# What is Considered Horse Hay?



## yamaharider28 (Sep 8, 2014)

What do people consider horse hay? Is it horse hay just because it was baled dry and put up dry? Is it horse hay because it is free of weeds?


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

There is no correct answer.Every horse person has a different idea what horse hay should be.


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## rajela (Feb 15, 2014)

In SE Okla horse hay is just good dry on mold hay...


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## gradyjohn (Jul 17, 2012)

Basically a forage that is easily digestible by a horse without weeds. Type depends on the horse owner/trainer/manager etc. Just expanding on what Swmnhay said.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Anything a horse will eat and not get sick and die from. You can have perfectly good hay and a horse can still lose weight. It depends on the horse and it's activity. Though horse owners then cast a whole different set of rules of what is horse hay and what is not irregardless of the horse itself.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Its the greenest sweetest smelling hay that you have ever produced. magazine article, first prized fair winning hay. The stuff you will tell your grandchildren about. Than a horse person comes along and will want it, they will need it, but only for half the price of straw.

But in truth a horse will eat and get along fine with all sorts of hay, its the owners you have to impress!


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## Orchard6 (Apr 30, 2014)

I agree with the others, it's good dry hay with no mold or weeds. If your trying to sell hay to horses they'd eat just about anything you gave them but the owners can be much more fussy. Don't get too bent out of shape if what your selling isn't good enough for 1 horse owner as there are 100 more out there that will think your hay is the greatest they've ever seen!


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

IMHO horse hay is determined by the eyes of the human beholder. I agree it should not contain mold/mildew or burrs but it doesn't necessarily need to test high protein.If it meets the previous criteria & is green in color then it almost. sure to be clasified as horse hay


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

[quote name="yamaharider28" post="145697" timestamp="1410272191"]What do people consider horse hay?/quote]

Depends upon your region of the country. Most likely for you and your location it will involve Timothy, Orchard grass, and alfalfa with a occasional user of Bermudas.

Regards, Mike


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

Locally it is weed free Bermuda, well fertilized, put up the right way square bales. Some might feed quality Bahia, others look down their nose at any bale not Bermuda or trucked in Alfalfa.

Timothy and Orchard Grass are not common this far south.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Horse hay is whatever the person buying says it is. A general rule though of what most consider to be horse hay is weed free, no mold/mildew, cut before it gets over mature and rank, has a green color. Many horse owners do not want toxic endophyte fescue......for a good reason especially if feeding to pregnant mares.


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## Dill (Nov 5, 2010)

Green, square and expensive. At least thats what I shoot for when I'm selling it.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

FarmerCline said:


> Many horse owners do not want toxic endophyte fescue......for a good reason especially if feeding to pregnant mares.


Fescue has been a cuss word in horse circles for many years. I wonder if the endophyte friendly will ever over come the tarnish?


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

We raise a lot of hay and my horses eat what no one wants to buy. A little mold, no problem, they sort through it. Of course you have to give them enough that they will leave the bad stuff. Discoloration, they are colorblind. Smell..... well, have you ever smelled a horse? It is a people issue, not an equine one. You wouldn't want to buy cow hay from me.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Tim/South said:


> Fescue has been a cuss word in horse circles for many years. I wonder if the endophyte friendly will ever over come the tarnish?


 I sure hope so.....the MaxQ I planted last fall I have been very pleased with so far......it has done just as well as k31 and made so very nice hay. I have been advertising it as just MaxQ and leaving off the fescue part.....it gives me a chance to explain its benefits to the people that aren't familiar with it, otherwise they would never ask about it if they saw the word fescue. So far it has been going over really well. I'm converting the rest of my toxic fescue over to MaxQ the end of this month after seeing how much I liked the field I planted last fall.


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## ARD Farm (Jul 12, 2012)

All the above, especially post 11...... 

Can I add heavy green bales, emphasis on heavy (as in molding in a week or so)......

Sometimes I think all horse gals are blondes in disguise. What a fickle group, but, it's business....


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## shortrow (Feb 21, 2012)

I asked a horse this same question. He never answered. :lol:


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Lostin55 said:


> We raise a lot of hay and my horses eat what no one wants to buy. A little mold, no problem, they sort through it. Of course you have to give them enough that they will leave the bad stuff. Discoloration, they are colorblind. Smell..... well, have you ever smelled a horse? It is a people issue, not an equine one. You wouldn't want to buy cow hay from me.


My wife says we need to get a horse so that when someone phones up and complains about the hay we can say oh really our horse is eating it just fine and has had no problems.


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## ARD Farm (Jul 12, 2012)

hog987 said:


> My wife says we need to get a horse so that when someone phones up and complains about the hay we can say oh really our horse is eating it just fine and has had no problems.


How many you want to borrow.... I'm sure my wife can afford to loan a few out.....


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

Something I read on Hay Talk in the past. A horse person asked if the hay was "horse" hay. The member replied it was better than horse hay, it was dairy quality and if the horse did not eat the hay they needed to get a new horse.

I wish I had known that line when we were selling to the horse people.


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## weatherman (Dec 5, 2008)

Dill said:


> Green, square and expensive. At least thats what I shoot for when I'm selling it.


No argument there...well said.


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## BPatrick (Aug 30, 2013)

All the above, but can you deliver and stack it!


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## Tjim (Feb 23, 2014)

Lostin55 said:


> We raise a lot of hay and my horses eat what no one wants to buy. A little mold, no problem, they sort through it. Of course you have to give them enough that they will leave the bad stuff. Discoloration, they are colorblind. Smell..... well, have you ever smelled a horse? It is a people issue, not an equine one. You wouldn't want to buy cow hay from me.


Yep!!!!!!!!


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

never had a problem with good ole KY31. Only in mixes here, but anyone in VA that says they are fescue free, well that is a fantasy after the first year past establishment. Sell to barns with mares. they just don't feed it to the mares in the last two months of term.


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## AndyL (Mar 9, 2013)

Horse hay is, what the horses will eat.  They get what the cows get.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

Horse hay is any hay a horse owner feels is good enough to bounce a check on.


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## coloradohay (Aug 8, 2014)

I second what AndyL said.

When people ask us if our hay is cow or horse hay, I say "Yes".


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