mare that showed a bit of a tendency to sneeze/cough and after looking at my hay, he recommended switching).

The horses waste zero of it, it is always fresh looking and smelling, and has a decent nutritional content (this varies of course by time of year and locale/dealer).

When it gets wet in the rain, it looks as if it were fresh cut.

Liz M.

 

[Miniv]

Orchard Grass is very fine, soft grass hay. It's my favorite type of hay!

When you do move, find out how much protien content the orchard grass contains in your growing area. This will help you decide if you need to look into getting straight orchard or mixed with alfalfa. A local extension agent can tell you what's best in your general area.

We live in a high desert region - lots of sun. This means everything contains a higher precent of protien. So our orchard grass is very desirable. It has the same or higher protien content than alfalfa that's grown in the western part of the state, which gets lots more rain.

MA

 

[tinacvt]

Thanks for all the info

I'll check on the protein content when I move to Fallon, NV.

 

[Jill]

I do not know much about hay, but orchard grass is what we try to feed when we can get it and we currently have a good supply. It's very soft and the horses love it. We are in VA. What we have now is so pretty and smells so sweet, I'd almost like to try it myself :bgrin

 

[Minimor]

Didn't I hear somewhere that orchard grass is the same sort of grass that we call prairie hay/prairie grass here? We don't have orchard grass here, or at least no one refers to it as such.

There are a few different types of grass that get called prairie hay here. Some the horses like if it is cut early, others they don't like at all, regardless of when it is cut. We'd rather not have it at all--we prefer brome, but unfortunately the prairie hay takes over the other grasses, so that's what we usually end up with.

 

[chandab]

Here's a link to some information on Orchardgrass: http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/forages/pub...rchardgrass.htm

Just found the site using google, but looks like a good one.

And, here's a picture:

 

[dangerranger]

Orchard grass is not the same in all areas. around here its the grass that is grown in between young orchard trees to hold soil and give a cash crop till the trees mature enough to pay there own way. it can be anything from costal grass to oat or any mix. DR.

 

[chandab]

Orchard grass is not the same in all areas. around here its the grass that is grown in between young orchard trees to hold soil and give a cash crop till the trees mature enough to pay there own way. it can be anything from costal grass to oat or any mix. DR.

Orchardgrass (Dactylis Glomerata) is a species of grass (see link in my previous post). But, there maybe other grasses commonly called orchardgrass, used when establishing orchards.

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

Ditto, its a specific type of grass, not a class of grasses

Pretty nutritious I think, if I remember correctly...

 

[wrenhart]

:aktion033: I had nver heard of the stuff until a week ago when I went to the feed store insearch of hay for my new mini girl, Holly, thay have it mixed with a little alfalfa...the best part is that the bales a mini too!!!! I was so thrilled I could hardly stand it...I went from big horses and big bales to mini horses and mini bales...Holly loves the stuff along with her ration of Platform she is one happy camper

: Ren in CA