Is Brome Grass Good For Horses?

Brome hay is highly digestible with relative feed values (RFV) typically around 90-100 and a good balance of minerals. You can expect protein levels to be greater than 8%. This, combined with its superb palatability makes brome an excellent all around hay. Horses LOVE brome!

What is the best grass hay for horses?

There are two primary types of horse hay: legume and grass. Alfalfa is the best variety of legume hay, and Orchard grass is the grass hay I recommend; however, Timothy, bermudagrass, bahiagrass, and Kentucky bluegrass are also excellent choices.

What is brome grass good for?

Brome Grass is a common forage grass used in North America. It may be used for hay, pasture, silage or stockpiling. It is compatible with alfalfa or other adapted legumes. Brome Grass is highly palatable and is high in protein content and relatively low in crude-fiber content.

What is the nutritional value of brome hay?

Studies by Hopper and Nesbitt {S) of the more mature stages of smooth bromegrass showed a protein content of 8.80 percent at blossoming time and a crude fiber content of 29.96 percent. Before heading it contained 15.14 percent protein and 23.56 percent crude fiber.

What hay has the highest sugar content?

Oat hay tends to be higher in nitrates and also high in sugar (NSC), so this hay is not an option for insulin resistant horses. Here’s a comparison chart so you can see the differences between alfalfa hay, timothy (grass) hay and oat hay.

What hay can horses not eat?

Types of Hay for Horses—What to Avoid

• Perennial ryegrass and rye.
• Dallisgrass.
• Argentine bahiagrass.
• Johnsongrass, Sorghum grasses/Sudangrass.
• Switchgrass, which causes photosensitivity, peeling skin, mouth ulcers and liver disease.
• Foxtail Millet (aka German Millet) and Meadow foxtail.

What is the most popular hay for horses?

Timothy hay is one of the most popular hays fed to horses. It can be quite expensive, depending on whether it has to be shipped long distances. Timothy must be harvested in the pre- or early-bloom stage to ensure a high nutrient content.

Can you feed brome to horses?

Brome hay is highly digestible with relative feed values (RFV) typically around 90-100 and a good balance of minerals. You can expect protein levels to be greater than 8%. This, combined with its superb palatability makes brome an excellent all around hay. Horses LOVE brome!

What is the difference between brome hay and timothy hay?

Timothy produced more dry matter than bromegrass and orchardgrass when grown in pure stands without nitrogen fertilizer and in association with trefoil-red clover. Orchardgrass was the most productive of the nitrogen-fertilized pure grass stands cut at the pas- ture stage.

How long does brome grass last?

Because smooth brome stands can remain productive for 20 years or longer, correcting soil pH prior to seeding is essential.

Is teff hay better than alfalfa?

Teff contains higher amounts of fiber and lower amounts of nonstructural carbohydrates than most cool-season grasses. Horses preferred alfalfa and timothy over teff in hay trials but readily consumed teff once they were acclimated to it.

What is the most nutritious hay?

Alfalfa, white clover, red clover and birdsfoot trefoil are common types of legumes, with alfalfa being the most popular choice. Benefits: Legumes are higher in protein and calcium than grass hay, and may also provide more energy and a higher level of total digestible nutrients, such as vitamin A.

What horse hay has the least amount of sugar?

If you are looking for low-sugar hay for a metabolic horse, it’s all about how the hay is grown and managed. Teff can be as low as 5% sugar and the only other hay that’s this low in sugar is bluegrass straw—which is also used a lot for metabolic horses.”

What hay is best for a horse with laminitis?

Hay – The Core Feed For A Laminitis Diet
Safer-type forages include Timothy, Teff, and Rhodes grass hays. Avoid hays containing high amounts of fructan such as ryegrass, oaten, wheaten, or barley hays. If you are unsure of the NSC level of the hay or chaff, you will need to soak it in water to leach the sugars out.

What is the best grass for laminitic horses?

Try to graze paddocks that are sown with grasses that are naturally lower in sugar such as Timothy. Some grass types such as ryegrass are much higher in sugar and are commonly found in former dairy pasture.

What hay is best for insulin resistant horses?

Alfalfa can be an excellent addition to most horses’ diets, even for those that are insulin resistant (IR). I often recommend feeding it because it boosts the overall protein quality of a grass-hay diet and, in general, enhances the horse’s muscle tone, immune system and overall health.

What are 3 things horses should not eat?

Here are eight foods you should never feed your horse:

• Chocolate. ©russellstreet/Flickr CC.
• Persimmons.
• Avocado.
• Lawn clippings.
• Pitted fruits.
• Bread.
• Potatoes and other nightshades.
• Yogurt or other milk products.

What crop of hay is best for horses?

The compromise for most U.S. horses is a good quality grass-alfalfa mix hay. An inexpensive hay analysis will tell you the level of crude protein, total digestible nutrients, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and potassium in the hay.

What hay is best for older horses?

Alfalfa hay and good quality grass hays are preferable to stemmy and mature hays that have tougher fiber to ferment. The small intestine loses some function – Older horses find it harder to digest protein in the small intestine.

What is the cheapest hay for horses?

Hay Type
For example, Bermudagrass Hay tends to be the most affordable, whereas Alfalfa Hay and Timothy Hay are much more expensive. Timothy Hay is by far the most expensive option, and not just for horses. Many other animals eat Timothy Hay, such as rabbits and guinea pigs.

How many bales of hay should a horse have a day?

A horse can eat anywhere from 15-25 pounds of hay a day, which generally equates to a half of a 45/50-pound square bale of hay per day (~15-30 bales per month).