Type of Hay?

[Jenny]

I'm trying to decide which type of hay would be best for Breaker so he is able to have more chew time. I have ordered a Hay Pillow, so it will last him a while. As for hay, I have the choice of 2nd cut orchard grass, 1st or 2nd cut timothy, 1st, 2nd, or 3rd cut local (usually a mix of orchard, brome, bluegrass, fescue, and sometimes alfalfa), or 2nd cut alfalfa/grass mix. It says on their website that the orchard grass is their most popular, premium hay, and is brought up from Oregan. Which hay generally provides the most chewing time? What do you and your horses prefer? Is 2nd cut better than 1st? Sorry for all the questions

 

[jess - bentley]

I feed a second cut grass hay, it's finer and easier for mini's to digest then first cut hay.

 

[Miniv]

Orchard Grass is my favorite, personally.....If it's from Central or Easter Oregon it's wonderful stuff. First or second cutting doesn't matter too much, but second cutting seems to be more fluffy and costs more. We like first cutting because it doesn't have the fertilizer residue. (Growers tend to fertilize their fields between the first and second cuttings.)

Timothy is good, but a little more stemmy. The alfalfa/grass is usually nice, but you'll be feeding a little less because of the alfalfa in it - which cuts down on munching time. Your local grass is what we call our "pasture grass" and I'd consider it once I inspected it and as long as I wasn't going to feed it to a pregnant mare. (Fescue can cause problems with pregnancies.)

You're lucky you have all those choices. Not everyone does!

 

[Marty]

2nd cutting orchard grass

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

If it were me I'd go with the local mix without alfalfa. It will be the least expensive likely (no freight or exchange rates to deal with)but will also offer the greatest variety of flavour and texture. If you go with orchard grass he will eat and enjoy it too, but I am a firm believer that horses were meant to eat a variety of forage types and that it is like you or I eating a good variety of vegetables, we are healthier when we do.

 

[Rhondaalaska]

I feed local Timothy hay here. It is steamy with some fine grass in it.

My girl actualy likes it better than the hay from Washington that is shipped up here.

We only had one cutting so I don't know what is better.

 

[shorthorsemom]

I like orchard grass, the finer the better.

 

[wingnut]

2nd cut orchard grass. I feed a mix of orchard grass and alfalfa. The key is that it be soft, not stemmy because they will ignore/waste it if it's too stemmy.

 

[MyMiniGal]

You all are so lucky, to be able to choose. Since I board Halo, I have to take whatever is given, and most of the time, I have no idea what it is. I just know it is grass hay. Where she is at now, it goes back and forth on if one bale is stemmy and the next it is super fine. Halo is doing fine on both, so I don't worry. But it would be so neat to be able to pick and choose.

 

[Rhondaalaska]

I have found that for diva if it has to much grass in it she doesn't like it.

She wastes more of it.

My girl actualy likes the long stemy hay. It is what she goes for first.

 

[MyMiniGal]

Halo changes on me, all the time. One time she will like the leafier pieces, the next it is the stemmy ones. Just like kids...they like to keep you guessing. LOL

 

[Jenny]

Thanks everyone! I think I will probably go with the orchard grass

One more question, does anyone know the approximate dimensions of a 110 lb bale of orchard grass hay? I'm guessing it's more of a larger square bale than a smaller one. We have to buy the hay bale by bale until the roads get better and we can bring a trailer load up. I need to know if it will fit in our car

 

[targetsmom]

I would suggest that you find out if any of the hay has already been tested. The TRUE test of quality is from having it tested, which will tell you (from lignin content) how "stemmy" it is, plus the protein content (very important), carb and sugar content, minerals, well, anything that was tested for. We bought local 2nd and 3rd cut this year, delivered to our driveway in small bales (easy for us to handle) at $4 a bale and got it tested to find out it is 14% protein, very low lignin and NSC (so low carb and ideal for our insulin resistant mare), and all the horses love it. Once you test (you should test a sample of bales but one bale would work in your case) you can compare your results with average values for that type hay.

 

[Jenny]

targetsmom, it says they do test their orchard grass hay to ensure the sugar levels are below 10%. I'm not sure about all the other aspects, but I'm sure I can ask them.

 

[Jenny]

Here is a picture of the orchard grass:

 

[chandab]

My bales are in the 60-70# range, and are roughly 20x20"x3.5', maybe a bit bigger, and 110# bales would definitely be bigger.

 

[Miniv]

The 110# bale will be longer. And Oregon hay will be lacking in selenium, so you'll want to compensate for that.

 

[Jenny]

Just found out this company only sells by the ton

Definitely don't need that much! So no orchard grass at this next place, but they have 2nd cut Washington timothy. Would this be a good choice? I wish the bales weren't so big, 120 lbs! It's either the timothy or local.

Thanks so much for all the replies!

 

[targetsmom]

A ton of hay in 110 pound bales is only 18 bales......

 

[Jenny]

Well, unfortunately with my tiny feed room we can fit only 4 or 5 bales MAX. Plus, my dad can only pick up 1 bale right now as he only has a car and no trailer. We have to wait for the roads to get less snowy to bring the trailer down there (it's a 6 hour drive). So we have to buy one bale at a time.