What would you do to fix this hay conundrum?

[One_Two_Three]

I’m responsible for providing my own feed and hay for my horse at our boarding facility. I’m okay with this, as it gives me better control over what my horse is eating. However, I’ve been feeding the ‘barn hay’ for over two years now, and it’s never impressed me unless it’s the first cutting. Every other load is always yellow, stalky, and doesn’t smell “delicious”…

My horse will spit out pieces of hay because some are just so “ick”. I’m not happy that it looks like i’m buying overpriced straw more than hay.

The horse eats a timothy/alfalfa blend. I’m going to say it’s probably got more around the realms of 5% alfalfa or less, honestly. I’m not even sure I see much timothy in it. It’s not impressive when it’s these crap loads. A bale costs $14.

The horse eats a bale every two days.

It has been suggested that I feed him a cheaper grass hay (he gets freechoice hay in a net during stall time) mixed with a lovely straight alfalfa.

I tried to feed him grass hay in his net and a few flakes of alf each day on the ground. He started wasting alf and strew the grass hay about his stall. It also smelled more like grass clippings from a lawn mower.
This is a more budget friendly option as ‘grass or coastal’ type hays are only $8 a bale here. He gets alf pellets, so I’m not concerned with him in-taking alfalfa, I just worry about the nutrition and calories and price most.

Do I keep feeding the $14 crap tim/alf blend that has many pieces looking like straw?

Do I try again to feed him a coastal/grass hay at almost half the price?

I guess I’m looking for opinions. I know some say horses are more likely to choke or colic on coastal type hays…this doesn’t make them a dealbreaker but it’s in the back of my mind, so no need to advise on that. It’s also notable to add that with these large stalky pieces of hay, he has some trouble chewing (who wouldn’t!) them.

I just want to keep the most calories in him, at the most economical price I can. If it means that feeding the less than perfect current hay, that’s fine, I just often wonder if the coastal or grass hay doesn’t hold more nutrients, even given it’s “bad rap”…

[findeight]

Get the hay actually analyzed for nutritional content?

[AmarachAcres]

Sometimes I think this is really over thought.

You can get it analyzed for peace of mind and go with what you have.

Here are options and various ways I do it depending on the current needs:

1.) Easy keepers feed local and a ration balancer.

2.) REALLLY easy keepers: feed quality local / tim/ orchard at just under what they need calorie wise but have cheap safe hay for them to feel full.

3.) Regular maintenance horse: One flake good cheap local, one flake high cost timonthy/orchard. Fill extra pounds with which way you need. Easier horse more local, harder horse more tim.

There is no true right or wrong way. Each horse is it’s own mash of needs/wants.

Is your horse having any health problems to bring on this worry?

[csaper58]

I second getting the hay analyzed. Is peanut hay available near you?

[One_Two_Three]

I have considered getting it analyzed…but since he is having difficulties chewing the large huge stalks in this load, I’ve just gotten so frustrated with it. Never have I seen a horse spit out pieces of hay like he is doing with this junk.

Peanut hay is available, it’s also more expensive, and my horse will not touch it.

The horse is a hard-ish keeper, off track since Feb, requires hay in front of him at all times that he isn’t grazing. He is eating forage based everything for the most part.

I will consider getting the hay currently using analyzed, but it doesn’t help that it’s still so gross looking/unappealing to my horse. I mean, can the analyzing go so far as to say WHAT the blend really is, so that I can at least call my hay guy out when he tries to tell me it’s a 50/50 blend, and I see nothing close to resembling alfalfa?

I can’t analyze the grass hay unless I buy a bale, but for $8 I might consider that as well. The hay bill is through the roof, and while I want to keep him on unlimited hay, I’ve got to find a more economic way, or at least know that i’m feeding a quality enough product to be worth the $14 a bale.

Anyone want to suggest where I get hay tested? I know I’ve seen around the forum that some people go to the extension office…I couldn’t find any information on that where I am located, but could be “googling” incorrectly.

The main concern for me doing this, is not only to make sure I’m paying a fair price for what I’m getting, but to also plan ahead for winter. It may be Florida, but contrary to popular belief, grass stops growing here in winter too, and hay quality suffers (more so than the regions of the country where hay comes from!). I want to start ‘feeding for winter’ even though I’m still ‘feeding the fresh off the track TB’, and I need to get my hay in order before I consider increasing his other food options.

ETA: the horse’s teeth are fine, he was done back in May. A little worn, but he can chew most normal stuff just fine–this stalky hay is particularly thick, like straw!

[Real_Rush]

If in the end Bermuda is your best/only option, try looking for someone who sells Tift44 or Alicia. These 2 kinds don’t have quite the risk of impaction that coastal/common Bermuda hay does as the individual blades are not as fine. Can’t believe your guy won’t eat the peanut; I’ve heard it’s very comparable to alfalfa since it’s a legume hay. (i.e. candy for horses!) Is there a feed store that will deliver hay to your barn? Or have a truck you can grab some yourself with? That way you can go see what they actually have in stock and know exactly what you’re getting. I know most places charge a delivery fee, but most also give a per bale discount when buying larger quantities. See if another boarder might be interested in getting some too, and you can split the fees.

You could also try using a small hole hay net to prevent him from trashing any hay around and wasting it. Being off the track, he probably almost always ate from a net anyway. Would take him 2 secs to figure out the trick of the smaller holes. Good luck!

[2miniB]

Equianalytical is good for hay testing.

[IPEsq]

Could you buy a mixed hay from a different supplier than the barn uses? I’m reading this as you’d have to go out and buy your own if you fed coastal anyway but am a little confused on your options.

It is probably the alfalfa that looks so stemmy and not the timothy. Maybe cut too late.

[Marla_100]

I would start searching out your own hay source- another feed store- or another hay person. Getting decent hay here in Florida is hit or miss but you almost always have to lay eyes on it before buying it. don’t just accept someone’s word for hay that your horse won’t eat or picks at.

After you find a hay source for yourself, figure out how you can pick up 7-8 bales and bring it to your barn and store it separately from your BO’s hay. Put a sheet over it with a sign on it w/ your name and “Do Not Touch”.
I’ve had to do this several times due to barn getting crappy hay.

You may need to line up a buddy w/ a truck or depending on the size of your car, an average full sized trunk will hold 6-7 bales.

Buy half good quality and half coastal. right now the coastal is pretty good as it’s freshly cut. At least you’ll save some $$ if you buy half good quality and half coastal.

[candyappy]

Late first cutting hay will be stalky , yellow( dead, dried growth) and exactly as you describe your undesirable hay. Second cut will be fined stemmed unless it was cut so late and/ or rained on and left to over dry which would affect the color and smell.

If this is the “barn hay” find your own source. maybe you can go in with other boarders and get a larger load?

[One_Two_Three]

My options are limited, being in Florida. The term ‘barn hay’ is a loose statement. I happen to feed my horse the same hay that the barn feeds which comes from one place. If I switch, I will lose the luxury of having my BO pick up hay for me, which is fine if it’s what I need to do.

I was considering a switch to coastal because it’s the “local” hay, it’s cheaper, and right now it looks to be a much higher quality than the hay hauled from up north that looks ancient or destroyed.

Other options include orchard/alfalfa or timothy/alfalfa from a different supplier (although both are much more expensive at $17 & $18 a bale).

My horse eats from a small hole hay net at this time, though it’s notable to add that when he last had a grassy hay, it was in a regular hay net, not the small hole, so that issue of strewing hay about may not be so severe now.

The idea is to give him the coastal, tifton, bermuda (whatever I can find that looks the best–will have to look into tifton) as his ‘filler’ hay. The hay he munches from all day long. And supplement with either a straight alfalfa or a timothy blend at meal times. Right now he’s getting alfalfa pellets with his meals, and depending on cost, I could also just increase his pellet ration. Alfalfa is extremely expensive here, and oddly enough he prefers the pellets to actual alfalfa hay; he also has some hind gut disturbances which leads me to almost prefer the pellets over the long stem alf.

I was quite surprised he turned his nose up at the peanut hay as well. But if it is similar to that of straight alfalfa, I can understand, as I said, he wasted the straight alfalfa hay he used to get. He used to nibble on the alf, but the peanut? wouldn’t even look at it!

SO-- hay people humor me this…
I know NOTHING about cuttings. All I know is what the hay dude tells me, but second-hand from the barn owner. The last load we had was “first cutting” and it was gorgeous and green and my horse hoovered it up and ate a bale a day. (which was expensive at $14 a bale)… I have no clue what cutting this second load is…or what any subsequent load thereafter is…he only boasts about his ‘first cutting’ green hay because it’s the only decent hay he sells, and it only lasts maybe a month?

So this stalky ugly yellow hay could be a late first cutting? SO maybe from the same area but cut later than the pretty stuff we had before? I’m assuming that there’s no getting another quality load this year…I mean it’s still hot and we still get rain here in Florida, but I would think that everywhere where this type of hay comes from is probably not harvesting much more hay for the year, is this correct?

This is another reason why I was thinking of switching to a local hay-it’s so much more accessible than the other stuff and seems way more consistent, even if not as desirable as a timothy blend would be. Just as soon as I get one part of this horse’s nutrition under control, there’s another new part to play around with. I’m all for if it’s not broke, dont fix it…but it’s kinda broke…so I need to at least do some gluing or something… haha

[tabula_rashah]

I say go with whatever he is happiest eating and therefore gets the most long stem fiber into him. You can fill in nutritional holes with concentrate or a vit/min supplement.

[betonbill]

I’m in Florida, and the BM feeds coastal hay rolls (horse is out 24/7 with a brief sojourn into a stall in the evening for grain). I’ve begun buying extra hay, either straight alfalfa or grass/alfalfa mix and feeding a flake at p.m. during the winter, which seems to help a lot. The coastal seems to be a nice filler hay, and I’ve heard from some sources that it is more nutritious than timothy, which I’ve found to be very coarse and not very palatable to my particular horse.

The peanut hay is good if horse will eat it, but a lot of the bales are light weight, expensive for their size/weight, and the leaves tend to fall off and all you are left with are stems and some leaves.

A couple of the horses have also been successfully supplemented with soaked cubes when no good hay was available. You may have to experiment to find out what works for your situation.

[Hermein]

I understand that coastal bermuda has something in it that does cause colics in some horses, while common bermuda does not. Teff grass, or Tift grass hay is ok. Alfalfa delivers the most calories per pound.

If you can find affordable edible hay that won’t kill him, you could buy alfalfa cubes and feed them soaked. How about beet pulp?

Hay is a problem all over–too dry, too rich, too expensive, repeat.

[cdalt]

I don’t know where you are located in FL but I live in the Panhandle and have fed coastal bermuda (various varieties) for 40 years without colic problems (Knock on Wood!) The last few years I have tried to up the nutrition levels since I have 2 senior horses by using a combination of bermuda hay and a legume hay (either alfalfa hay, soaked alfalfa cubes or peanut hay). They always eagerly eat the alfalfa or peanut and then slowly and grudgingly consume the bermuda but it is always cleaned up. I have heard it said that coastal bermuda is the equivalent of iceberg lettuce - even if well fertilized, weed free and “green”. Not very nutritious but a good source of fiber and a filler. Using half and half (bermuda/legume) hay ration saves me money and I think the old guys do better with this. As to cuttings, first cut of bermuda is green but often has more weeds and I find that trying to store a winter’s worth of hay over the summer is a problem because of the intense heat and humidity here. So I generally buy a second or third cutting (just bought some two weeks ago and hope to get more in September or October). I usually buy alfalfa cubes (more fiber than pellets) and soak them a bit before feeding - also a good way to get supplements into my guys. Hope this helps.
P.S. Could there be some Johnson grass in your hay? It is very stalky and stemmy and horses hate it, although cattle do eat it.