Hay seems more available in my area this year than last, but the prices are EXTREMELY high, esp. for grass hay, which is simply not grown much if any, in this general area(far northern NM, or CO, is probably the closest). I used to be able to buy directly from suppliers, but I don't need enough for them to be willing to deliver to me anymore-they want to sell where they can bring a MAXIMUM load to ONE location(like a large user, or a feed store). I can't blame them, really, with fuel prices, but this policy has made my life more difficult; now I have to buy from a feed store, pay gross receipts tax, AND haul and unload hay myself(getting harder every day...). I am trying a nice beardless wheat hay, cut in the 'dough' stage, I think, for my 'big' horse this year; means I can get by with buying less of the VERY expensive grass hays(prices currently range from $7.95-$9.50/bale, before tax, and hauled/stacked myself, around here-for @ 45-50 lb. square bales.)I DO feed alfalfa-I NEVER buy a 'grown-mixed' hay, but instead, good alfalfa AND good grass, and mix it myself...and I have to take exception, BTW, with those who claim you should not feed 'straight alfalfa', cubes or otherwise...alfalfa CAN be quite high in protein, but the likelihood of the alfalfa used to make cubes being super high in that respect is VERY low, as it's NOT the 'super rich' alfalfa that is used for cubes-instead, it is fed to dairy cattle! CAREFUL management of how much you feed, of ANYTHING, and knowledge of what you've got, IS the important part....I will say that I DON'T buy alfalfa from a producer I don't know-and, I don't buy first cut(which around here is usually the 'richest', and what the dairies want.) I would NOT feed alfalfa as an 'only' hay to minis, but it is because good alfalfa is so high in overall nutritional value that if you give minis enough to keep them happy with how long it takes to ingest it, they would be 'way too fat! This brings me to what I think is what is most important to be remembered about 'doing without' hay...horses may well be able to get ALL of their nutritional needs filled by various 'complete' feeds--but they do NOT get their psychological, inate need to 'graze'/chew long fiber for a good part of every day filled by such feeds. When this is lacking, they will resort to wood eating, ground 'vacumning', cribbing, etc. -and/or, they are at increased risk for ulcers, due largely to acid production on an empty stomach, put simply. It behooves the owner to come up with ways to satisfy THAT need, for the horse's benefit!
My horses almost NEVER get to graze; this IS the (droughty, for several years now, worse than usual!) desert SW, and there just ISN'T grazing available! I DO feel a generous amount of hay, but have also 'gone to' 'complete' feeds(the ones that ''can be' fed with or without additional hay; I just adjust according to the directions for their weigh, age, etc. ), and I also feed soaked beet pulp pellets once daily--all this helps to 'stretch' the amount of hay I need, but leaves them still getting plenty. Hay pellets, and hay cubes, are better than NO form of hay, but still have downsides, as others have noted--possibility of choke; or to belie that, having to soak, becomes a big job, if you have numbers of horses; also, these STILL don't really satisfy that 'grazing' need. (I put the Palomino QH gelding I owned back around '65 on alfalfa cubes when boarding him near where we lived when I was in Las Cruces as a divorced single mother, teaching--he looked great, but began eating down the wooden corrals where he was living, and I had to move him, creating a big hardship for me. Those hay cubes just weren't satisfying his need to chew! )One suggestion: if having to use minimum hay, set up some sort of safe feeder that LIMITS what they can get in any single bite, requiring the horse to eat slowly and making the 'meal' last as LONG as possible....
I know more than one person now who has actually TRIED buying a semi-load of hay from somewhere else-it has not worked out. Hay turned out to be not as represented, in one way or another--or deal just fell through,for no good reason. Tempting as it may be, I wouldn't participate unless someone I knew who KNEW good hay, could SEE and could say this WAS good hay, and could verify other details, such as bale weight(most people are either abysmally bad at 'estimating' the weight of bales, OR, blatantly exaggerate!) If I am having to buy by the bale, I want to know ACCURATELY how much they weigh-and I have found most 'estimations' to be 'WAY off!
Just my opinions, based on around 50 years of buying hay MYSELF.
Margo
