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[RC] The Nutritional Value of Grass after frost - Steve HallmarkAs an Agronomy Minor in College I'll throw in my 2 cents worth: From: "Karen Sullivan" <greymare56@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: [RC] The Nutritional Value of Grass after frost. I'm interested also and have more questions: 1. My pastures are greening up (Northern Calif, short green grass, of no specific species I can tell, seasonal dryland pasture) It gets frost on it, survives light freezes.....does it have much nutritional value? Yes, and in fact you might want to consider restricting access if the animal is not worked regularly, has Cushing's, or is insulin resistant. As we're in Northern CA as well, we restrict access to the native grasses that grow in the winter/spring. These grasses are high in carbohydrates. I know there are the exceptions that seem to have no problem with 24/7 turnout on this type of pasture, but you need to use caution. 2. Grass hay, when to cut. I see it cut in fields before it matures. It is very green....but MY grass hay grower says when it is cut at that stage it is only cellulose, no nutritional value since not mature. He cuts his mostly rye pasture when the grass is between green and brown, and has mature seed heads.....comments???? The Quality of hay is a product of its palatability, digestibility and nutritive value. Two-thirds of the protein and nine-tenths of the minerals in hay are found in the leaves. For first cutting hay there is a high correlation between the quantity of leaves present and the digestible dry matter, but this correlation is less distinct for latter cuttings. That being said, your grower has some misconceptions regarding hay harvesting. By allowing a grain crop hay to go to seed before harvest, you greatly reduce palatability, digestibility and nutritive value. Generally speaking, the first cutting of the year, if harvested before seed heads are formed, is some of the best hay you'll get all year long. ----- Original Message ----- From: goearth To: Ridecamp Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 1:43 PM Subject: [RC] The Nutritional Value of Grass after frost. Hello, I was in this conversation w/ a friend and he told me he had some good pasture to put his horses on for the winter and I told him that grass loses its nutritional value after a killing frost. He asked me how I knew this and all I could say was I had read it somewhere. Now my question is? Was this assumption an illusion or does grass indeed lose its nutritional value? and if so by how much and it just a filler as I had reckoned. Or, do I tell him I have been misinformed? Thank you, tom sites While it might fill their bellies, it is lacking significant nutritive value as compared to properly harvested hay. In colder climates, you'd want to supplement horses turned out on winter pastures. Steve Hallmark =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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