The Grass Doctor

what type of grass is hay?

if anyone knows what type of grass hay is I would love to know or is hay just any type of grass that is cut and stored to give to animals?

Public Comments

1. Rye grass mostly. I have cows, so trust me on this. And if your looking to feed cows, they like cracked corn, sweet feed, and oranges too. but make sure they dont choke on the oranges.
2. rye grass
3. Hay usually refers to alfalfa, which is not a grass. Alfalfa is a flowering plant in the pea family. When refering to feed, some may be 100% alfalfa, which is high in protein. Others may be a mixture of alfalfa and various grasses, such as fescue.
4. I guess it depends on where you live. You won't find any hay meadows of either rye or alfalfa here, it's just too hot here. We have 25 acres that we bale every Spring and Summer. It is Common Bahia grass but some others have Coastal Bermuda.
5. Commonly used plants for hay include mixtures of grasses such as rye grass (Italian rye grass, Lolium multiflorum), timothy, brome, fescue, coastal bermuda, orchard grass, and other native species, depending on region. Many types of hay may also include legumes, such as alfalfa (lucerne) and clovers (red, white and subterraneum). Pasture flowers are also sometimes a part of the mix, though other than legumes, which ideally are cut pre-bloom, flowers are not necessarily desired, and in some cases may be toxic to animals. Oat, barley, and wheat plant materials are occasionally seen in hay products, though usually in the form of straw, a harvest byproduct where only the stems are dried and baled after the grain is harvested. Straw is used for animal bedding and generally is considered poor animal fodder, though sometimes it is used as a source of empty calories to give animals a feeling of fullness or satiety when on an otherwise restricted diet.
6. it can be any type of grass as long as it produces a hi yield of leaf matter and sugars etc......but not when its turned like rope or gone to seed. do not feed animals grass/crops have been exposed to heavy frosts as they can die due to nitrogen poisoning.....due to nitrates trapped in extremities of leaf matter. fresh harvested grass can be used for balage,silage...which is fermented grass with hi sugar levels. hay, ...is air/sun dried grass. seed companies here in new zealand are.......cropmark.co.nz wesco farm products pggwrightsons seeds lincoln university.
7. Hay is referred to many different kinds of plants. Different animals eat different kinds of feed. Horses and cows eat differently, and dairy cows and meat cattle eat differently.Our horses eat a timothy/alfalfa(legume) mixture...high in proteins but second cut is better for them than first which we sell to cattle (dairy) farms. It will depend on where you live on what you grow and what you are feeding, what protein level is needed for the animal etc....we don't grow grasses for our animals...just the alfalfa/timothy mix and we refer to this as horse hay when baled. There are many variables with animals, location, percentages of the mixtures of plants...it can go on and on.