I’ve always been told Timothy hay is the one of two Cadallic hays for horses - alfalfa being the other.
What is it about straight Timothy hay that makes it a desirable hay? What is it about Timothy that makes it a beneficial hay to feed horses?
Any sage info is much appreciated.
Good Timothy is really nice hay but I actually don’t care for it. We stopped planting it because if the weather doesn’t cooperate and it gets even a few days past peak maturity it gets stemmy and horses don’t like it as well. I prefer orchardgrass.
Probably the main reason is that it is (along with alfalfa) just the most common grass grown for hay. It is easy to make into hay: it grows long quickly, fairly hardy if used for hay and not grazed, is more “stalky” than leafy when it grows up. It is also the most palatable grass to horses, with exceptions as always. It is not prone to disease or fungus. e.g. alfalfa can harbour blister beetles, reed canary wild species contain alkaloids that have various harmful affects, tall fescue is often infected with endophytes. Timothy also grows well in cooler northern weather. People will feed grass like Timothy as opposed to legumes like alfalfa just for the nutritional quality. Grass has less protein and is a little harder to digest so it’s good for sedentary horses, easy keepers of lightly working horses.
Timothy might not be the magical feed that everyone always makes it out to be. But these are some reasons why many people might prefer to use it.
I prefer little to no timothy in hay i find horses waste it instead of eat it. That’s why i feed alfa mostly, and a bale or two of plain grass hay no timothy in it.
I’m not a fan. I much prefer good orchard grass. I am a fan of a bit of alfalfa though too.
Good to help prevent colic. Both costal bermuda and alicia are so fine, they tend to increase colic.
Trouble with timothy is that it is harder to grow, so it’s not grown much in the South. Sprigs must be planted, not like coast which grows like a weed.
Yes, I pay extra to get timothy hay.
yeah, I think it is not so much “cadillac” for the horse, but maybe for a grower (depending on your region). It’s just another grass hay, and nutritionally/calorie-wise I am not sure there is a huge difference between the big three - timothy, fescue and orchardgrass, except where they are grown. The bahia/bermuda hay types may differ a little in nutrition, definitely in “stemmy” factor. Alfalfa and peanut hay are legumes so they are just a different class of hay altogether.
Someone once told me (not sure if it is true since I don’t grow hay) that T&A hits three predictable stages - 1st cut - mostly timothy, not so much alfalfa, 2nd cut is as close to a palatable mix as possible, 3rd cut is mostly alfalfa. That’s probably a useful standard for horse people so you get a lot more T&A than most other hays in show barns, etc. Less a cadillac standard and more just a useful standard.
I’m not a fan… for straight grass hay I prefer orchard grass. Timothy is usually stemmier and less palatable.
The stemmier the better for easy keeper warmbloods! The big heads, which others complain about, mean less nutrition and more fiber. And for easy keepers, better to have the very thick stems of timothy than the finer and greener hays.
No alfalfa for mine. Not good for warmbloods. And orchard grass, well it depends on the cutting. Those of you with hard keepers have to choose the opposite. I’ve owned 3 ottb mares who were easy keepers, almost as chubby as my 2 wbs. And my other 2 horses were also easy keepers. Owned 7 horses in my lifetime, all easy keepers. Coastal hay sucks. And the growers here say alicia is worse for colic.
My colic prone horse eats Timothy Hay.
It is lower in sugar than Orchard grass and stemmier than Bermuda grass.
It has helped immensely with his issues of re-occurring, gassy, mild impaction colic.
Here, Timothy and Alfalfa are trucked in from far away. They are the Cadillac hays because they are almost as expensive as a Cadillac.
Any hay is good hay when it is cut at the right time. We have grown alfalfa, timothy, orchard grass and a mixed grass/ clover mix ( currently). My animals eat everything and waste very little EXCEPT when it is cute and baled late.
The problem isn’t the type it is when it was cut and baled. Sadly it seems that weather is no longer predictable and early season grass hay is consistently well over mature when the weather cooperates for baling.
That = crappy hay.
Generally lower in sugar (YMMV) than other hays, which is the main reason I feed it. I do also like alfalfa, but since I feed a mixed herd right now, I’m feeding everyone from the burritos to the WB timothy. Yes it can be less palatable, due to less sugar, I got a WTF-face from the old horse for a week when I switched everyone, and now he chows down like a champ.
I can’t feed orchard grass because it gives the WB a case of the running shits, complete cow patties. What makes it to the ground at least, and not in his tail and down his legs. My vet said it’s actually fairly common, at least around here.
I can’t seem to post a quote here but have to agree with people who say they prefer orchard- I prefer orchard. It looks like it would be so much tastier.
My HORSES however go nuts over good Timothy hay. Go figure. I have pretty easy keepers and have had a good experience with it.
The stemmier the better for easy keeper warmbloods! The big heads, which others complain about, mean less nutrition and more fiber. And for easy keepers, better to have the very thick stems of timothy than the finer and greener hays.
Okay, I’ve been wondering something about this. Not to hijack but I ordered first cutting orchard grass and when it arrived I clearly saw timothy seed heads. I asked and the delivery guys said, “Oh yeah, that’s an orchard/timothy mix.” Not exactly what I ordered. I was annoyed and not sure I wanted it and didn’t appreciate the switcheroo, or having to decide on the spot with no experience with timothy. I ended up accepting it though.
Since I switched the horses onto it I’ve noticed that their manure has changed a lot in consistency. There are larger pieces of undigested (?) hay visible in the manure and it’s drier and looser than usual–not loose as in diarrhea, loose as in disintegrates into pieces when stepped on or picked, rather than staying it tight moist balls. (Sorry for all the gory details there…) They’ve eaten first cutting orchard before without such a noticeable change in consistency, but from a different supplier too.
Is that something that can happen with timothy?
Where I live (PNW), we have “local grass hay” that can be anything at all, of any quality, grown in the coastal rain belt by small farmers, which you can buy from the field or have delivered. Then we have timothy and alfalfa that are grown by commercial producers, in the dryer areas in the interior, and you buy from either a hay dealer or through a feed store. Timothy tends to be 3 string bales, and the hay that is transported down to the coast, at least, is much more standard in quality.
That said, timothy is not necessarily lower in NSC or finer or coarser than the other grass hays. It all depends on when it was cut in the growing cycle, and indeed even on the time of day, like all grasses. Mature timothy can be stalky, but younger timothy can be leafy and green, and not even have the characteristic inflorescence present yet.
IME, having looked at tests for various hays, palatability is related to the fineness of the hay, but the fineness of the hay is not related to the NSC content. So you can have very nice, fine, soft hay that your horses love, but it is not necessarily high sugar. And you can have coarse, stemmy, mature hay that is also high NSC. The “coarse pony hay” (local hay, a mix of random grass and some timothy) I had tested a few years ago had 24 % NSC, which is crazy high. I don’t know how much of that sugar was nutrtionally available, given that the ADC (undigestible fibre) was also high. However, I do think this hay was connected to a small pony (not under my care) eventually foundering. The very high NSC hay (both coarse first cut and finer second cut) from this same farm did also tend to give my mare diarrhea, which I think was related to the NSC levels. And I also find, now that I am not feeding it this year at all, that my mare is not tending towards obesity quite as quickly. Her weight is staying stable on more hay than when I was feeding the high NSC hay.
This year and last, I’ve ended up mixing nicer “local” grass hay with commercial 3 string timothy, and the timothy is very, very, nice. But I think this is as much to do with the fact it has been well made, in a better hay-growing region, as it has to do with the actual species of the grass.
First cut hay can mean more stems which means more fiber seen in the manure. As for changes in manure…how long since you switched hay?
I like Timothy because my horse likes it and it makes him less gassy than the orchard grass (possibly due to different fructan levels), but orchard is easier to get here. He is more picky about the orchard grass and would much prefer to eat Timothy stems than all but the best looking orchard. A good middle ground grass hay for him in terms of palatability and digestability is brome. He is speshul.
Libby2563…
Here, visible pieces of hay in the manure = time to check teeth because the horses teeth are not grinding properly.
Or, they could be eating too fast and not chewing long enough. That can be due to hunger, cold, greed, competition, etc.
It is not preferred here. I only feed quality Orchard grass/alfalfa.
I don’t know who says it is a preferred hay, but my horses won’t eat it and it just looks nasty to me.
The Timothy we get is lovely hay. Green and sweet smelling, stemmier than Bermuda, but not as stemmy as straw. It has plenty of seed heads.
IPEsq: I switched them the weekend before last so they’ve been eating it for about 10 days. Like I said, I’ve fed 1st cutting before and haven’t had this change in manure but it was all OG and from different suppliers.
csaper: Thanks for the input! Two of them had their teeth done a month ago by a well-regarded equine dentist I’ve been using for years, and the third was checked but didn’t need anything, so I’m pretty confident that’s not it. I don’t think they’re feeling rushed either (free choice hay in a Hay Hut, same on consistency on warm and cold days, and same when they’re stalled for a day and fed individually rather than as a group), but I’ll keep that in mind as a possibility.
I’m sort of unhappy with this hay overall, so I guess I’m wondering whether this manure change is validation and a sign that I need to find something else (unfortunately I’m $1,000+ in on this hay so that’s not my first choice). ADF is 37% and NDF is 61%, so both on the high end but not that surprising for 1st cutting. Is anyone alarmed by those numbers?
I think this is the last year I’ll buy 1st cutting for winter. Around here the spring is too wet for it to be cut early enough to not be crap. Live and learn…
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