# Your hay burner needs high-octane fuel



## Live Oak (Dec 22, 2003)

Your hay burner needs high-octane fuel 


Dec 5, 2007 10:15 AM, By Lamar James
Arkansas Extension Specialist



Nutritious, high-quality hay is important if you want your hay burner to be healthy, says Steve Jones, associate professor/equine specialist with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service.

Hay is the most common form of forage fed to horses. Quality is important because it determines how much value the horse can get from the hay.

Horse owners may be tempted to buy low-quality hay because of its bargain price, “but it’s not a bargain if it’s nearly indigestible to the horse, if they refuse to eat it or if it makes them sick.”

The trick to producing a nutritious hay product, Jones says, is to make sure it has been cut at the right maturity. The highest quality hay will have more leaves than stems and few seed heads or flowers. It will feel soft to the touch.

“Horsemen often put high value on a green hay color. But in Arkansas, color is not a reliable indicator of hay nutritional quality.”

In the intense Southern sun, hay bleaches quickly, but still may have excellent nutritional value, while overmature, poor-quality hay baled under different conditions may still be bright green. Also, bales often bleach and weather on the outside, yet retain green color inside.

The only sure way to know if your hay is high quality is to take a sample and have it tested in a laboratory.

Ideally, samples should be obtained from 20 bales using a hay-coring device. If a hay corer is not available, open the bales and take a handful of hay from the center. Mix them together in a large paper sack and send the entire sample to the laboratory.

“The UA Agricultural Services Laboratory in Fayetteville, Ark., provides testing, and samples can be sent there directly or through your county Extension agent,” Jones says.

Another crucial part of quality hay is cleanliness. Hay should be free of dust and mold — the leading contributors to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

“When evaluating horse hay for potential feeding or purchase, break open several bales and look at the interior.” The hay should have a clean, fresh smell — never moldy, musty or dusty. It should be a uniform green color throughout.

“Quality hay is also free of weeds, sticks, pine needles, small dead animals and insects and trash.”

Here are other tips from Jones about feeding hay:

Trash is frequently found in hay that was baled beside a road. Horses will pick most of it out of the hay, but may accidentally consume dangerous pieces of trash.

Horses kept outside can be fed hay from large, round bales. Round bales are most effective when there are enough horses to eat an entire bale within a few days.

Hay for pastured horses can be fed on the ground if the soil is not sandy.

Small square bales are more convenient for feeding stabled horses. Large round bales are less expensive per ton, but they require equipment to move them.

Hay prices should always be compared on a per ton basis rather than per bale.

Dense, properly made, round bales shed rainwater and can be stored outside if they’re raised off the ground. Covering bales with plastic can help reduce spoilage.

Hay exposed to the elements by sitting on damp ground or being exposed to rain will weather and form a moldy outer layer. The interior will remain nutritious.

For more information about horses, contact your county Extension agent or visit www.uaex.edu and select Agriculture, then Horses.

e-mail: [email protected]


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## wass (Jan 3, 2007)

Very good article, although I would like to know his definition of " nutritious high quality hay ". There is a difference between dairy and horse hay. Horses need long stems and some bulk to keep their gut cleaned out. They need a balance between volume and nutritional value.Dairy quality is generally fine-stemmed and of high nutritional value where as horse hay, a little courser stemmed, a lower nutritional value but clean and no mold. I feed our stock outside year round with shelter when they want it ( and they seldom do ), without turnout coats. They get about 50/50 early bud alfalfa/grass mix round bales, free choice with no grain. If they get grain, they get fat, so guess we're doing something right. Mr. James does know what he's talking about and I especially liked the per ton buying and the discussion about the sand.


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## Simpleprestige (Apr 20, 2007)

Is he talking generally about horses and cattle or just about horses, you can feed cattle just about any hay as long as there is no trash or crap in it. Horses have very picky systems and must hav superhigh quality. Yesterday we hauled a trailer and picked up 3 round bales of 50/50 grass and alfalfa. The bales weren't even round and they fell apart at the touch, but man is it beautiful hay. Hay is a tough thing to find around these parts. Some peaople want over 6.00 a bale for squares. This guy charged us $32 a bale, and that is a great deal. If word gets out, he'll be sold out within the week.


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## Live Oak (Dec 22, 2003)

What size round bales are they? $32 for a 5 x 6 round bale around our area is a steal especially for alfafa hay into too. We pasture graze Miss Aryia and Mr. Mingo for the most part with a suppliment of about 1/2 of grain twice a day for each since we are pretty sure one is near giving birth and the other was severely malnourished when we got him. Once Aryia is done nursing the foal and Mingo is in shape we will pasture graze them exclusely. I think pasture grazing is the best way if you have the pasture.


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## wass (Jan 3, 2007)

Mr James mentioned buying hay by the ton and that is the only way to even think about comparing prices! I make solid 4.5x4ft bales which average about 520lbs each which we get 35 to 40$ for. I'm told everyone elses are about 800lbs for 4x4 bales. They've got to sell them somehow. If they are fluffy, they will be lighter than if they are rolled or packed tight. a lot lighter. If it is too dry when baled, and packed tight, the leaves will turn to dust, so sometimes it should be a little less dense. If it isn't packed tight, it won't shed water but will soak it up like a sponge and must be stored under cover! The looser the bales, the more they will deform. 
As for the nutrition, a pregnant or sick horse needs a special diet and must be adjusted with care which is the treatment Miss Aryia and Mr Mingo got. What do they get at pasture? That's all they need or should generally have! Dairy cattle get the best feed money can buy, horses are next with beef cattle eating the garbage with very little hay being too bad for them.


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## Live Oak (Dec 22, 2003)

> _Originally posted by wass _
> *As for the nutrition, a pregnant or sick horse needs a special diet and must be adjusted with care which is the treatment Miss Aryia and Mr Mingo got. What do they get at pasture? That's all they need or should generally have!*


The pastures are more or less a mix of various grasses such as Johnson, orchard, blue stem broom sedge, some fescue, a little clover, etc. 

We also mix in a vitamin supplement in the sweet feed they get. Miss Aryia has been with us the longest and has filled out well and looks real good. My daughter has cut her sweet feed back. Mr. Mingo still has a good ways to go but is putting on weight, building and filling out a lot of muscle mass. He is still lacking in his hind quarters but gradually improving. 

We have found that exercising the horse plays a large roll in their health as well as their behavior. Aryia likes to play "chase me" with my daughter and likes to run after being fed. Mingo at first was really in poor shape and just watched. Now he joins in and his muscle mass and definition is greatly improving. This activity is alway begun and ended by one of us walking upto them and petting them so they are not being trained to run away.


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## Morgan (Oct 26, 2006)

Fescue with a pregant horse is a no no. Here read this it may just save a life.

http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/horse/406-475/406-475.html


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## Live Oak (Dec 22, 2003)

What little fescue that appears to be there is Red Fescue. I was under the impression that Tall Fescue is a problem. Is Red Fescue also in this category. We plan to put Aryia on a separate pasture in a few weeks that seems to be pretty much fescue free.


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## Morgan (Oct 26, 2006)

Im not sure, I thought it was all fescue, here is what Wikipedia says, I guess the only way to know for sure is to have it tested.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festuca

I sprayed the pasture I am using this year and got rid of all of the fescue and now I have Bermuda in that pasture. I have goats and horses on this pasture and I read that the fescue is just as toxic to goats as it is horses.


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## Simpleprestige (Apr 20, 2007)

Also be careful of that orchard grass with brood mares. It can be known to couase problems with ruptures in the amneotic sac, I probably spelled that wrong.

When is the foal due, any questions you have you can ask me, as we had two foals in the spring and plan on rebreading our old mare again in February. We went through h e l l trying to get the horse right on time and making sure she was right, and then has the foal close to 3 weeks late. Our other one really ticked us off because we went out to the barn one morning and there was a colt laying in the stall. Make sure to have a vet come out soon after the foal is born and check out the alsdkjaljkf sac and see what sex the foal is. we have known people who think it was a colt and found out six months later that it was a filly.

Keep askin




Keep your stick on the ice


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## Live Oak (Dec 22, 2003)

Thanks for the info. guys. We'll look at moving them to another pasture that is almost all blue stem broom sedge and johnson grass. Not the greatest forage but not fescue. 

Sorry about the auto censor. I fixed the sex problem.


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