Hay!

Seriously. Anyone who knows hay, please pipe up.

I'm considering doing a trade for teff hay. The hay will feed goats and 3 horses. 1 fat pony that needs to keep losing weight, and 2 old arabs that are supplemented w/ oil and complete feed. Can teff be free fed? and/or is it ok for my purposes?

When we were kids, we used to play on the round hay bales.

That's about the extent of my knowledge.

Teff is a VERY fine grain. Makes great Injera. I've heard of it being fed to horses overseas, but I've never heard of feeding it in the States. There seems to be a lot on the internet however, it's gaining popularity. The things I'd look at in terms of potentially feeding it to horses are:

1) Is it a very fine grass hay, or is it similar to what you are typically feeding? Very fine hay can lead to impaction.

2) What's the nutritional profile? How much does it differ from what you've been feeding? You probably want to avoid high-sugar hays and you'll want to know if protien content and Ca:Ph ratios differ substantially from the forage you've been feeding, so you can adjust other dietary components accordingly. YOu also want to know if the DE is very different -- a lot of people think alfalfa makes their horses hot when in practice they are feeding them 50% more calories in the same hay portion.

And you already know this, but if you go for it, don't make the change suddenly, gradually switch over from your old forage to the new stuff.

All I know from living in the country for 2 years and 8 months is that those big machines poop out hay, and almost cause Husband to run the car off the road (this process seems to REALLY excited him ).



I feel bad for the Hay bales that are left in the field because they aren't good enough or perfectly rectangular.

crystalsbirdtoys wrote:

I feel bad for the Hay bales that are left in the field because they aren't good enough or perfectly rectangular.

Yeah! What's wrong with people?!
Imperfect hay bales need love too!