# Prairie grass ?



## notmydaytoday (Sep 16, 2016)

Can someone explain to me what prairie grass is they sell it around here of $3.00 per small square.

I am just wondering as it is popular with horse people but for the price I wouldn't think it to be good quality hay.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

notmydaytoday said:


> Can someone explain to me what prairie grass is they sell it around here of $3.00 per small square.


I am guessing that it is a mixture of native grasses and other wild grasses.



notmydaytoday said:


> I am just wondering as it is popular with horse people but for the price I wouldn't think it to be good quality hay.


"Price" is the key word with horse people.....lot's of expense to own horses.

Regards, Mike


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

At least here its a mix of native fescues and needle grasses. Or sometimes called prairie wool. Grow thick but not very tall. Is hard to cut. Some people here like it cause it maintains its quality over the winter if left uncut or grazed. Which is true. But the problem is its very low quality to start with. High fiber, low protein.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Prairie grass has different meanings to different people. Some people call PG any type of native grass mostly Bluestems that's in a bale including a lot of weeds & sometimes berry vines & briar vines. IMHO good horse type PG comes from places such as Kansas grown on flint hills type soil. Bluestem in my area when cut & baled turns a reddish color if rd baled and stored outside. Also if cut when too mature has seedheads resembling fluffy cotton. An old friend of mine in yrs past got truckloads of Kansas PG delivered for his livestock.


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## 2ndWindfarm (Nov 11, 2014)

Back home in western SD it was Blue gamma, Side oat gamma, Western wheatgrass, and the warm season natives; Big bluestem, Little bluestem mostly.

Slick, slippery to bale. But will dry and cure without dust or mold in the blink of an eye!

Low yield, low protein and it's what horses have been eating for several hundred years.


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## MFSuper90 (Jun 26, 2015)

In my neck of the woods PG is a mix of big blue, little blue, Indian grass, side oats gamma, gamma, and switchgrass. Typically if it is harvested in early July before the stem emerges it can be pretty good grass. It's very fine bladed and horses love it. If I can get it baled at the right time with the right color, I have no trouble getting $5 and $6 a bale for it depending on the time of year I'm selling. Downside of PG is it's a single cut only and really dosent yeild that much 30 to 50 small bales an acre. I normally don't throw a huge bid in for that ground


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## notmydaytoday (Sep 16, 2016)

Thank you guys for your help.

John


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