Re: [RC] Tasty Hay or Not, what makes the difference? - Bonnie Davis
I only buy hay when I go camping. Guy who
owns barn feeds horses. When I buy, I taste the hay. Take a stem,
break. It should smell sweet. Then open the oat head and taste it
(I've even boiled rolled oats to make oatmeal for breakfast). It should
have a sweet taste. No dust. My one horse loves stems so I like hay
with a lot of stems. Good chewing for them. Keeps them busy and
outta trouble. (Don't like alfalfa and won't feed it.) I won't
buy hay if it's got a lot of green color to it. When stacked it could get
hot and burst into flames. A friend of my daughter just had her barn
burned down with horse inside because of 'hot' hay.
Subject: Re: [RC] Tasty Hay or Not, what
makes the difference?
I have had this problem in the past, but with oat hay. Bought some,
looked all green, didn't have a lot of smell, lots of green oat heads on it;
Looked good enough to eat. My horses snuffled through it, nibbled off
the heads of oats, and used the rest for bedding, and hollered to be fed.
Well, we used to put our own oat hay up, and remembered that it was always cut
at a "ripe" stage; that is, when there was sap in the grain heads. After
being baled, it had a gold and green color and tasted and smelled very
sweet. Horses ate every scrap. So, my theory about the
pretty, green hay is that it was like eating a
pretty, green banana!! Bitter, bitter,
taste. Renie
