I have been feeding my ottb that’s somewhat of a hard keeper good quality fescue hay with alfalfa cubes and I was wondering if orchard grass hay would be better for a hard keeper, I can get good quality fescue hay near where I live, but if I was to get orchard grass hay I would have to drive an hour to get it.
I’d totally choose good OG over good Fescue any day. OG is more likely to be better for a harder keeper. Do they by chance have an analysis of each? That would be the best way to determine how good they really are. You want the ADF and NDF to be low enough to be both more digestible and palatable
On average, yes, Orchard has slightly higher protein and DE. But as suggested above, you could have an analysis done of each to compare.
http://www.farmandpetoutlets.com/Information%20Nutritional%20Value%20of%20Hay%20Types%20Page.html
I got 1st cutting orchard this spring and it must have been terrible nutritionally. I didn’t have it analysed but by summer I was beginning to think all my horses had cushings their top lines looked so bad. By that time, I got in another load of hay that was fescue and they are all looking just about right again now. The orchard looked good, was soft, smelled fine, not dusty or anything but I had 6 out of 8 horses look like crap on it.
Yep that’s why you have to test, not just look, to determine quality status.
