Hay is dried pasturage flora used as provender for horses , cattle and other livestock during the winter months when green pastureland is not available . Hay is also used as provender and bedding for many small fauna such rabbit and chickens . Most hay consists of either legume crop , like Medicago sativa or trefoil , Mary Jane , or a combining of both legumes and smoke . Hay grasses motley in different regions of the body politic .

Bermudagrass and Bahiagrass

Bermudagrass and bahiagrass are two common hay forage grown in the southern United States . agree to the Mississippi State Cooperative Extension Service , bahiagrass grows easily , make large amount of hay , but its provender quality is not as beneficial as that of bermudagrass . Bermudagrass produces a nutritionally superior hay under raging , moist southern growing conditions , but may require extra management such as weed treatment .

Crabgrass, Bluestem and Fescue

Crabgrass – the bane of gardeners essay to sustain an attractive lawn and perennial beds – has the potential for the highest protein military rating of any of the hay grass , according to the Oklahoma State University Extension . Bluestem is a aboriginal prairie grass more often produce for erosion ascendancy than for hay , but the Oklahoma Extension advises that it has moderate nutritional potentiality if by rights managed . Fescue is the most plebeian lawn grass in the United States , and it is also grown for hay in some regions . While the Oklahoma Extension lists fescue as having a moderate forage nutritionary profile , the Kentucky Cooperative Extension propose against using it as a feed hay , as a symbiotic fungus within the fescue has a negative burden on some creature . The Kentucky Extension also states that horse cavalry are likely to blow considerably more fescue hay than other type of hay .

Timothy, Orchard Grass, Wheat and Rye

According to the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service , the most popular grass hay choices for horses are Timothy and orchard grass . Timothy is a European aboriginal grass transplanted by former colonial settler and it has now become ubiquitous in American field and roadsides . Orchard grass can be used for fresh pasture or dry hay , and many horses choose its angelic taste .

wheat-grass and ryegrass hays have similar nutritional profile to orchard grass , depending on direction techniques and seasonal conditions differences , allot to the Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension . Wheatgrass hay , however , can be prohibitively expensive , particularly as a late - season cut , and it is more often used as pasture supergrass than as cut hay .

References

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