pasture mix for horses..?--can you bale it?

[miss_thenorth]

A guy down the road from us used to have horses, and he has a pasture aobut three acres. he offered it to us, we would jsut have to pay someone to bale it.

My question is, would this be good baled? Would it hold its nutrition? It is your basic pasture mix--no alfalfa.

any thoughts????

 

[okiehen]

t would be just fine a good grass mix is better than no hay at all. I have feed lots of grass hay.
The only thing I see is getting someone to cut it for you.
We had 2 two 1/2 acre lots that we had ready to cut and the hayers didn't want to cut that small of Fields said it was a waist of his time.

 

[Cara]

Could you graze them on his land and give your pasture a chance to regrow? That might be easier and more economical, if your neighbour will go for it.

 

[miss_thenorth]

We have another neighbour who will bale it for us,(retired farmer) but before we spent money paying him to do it we wanted to know if, when dried, it would hold its nutritional value, considering it would pretty much be what we would need for the whole winter. I would only consider it if it were to be good for my horses, goats, and the cow that I am getting-to eat druing the winter.

ETA, grazing our horses on their pasture is not an option. I won't be willing to board them there just to pasture. When I say neighbour, I mean three concessions over

As it is we have our land separated into three different pastures. Right now
they are on P2, allowing P1 and P3 to grow. We have plenty for them to graze on right now as it is.

 

[normajean]

What stage of growth is it now....still with seeds and has it been cut before? What kind of grass mixture is it? Does it have a lot of weeds? Are you rolling it or baling?
I would walk the pasture to look for poisonous plants and remove ALL suspects.

THEN I would cut it all, let it dry a few days but not so long it loses the green (Vit A) with NO CHANCE OF RAIN and put it up in a light free, low humidity, rain sheltered area like a totally enclosed barn. Also, I wouldn't stack it too tight since it runs the risk of heating up with any little moisture and possibly causing a fire.
You might get some good hay if it is first cut and still new grass with good seed tops!
Good luck!

 

[miss_thenorth]

Quote:
It is first cut, and its regular pasture mix. I haven't looked at it, but this is good advice. I will walk the field and look for offenders. It will be baled in ~40# square bales, and will be stored in our shop, which is just how you described. We stored last yers hay in there last fall with no probs.

thanks Normajean!

 

[Oblio13]

We call that "field hay" around here. A lot of people feed it.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Quote:
Is there any concern with the horses not having alfalfa? Sorry--only had horses for less than a year.

 

[miss_thenorth]

also, apparently it was not cut last year either--would this matter?

 

[Chick_a_dee]

It's better to feed low alfalfa, so yeah it's good! ... You can always supplement alfalfa on the side, cubes, etc, or grow a small patch of alfalfa and cut for a treat.