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NW IL | I'll be the one to disagree with timothy taking the crown.
Here, the highest selling small square to horse people is always some combination of alfalfa and orchardgrass. I am not that big a fan of timothy for this reason. Timothy will really get big and stemmy and make some monster seed heads. I will agree that timothy is probably the better choice for consumers from a feed value comparison, but I grow what they want.
I don't really have any problem with leaf disease in my Barenbrug HLR orchardgrass mixed with alfalfa, maybe first cutting if I can't get at it until June. But as aggressive cut schedule as I have I don't see much disease the rest of the year. Maybe I am just lucky.
Most of the people I sell to do not know what RFV stands for, let alone what it means for their critters. I don't bother testing much of my hay. I just do what I can to make the green stuff, spray a little propionic acid on it to keep it green and smelling good, and sell it to them.
I am seeing a huge resurgence though of folks wanting 100% grass hay. We started baling all our waterways to deliver on this. I can't see planting a field to a grass mix without a little alfalfa. If you cut early and often the waterways do not make too bad of hay. The reed canary grass can get ahead of us pretty quick though and then its cow hay.
Edited by farmer53 12/20/2016 09:33
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Timothy Hay - Why is it Preferred????
