[haflingerfriends] Re: Fw: Hay

I would be very happy with 95% orchard grass and 5 % alfalfa.! I feed my haflingers local grass with a small amt of alfalfa pellets and a small amt. of alfalfa hay, one in the am and one at night. I found a few years when I tried to feed them only forage hay, which was a mixture of 3 grains, beardless wheat, barley and oat, that their hooves were not doing well. Adding a little alfalfa, which is so rich in minerals, esp. in the Western states, took care of the problem. Several years ago I bought Orchard grass locally, I am in sw oregon, and it worked fine for them, but I paid too much for it. When my local hay from this farm is gone I will look for Orchard grass, which the farmers store in their barns. I get alfalfa regularly from the Klamath area from my hay dealer, but he has trouble getting good grass hay. I am also feeding 4 warmbloods, and they have always had alfalfa plus turnout on a little grass and weeds, etc.
Of course check it over carefully, get it from a dealer you trust, etc. Send me some, about 10 tons!!
Geri in williams, Oregon
--- In haflingerfriends@yahoogroups.com, sammybo7@... wrote:
>
> In a message dated 12/21/2009 7:38:48 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
> animalshelpinghumans@... writes:
>
> Hello All,
> I have a question about Hay that I am hoping maybe somebody might be able
> to answer. Is anybody familiar with Grain Hay? If so, do you know what is
> in it and do you think it would be ok to feed the Haflingers?
> We usually allways only feed straight Orchard Grass Hay, but our our usual
> hay suppliers don't have any straight orchard grass right now.
> Our options are a 95/5 mix of Orchard Alfalfa(95% orchard 5%Alfalfa or the
> Grain hay. I think the Grain hay is a mixture of some timothy, oat and
> something else, but I am not sure.
> I really don't like feeding alfalfa at all, but 5% is not much. The grain
> hay is cheaper which of course is nice, but it is a completely different
> hay than they are used to eating so I am just not sure what would be best?
> Any thoughts on what you think might be the better way to go?
> They are all easykeepers who put on weight very easily.
> Thanks for any help or advice.
> Cheryl in Napa CA
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

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