Re: feeding/hay suggestions

["guest@endurance.net" <guest@endurance.net>]

Denise Johnson dollyjj@earthlink.net
Just wanted to add a note to Susan
G. 's comments.  Bermuda hay grown here in the SW
(Imperial Valley) first cutting is rarely, if ever,  made in
March,  usually end of April or early May.  Which would
mean at least a week or more after that before it would show
up in your local stores.  The second cutting is also very
good.  The last cutting of the year in late Sept. 
or October is also very nice.   The further North you go 
the latter the first cutting will be.  

What to look for in Bermuda hay
at your suppliers:

#1.  Sweet smell to the bermuda
#2.  Presence of seed heads
#3.  Not short choppy stalks
#4.  Nice green color
#5.  Very little to no dust
#6.  Flakes
#7.  weed free and no mold
#8.  If you look very closely you might see some
       blue stems in the bermuda.  Horses love this
       kind of bermuda-very sweet.
#9.  Taste the Bermuda yourself-any sweetness?

Most feed stores buy bermuda based on cost and color.
You can have very green bermuda that looks very pretty
but be rather tasteless for the horse.  So don't buy just
based on green color.  If you can, buy several different
bales from different sources.  Go home and try it on your
horses and the bale they really like-go and stock up on.

Though there are many different varieties of Bermuda grown
the two most often found in the SW are:
Common and Giant Bermuda.  Common bermuda hay has
relatively short stems (leaves) and Giant has long stems.
Giant can have stems a foot or so long in the bale.  Giant
Bermuda is very popular with horse owners.  Usually it
commands a higher price though.

It is very interesting to note, in an article that Susan G.
authored in the NATRC mag Hoof Print, about the energy
values of different feeds.  I was always under the impression
that Bermuda hay was a  bottom dweller on the list of good
feeds.  Instead, according to the chart in this article, when
comparing energy values (mcals/kg), you have Beet pulp,
then Alfalfa (nearly the same energy value as beet pulp),
then Bermuda, Timothy hay, Oat hay, and lastly Orchard 
grass.   

The negitives on Bermuda are often the result of buying
cheap Bermuda that has been made after the thrashing 
of seed Bermuda.  Sometimes brokers and feedstores
buy this stuff and sell it at a discount price.  You can 
reconize it by:  very short choppy stems, lack of green color,
no sweet smell,  bales burst when opened, and
a horse with that-what's this look.  This kind of hay is
known as Bermuda straw.  Generally used as a filler in
feedlot operations.