What is the healthiest grass for horses?

In pure stands, the grass species that offered the best balance of plant persistence, yield, nutrient value, and horse preference were orchardgrass, meadow fescue, endophyte-free tall fescue, and Kentucky bluegrass.

Can horses graze on limed pasture?

Keep horses off limed pasture until after a rain. Lime dust inhalation may cause respiratory problems. 3. If fertilizer adheres to wet forage at application time, horses should be withheld until after a rain.

What grass do horses like best?

In this study, the horses showed a preference for Kentucky bluegrass, timothy, and quackgrass. They didn’t seem to care for orchardgrass, creeping foxtail, or meadow bromegrass. Reed canarygrass, perennial ryegrass, tall fescue, meadow fescue, and smooth bromegrass fell into the moderately preferred group of grasses.

Can Baleage be fed to horses?

Although baleage, haylage and silage can be fed to horses, it should be done with caution. Baleage, haylage and silage can be very nutrient dense and contains microbes and potential probiotics that can affect the gastrointestinal microbe population.

Is lime toxic to horses?

Luckily, Barn Lime is not harmful to your horse, unlike its cousin Hydrated Lime. Hydrated Lime (calcium hydroxide) on the other hand, becomes caustic when it is wet and may cause serious burns to your horse’s skin, in addition to possible eye damage.

Should you lime a horse pasture?

A well-maintained pasture with healthy grasses is a nutritious and relatively inexpensive feed source for horses. Adding lime encourages the activity of soil bacteria, so valuable nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur can be released.

Is Baleage better than hay?

Baleage can create high quality forage if done properly. Some advantages over dry hay include less loss during storage, fewer weather delays at harvest, and faster turnaround from when the forage is down in both regrowth and time on the ground. The equipment changes are not significant but need to be considered.

Is Baleage the same as silage?

Balage, silage, and haylage are names for the same basic product: ensiled grass. It doesn’t matter whether the grass is going into a massive silage pit or a plastic-wrapped bale – the process is the same. The grass is baled when much greener than hay.

What’s the best hay for horses?

Best Hay Types for Horses

  • 1.) Alfalfa. Alfalfa hay is high-protein legume hay from the ‘pea’ family.
  • 2.) Clover. Clover hay is the other legume hay suitable for horses but not as popular with horse owners.
  • 3.) Timothy Grass.
  • 4.) Orchardgrass.
  • 5.) Fescue.
  • 6.) Reed Canary Grass.
  • 7.) Bluegrass.
  • 8.) Bromegrass.