Horse prefers hay over pasture

[PsyPsy]

I’m coming back to the experts again! You guys have been great, so thank you for being my go-to crowd.

Here’s some context to help with my questions: I’m a first-time-horse-at-home owner, having come from a boarding farm last November. Back in boarding, my Arabian gelding had a fancy barn and all the spoils, but he was stalled for about 16 hours a day and turned out in a grass paddock for only 8 hours each morning. He was fed high-quality hay constantly.

Now I have him at home (alone) on almost 3 acres of pasture. The grass is primarily Bahia with some St. Augustine and Bermuda sprinkled in. He has a barn with free access anytime he wants and comes and goes, but spends 90% of his time outside. He is never kept in the stall unless there are high winds or lightening. He’s very happy, much calmer, and his weight is good.

I feed him high quality hay (orchard) constantly out of a slow feed hay net, which I’ve been doing since we moved in and the grass was semi-dormant over the winter. Now that Spring has passed and we’ve properly fertilized the pastures (and it’s growing like crazy!), I thought my gelding would stop eating the hay entirely and prefer the grass. But he hasn’t! He still goes through about 80 pounds of hay a week, in addition to grazing the pastures. I really want to stop feeding hay, as it’s pricey here ($39 for a 3-string bale), and take advantage of the land feeding the horse. He seems VERY interested in the hay still, and calls out to me when it’s low or gone. I’m shocked that he isn’t preferring the grass over the hay.

Can I take him off of hay entirely, as long as we have healthy pastures this summer?

If so, should I start weaning him off the hay?

Is it normal that horses find hay tastier than grass? It felt the other way around when we were boarding.

Should I just limit his hay and supplement with hay? If so, how much?

Like I said, he’s a good, healthy weight and an easy keeper.

[Scribbler]

It seems like your horse prefers cool season orchard grass hay to the warm season grasses typical of Florida.

I am in the PNW and find horses prefer the cool season grass to the cool season hay, but I’m not familiar with the Florida grasses. Are they coarser? Have they gone to seed and become twiggy? We have a local invasive species of swamp grass here, Reed Canary Grass. My mare loves it in April and May, but after it seeds out it is too thick and rwiggy to eat. And she refuses it as hay.

I’d be curious as to what your horse thinks of the warm season grasses as hay! Will he eat Bahia or Bermuda hay?

You can always take away his hay and see if he starts eating the grass.

[Guilherme]

Like most other thing related to feeding, see what happens if you restrict the hay access while maintaining open pasture access. Put the hay someplace where you can control access. Then close it off for a few hours (and it has to be a few hours so that you horse feels hunger) and see what happens. If you note difficulties (anxiety, standing by the hay door, pawing to try and open it, and just refusing to eat) then you have AN answer.

Horses are creatures of habit. If the habit is to eat hay then that’s what they will do even if other forage is available. In this they are thinking like a horse, not a human. And, as they are horses, they can NEVER think like a human! On the other hand human can think, at least to some extent, like horses. Use that in your favor.

G.

[trubandloki]

Another thought to go along with the above advice - is the hay fed somewhere that is a more comfortable eating environment?

We have had a crazy wet spring here so the bugs are plentiful (and yes, my horses are sprayed with fly spray). My horses go out into the pasture and eat grass until the bugs drive them back up to the barn, where they will happily eat hay for the rest of the day because the dry lot does not have such nasty horse eating bugs (and there is shade and fans there).

[wsmoak]

Presumably the hay is being fed under some sort of cover… so are his choices to stand in the shade and eat the yummy orchard hay or go brave the heat and BUGS in order to eat green grass?

Mine will overheat standing out in the sun (non-sweater) so he gets hay during the day in his shelter under a fan. By this time of year I’ve transitioned to all-night turnout, but still, the days are long, and the bugs come out very early in the morning. Much as I’d like him to EAT the grass I otherwise have to mow, I still have to feed hay.

[candyappy]

If you are sure the grass is nutritious then just simply stop feeding hay 24/7 or at all . Mine are out 12 hours but when they come into the dry lot for overnight I do offer hay and they eat it all.

When my horses were out 24/7 I never fed hay at all.

He may be mad for a while but he should be resigned to the fact that hay is only fed at a certain time( or not at all). Just watch his weight .

[S1969]

Yes to all of the above. Where are you putting the hay? Definitely agree that if it’s in a comfortable, bug free place the horse is unlikely to stand in the hot sun and brave the bugs to eat the grass.

I also agree that once the grass gets mature it can be less palatable. Combined with less convenient, that may be enough to make him prefer the hay.

I wonder also if him being kept alone decreases his interest in grazing. When there is more than one they tend to wander around together as a herd.

[SusanO]

I am in Alabama and yes my horses prefer that nice northern grown orchard grass hay to the bahia and fescue in the pasture. Add in a fan blowing on them and the one that has her door open 24/7 is NOT going outside as long as she has a haynet inside. She will go out and graze after it gets dark but still prefers that fertilized hay that I have to pay for…

[PsyPsy]

Wow, thanks everyone! As usual, I love your insight. And sorry about all the spacing in my original post. Not sure how that happened, but I’m going to blame it on my iPhone.

Thats a good thought about the tastiness factor between orchard grass and pasture grass. I’m sure that plays a big factor. For a while he was fed Georgia-grown coastal hay which he begrudgingly ate but nonetheless still ATE. That hadn’t occurred to me until now.

The hay is actually fed in the pasture with little to no body shade. The hay itself is fully covered with a metal roof covering, but it’s only the same size as the hay feeder so the only shade he gets when eating hay is on his head/neck. Honestly, he has a lot of tree shade throughout his pasture and he seems to stick with the sunny spots even though the weather today was particularly brutal. His Arabian blood seems to keep him hardy and comfy in this maddening heat!!

I guess my biggest worries are 1) That changing his diet (even slowly, over time) will cause him to colic, or 2) He won’t be getting appropriate nutrients from the pasture and will become unhealthy or underweight, and 3) I’m kidding myself to think that I can get away with feeding him off our pasture.

[2DogsFarm]

I’m in the Midwest & my pastures are far from lush. Even so, my 3 eat A LOT less hay when grass comes in.
They spend their days & some nights in shelterless fields with no trees for shade.
On the hottest or coldest or rainiest days they do come in - as evidenced by manure in stalls.

I feed hay only in stalls - they have free access 24/7/365 - and adjust the amount fed judging by what’s left when I feed next.
In the deep of Winter I will toss a flake each outside so they can “graze”.

I hay mornings, evenings & late PM barncheck, putting down more hay only if they’ve eaten what I put down at last feeding.

Currently, with pastures in their best shape grasswise, 16H horse gets a slim flake (~5#), 13H pony gets a slimmer flake or half a bigger one, mini gets half or a handful.
Everyone is in great weight.
Perhaps a bit too great - ribs are invisible & I have to press pretty hard to feel them :rolleyes:

Can you feed hay only in his stall?
That should encourage him to return to grazing when he’s made All Gone with hay in the stall.
Watch his weight over a month & adjust hay accordingly.
Like me, you may have to feed hay year-round, but consumption when you have grass should decrease.

[allons-y]

Mine quit eating hay the second the grass comes in. And it happens over night - I always have hay left over that they won’t touch the next day.

But the TB will eat alfalfa if locked in his stall with it, only if the others are locked in as well, so that’s not happening in summer. Tifton bermuda is delicious to them, the most available Bahia is considered poison - only eaten in the dead of winter. With summer grass, they only want grass, not hay.
The old Paint will stay in his stall all day, eating anything or nothing, just to get out of the bugs. They all have lots of shade (Pecans) and the run-in (or the barn) is still the place to be.
I vote habit - hay habit

[Montanas_Girl]

80 pounds of hay per week averages out to only about 11 pounds per day. That’s roughly 1% of his body weight (assuming he’s an average sized Arab); most horses will eat 2-3% of their body weight in dry matter per day. If he were only eating hay, you should be going through considerably more hay.

So, probably he’s spending half of his time grazing and half at the hay feeder, give or take. I’m in Alabama, and I’ve found that even the warm-season pastures down here tend to slow down on their forage production in mid to late summer. Usually because it gets pretty dry around here at this time of year; not sure what your weather there has been like this summer, but I know it’s been alternately too wet and too dry here since early spring, and that’s done a number on our grasses.

[Marla_100]

I’m in Fl. and have acres and acres of nice lush BAHIA, but the horses tell me it’s junk feed. Actually Bahia was developed

as cow pasture, not for horses and it’s not terribly nutrient dense. I’ve always supplemented their pasture year round and

my horses come running at hay time. I use the pastures simply as a recreational time and not for a healthy diet plan.

[PsyPsy]

@Marla 100

I’m in Fl. and have acres and acres of nice lush BAHIA, but the horses tell me it’s junk feed. Actually Bahia was developed

as cow pasture, not for horses and it’s not terribly nutrient dense. I’ve always supplemented their pasture year round and

my horses come running at hay time. I use the pastures simply as a recreational time and not for a healthy diet plan.

BUMMER! And add to that, the fact that hay in FL is so stupid expensive. At least in my area, anyways. I can’t win, I guess.

[AKB]

I would ask your county agriculture agent to look at your pasture. Some grasses, like Cogan grass and Johnson grass, are not eaten by horses. You may need to do some weed control and reseeding. 2 1/2 acres of pasture is not a lot of pasture, particularly in some parts of the country. He may need supplemental hay If his weight is good, I would keep feeding hay.

[J-Lu]

Do you maintain your pasture by mowing? Do you kill weeds like buttercups?

Pasture isn’t really pasture! The weeds that horses don’t prefer can take over. Also, longer grasses are way less palatable to most horses. Here in NC we like a mix of Bermuda, Fescue, Bluegrass and crabgrass like Goosegrass (my horse loooooves goosegrass), with clover mixed in. We spot-spray the pastures to maintain clover but knock out the weeds. Interestingly, the pastures grow very different things depending on the horses in them. They select very different grasses/lengths of grasses to eat. For example, my horse eats all of the clover while other horses leave it to grow. The pastures are “reset” as best as possible every 6 weeks or so my mowing them.

My horse lives on an individual pasture 24/7 with neighbors and a shared run-in. Pretty much, as soon as the grass comes in, the horses don’t care much about hay. For my horse, if it’s alfalfa or alfalfa mix, he will ALWAYS leave the grass. His pasture has more Bermuda in it and he needs hay longer than some other horses in different pastures. That said, if I give him palatable hay tomorrow, he’ll eat it. Unlike his 4-year old skinny self eating a ton of grain and on 12 hr turnout in a pasture, I now have to really watch his 10-year old weight.

[ridingschoolmrf]

@Montanas_Girl

80 pounds of hay per week averages out to only about 11 pounds per day. That’s roughly 1% of his body weight (assuming he’s an average sized Arab); most horses will eat 2-3% of their body weight in dry matter per day. If he were only eating hay, you should be going through considerably more hay.

So, probably he’s spending half of his time grazing and half at the hay feeder, give or take. I’m in Alabama, and I’ve found that even the warm-season pastures down here tend to slow down on their forage production in mid to late summer. Usually because it gets pretty dry around here at this time of year; not sure what your weather there has been like this summer, but I know it’s been alternately too wet and too dry here since early spring, and that’s done a number on our grasses.

Hi. I read on thiss post that you were in Alabama. I wondered where in Alabama you are located? I just moved to Phil Campbell, Alabbama 35581 from VA. I would love to connect with other horse people in Alabama. I don’t have my horses here yet- we have to finish fencing first. However, I am worried about them eating the Johnson Grass in their pasture b/c it is toxic. Do you have much johnson grass in your pasture where your horses are? If so, do they eat it? or do they tend to try and avoid the johnson grass if there is some other grass available in the pasture? There is quite a lot of Johnson grass in the pasture where we plan to put the horses. I wondered if it would be best to try and spray it or bush hog it before the horses arrive? What are your thoughts?

Jam Lee TePoel - PS- I’m new to this site and haven’t figured out how to start a new post or thread yet, maybe you could give me suggestions.

[ridingschoolmrf]

@SusanO

I am in Alabama and yes my horses prefer that nice northern grown orchard grass hay to the bahia and fescue in the pasture. Add in a fan blowing on them and the one that has her door open 24/7 is NOT going outside as long as she has a haynet inside. She will go out and graze after it gets dark but still prefers that fertilized hay that I have to pay for…

Hi. I read on this post that you were in Alabama. I wondered where in Alabama you are located? I just moved to Phil Campbell, Alabbama 35581 from VA. I would love to connect with other horse people in Alabama. I don’t have my horses here yet- we have to finish fencing first. However, I am worried about them eating the Johnson Grass in their pasture b/c it is toxic. Do you have much johnson grass in your pasture where your horses are? If so, do they eat it? or do they tend to try and avoid the johnson grass if there is some other grass available in the pasture? There is quite a lot of Johnson grass in the pasture where we plan to put the horses. I wondered if it would be best to try and spray it or bush hog it before the horses arrive? What are your thoughts?

Jam Lee TePoel - PS- I’m new to this site and haven’t figured out how to start a new post or thread yet, maybe you could give me suggestions.

[candyappy]

@ridingschoolmrf

Hi. I read on this post that you were in Alabama. I wondered where in Alabama you are located? I just moved to Phil Campbell, Alabbama 35581 from VA. I would love to connect with other horse people in Alabama. I don’t have my horses here yet- we have to finish fencing first. However, I am worried about them eating the Johnson Grass in their pasture b/c it is toxic. Do you have much johnson grass in your pasture where your horses are? If so, do they eat it? or do they tend to try and avoid the johnson grass if there is some other grass available in the pasture? There is quite a lot of Johnson grass in the pasture where we plan to put the horses. I wondered if it would be best to try and spray it or bush hog it before the horses arrive? What are your thoughts?

Jam Lee TePoel - PS- I’m new to this site and haven’t figured out how to start a new post or thread yet, maybe you could give me suggestions.

While not directed at me, I do have Johnson Grass on my place here. While not in the horse pasture specifically, it is in the hay fields and in my goats pasture. We keep it cut for hay or mowed to keep it short and no issues with grazing or feeding what is in the hay we bale.

We spray but with it’s traveling root system it just comes right back. Best thing is to brush hog it often so it doesn’t get mature enough to go to seed. It should be safe for them that way.

[SusanO]

I have been able to eradicate it in my small pasture by frequent close mowing in hot dry weather. The rhizomes can’t cope with that. I jump on my riding mower weekly in the summer and keep that half acre pasture mowed short. I do have it in the big pasture because I can’t afford to pay the tractor guy to mow it weekly. It is mostly in the low spots. It is last choice for my horses and I try to give them something better to eat. I have never had problems with my horses eating it. I have gotten rid of most of it in my garden buy frequent spraying with Roundup.