Be a Hay Connoisseur

Good owners know whether the hay they are feeding is the right type and the right quality.
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Good owners know whether the hay they are feeding is the right type and the right quality.


If a horse does not have access to pasture, hay is usually the mainstay of diet. Next to pasture, good-quality hay is the most natural feed for horses. In this article we’ll help you become a "hay connoisseur," knowing what is good, and what to watch out for.

Types of Hay

Hay falls into several categories: grass, legume, mixed (combination of grass and legume), and cereal grasses such as oat hay. Some of the more common grass hays for horses include bromegrass, timothy, orchardgrass, coastal Bermuda grass, fescue, ryegrass, and meadow grasses, according to Kathleen Crandell, PhD, Superintendent of the Middleburg Agricultural Research and Extension (MARE) Center in Middleburg, Va. Legumes include alfalfa, various clovers, and lespedeza

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Written by:

Heather Smith Thomas ranches with her husband near Salmon, Idaho, raising cattle and a few horses. She has a B.A. in English and history from University of Puget Sound (1966). She has raised and trained horses for 50 years, and has been writing freelance articles and books nearly that long, publishing 20 books and more than 9,000 articles for horse and livestock publications. Some of her books include Understanding Equine Hoof Care, The Horse Conformation Handbook, Care and Management of Horses, Storey’s Guide to Raising Horses and Storey’s Guide to Training Horses. Besides having her own blog, www.heathersmiththomas.blogspot.com, she writes a biweekly blog at https://insidestorey.blogspot.com that comes out on Tuesdays.

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