Re: Wheat hay

[Susan Evans Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

David E. Carlson wrote:
> 
> Susan,
> What about wheat hay?  I have never used it but have heard of people who do.
> What do you think about it?
> Karen


I used to think it was one step above straw---in other words, okay for
roughage but not what you'd call high quality forage.  Then Lari Shea
told me she fed wheat hay, including to the horse she won Tevis on, and
so I went and took another look.

If you can get good quality (judge it by the same standards as you'd
judge oay hay or barley hay), then it CAN be a good hay---although it's
fairly low in both calcium and phosphorus and is somewhat inverted, so
if you're feeding it as a primary source of forage, you might want to
provide a small amount of alfalfa, or some beet pulp or dical phosphate
or some other source of minerals.

There are apparently several different varieties, some bearded, some
not.  The bearded varieties are more prone to causing foxtail type
problems, so the beardless variety is preferable.  Other than that, the
nutritional content varies according to the quality, but if it's good
quality, then it's comparable to any other good cereal grain hay.

Susan G