Unlimited access >

Orchard vs Timothy

A boarding barn I am looking at for my horse only provides Timothy and Alfalfa hay, which is fine but my horse is currently on orchard. So I became curious, what is the difference between timothy and orchard hay? I’m not really experienced with hay at all, and just feed my horse what my trainer and vet tell me lol. thanks!

Your horse should be okay with the switch. Timothy and Orchard are similar nutritionally, and in texture. The seed heads on timothy look very different than orchard grass. They’re cylindrical, almost like tiny cattails. For what it’s worth, my horses normally eat orchard grass, but the last time I picked up hay, my hay guy wanted me to take some timothy since some equipment was in the way of the orchard grass. I said “sure”. My horses were not impressed. At least with these two batches (baled by the same guy in the same general area), my horses greatly preferred the orchard grass, but in the end were perfectly willing to eat the timothy.

1 Like

Perfect, Thank you so much!