>Susan G.
>Linda says she is now feeding coastal
hay. I live in >coastal region SC and also feed bermuda. It is
sandy >here and my hay comes from Orangeburg, clay and >sand. I
also feed some alfalfa from north midwest states >to my youngsters.
>My question is: does bermuda, by its
very nature being >grown in sandy soils, contain more sand than, say
>timothy or orchard grass hays? They are grown west >and
It might, not because it's a different type of
hay per se, but because sandy soils might be more likely to get mixed up and
incorporated into the hay as its cut and baled. I'm not familiar with
haying prcedures to quite that extent, but I sure have seen a wide range of
dirt contents in different bales of hay from different areas, and remember,
sand in the gut could be just the heavier bits of plain old dirt, not just
sand (since the primary difference is just particle size and organic
content)
I mentioned this at a few lectures this past year
(can't remember which ones anymore, they're all just a blur)<g>, but I
once decided to tear apart a flake of alfalfa to see how much dirt/sand
settled out. I was so surprised that I ended up soaking the whole (120
lb) bale and found that EIGHTEEN POUNDS of that bale was sand. And this
was top-quality hay kept on wooden pallets. I've repeated the experiment
a few times since and always get an appreciable amount of dirt out of a bale,
alot of which would naturally be eaten by a horse, just as though he were
trying to graze grass in an overgrazed paddock.
>Your opinion, please:) Do the different
hays help ward off >allergies and sand in gut?
>Long note for 2 questions!:)
>Beth Gunn
Well, as far as allergies, different hays have
different protein structures, which is what triggers allergic responses---so
different hays can affect horses differently, and there's no telling which
hays will work better for individual hrses. As far as sand, see
above---the soil it's grown in could make a difference, but the harvesting
practices between one producer and the next could make a big difference,
too. I'd suggest soaking a couple flakes of hay in a big tub, pulling
the flakes completely apart and see how much sand settles out. My horses
love it when I do this, they think we're all playing Bobbing For Hay.
:-)
Susan G