ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: Grass Hay vs. Alfalfa

Re: Grass Hay vs. Alfalfa

David Bennett (benamil@juno.com)
Mon, 6 Oct 1997 18:05:25 EDT

I have a couple of observations about bermuda -- coastal bermuda or just
plain 'coastal' to us in North Georgia, which is about the northern
extreme where it is grown. Many people here feed mixed grass including
a lot of fescue. When it is available most people are glad to get
coastal bermuda as a better hay for their horses.

There seem to be two times when a horse gets colicky with bermuda. The
first is when he has been on other grasses and is suddenly switched to
the coastal hay. Then it seems to be common for the horse to get
gassy... The other time is when the hay is first put in the barn. I
thought this was just an old farmer's superstition but it does seem that
the hay needs to sit in the barn for a week or more after it is baled to
allow some additional curing before it is fed.

Our coastal bermuda seems to be fairly nutrient-rich. Perhaps this is
because we have it cut before it grows too tall and gets stemmy and dry.
I plan to confirm it by getting an analysis done on it this fall. After
several years of feeding it I have not observed a problem with horses
losing condition when it is fed exclusively.

After saying this, my preference for good horse hay is still orchard
grass with timothy and clover mixed.

Dave Bennett
with half the barn full of beautiful Tift 44 Bermuda
Chickamauga, Georgia

On Mon, 6 Oct 1997 11:08:46 -0400 truman.prevatt@netsrq.com (Truman
Prevatt) writes:
>>Lauren Horn wrote:
>>>
>>> Just when you thought you had everything figured out:
>>>
>>> A friends vet just advised against feeding grass hay (bermuda,
>around
>>> here) because, as more people are feeding it, he is seeing more and
>more
>>> cases of colic because the grass strands are longer and get all
>twisted
>>> up in the gut also.
>>>
>>> Any comment?
>
>This comes up now and again. In general coastal bermuda is the staple
>of
>horses in much of the southeast. If this hay tendied to cause colic,
>I
>would expect you would see higher incidents of colic in the southeat
>than
>other regions. Also none of the vet schools in the southeast have
>indicated that coastal was a problem. I do not believe this to be the
>case. I would suspect that maybe sand could be the problem rather
>than the
>hay.
>
>The main beef I have with bermuda hay is that it basically only
>satisifies
>the fiber portion of the diet. It is not a good nutritious grass when
>compaired with other grasses. So to keep weight on you need to
>supplement
>with some other types of hay, e.g. the dreaded alfalfa, or some other
>grass
>hay imported from the north.
>
>Truman
>
>
>
>Truman Prevatt
>Mystic "The Horse form Hell" Storm with a lille hellion on the way
>The Rockman, a.k.a Misty Jr.
>Jordy - Finaly getting his shot
>
>Sarasota, FL
>
>
>

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