Grazing on Frosty Grass

[TrueColours]

^^^ I THINK though (and someone please correct me if I am wrong on this) is that there is a big difference in the scrub grass that grows in the wild, and the lush pasture grass that we plant and fertilize. They have to travel miles in the wild to paw and find and eat their daily grass intake, whereas in a planted pasture, they are lucky to have to go more than 10-20-30 feet or so to get all they need to eat

So - I think its an apples to oranges comparison - 2 completely different scenarios and 2 totally different products they are pawing and searching for …

[caper]

This year no second cut. The drought was severe. My turnou paddocks even died off. Their came back in Sept/Oct. I have to pay a farmer and if there isn’t much to cut it is worth his trouble. TC how early do you start cutting to get almost 4 cuts?

I am near the lake so it is hard to get the hay to dry with the humidity in the air.

[TrueColours]

The latest we’ve ever done 1st cut is about June 2nd. Usually we get it off the fields around May 20-25th and its waist high by then. Then - end of June for 2nd, end of July to middle of August for 3rd and then it gets tricky for 4th - we have the decent weather still into September but its the damned dew with the lower temperatures at night that really mucks things up. The hay is always thigh high for 4th and would give us really good yields, but its the dry down that prevents us doing so …

[specifiedcupcake]

Frosty grass is absolutely sugar laden- we had a “perfect storm” of two days of warm rain, then a hard frost and bright sun. My horses were both nightmares that afternoon- not a coincidence that they left the hay alone and scarfed the grass all day before sugar buzzing and trying to get us all killed hopping around like kangaroos.

That said, my vet says it’s better to leave them out and ride/work as much as possible because at least when they’re bombing around they’re using up the sugar. I think with the pawing and work your horses are having to do to get it, the effects of the sugar won’t be as bad as if they were just sitting there inhaling it all day.