Is peanut hay good for horses?

Since perennial peanut is highly nutritious and very palatable to horses, it is best used as a supplemental feed (instead of being self-fed) to prevent overconsumption.

What do you feed peanut hay to?

Farmers use Perennial Peanut Hay for multiple purposes such as feed for horses, beef cattle, dairy cattle, goats, as well as wildlife such as deer and turkey.

What is peanut hay for horses?

Peanut hay is cut from the perennial peanut plant, which grows in sub-tropical regions. It is similar to alfalfa hay with high protein and energy content.

Is peanut hay good for horses with ulcers?

Horses fed a legume hay, such as alfalfa or perennial peanut hay that is high in protein and calcium, have significantly higher gastric pH than horses fed straight grass hay.

Can horses eat peanut grass?

Since perennial peanut hay is very palatable, care should be taken to prevent over consumption by horses. Because of its high nutritional value, there would be few instances in which perennial peanut hay should be self-fed to horses.

Ask the Vet - Benefits and differences between grass hay and alfalfa hay

Is peanut hay better than alfalfa?

Perennial peanut hay has finer stem texture when compared to alfalfa hay making it more desirable for horses in terms of intake. Perennial peanut has a high nutritive value with in vitro digestibility percentages ranging from 60-70% and crude protein percentages ranging from 13 to 20%.

What is the best hay to feed a horse?

What is the best hay to feed a horse with ulcers?

Lucerne hay has been shown in multiple studies to be effective in reducing the severity of ulcers in horses by providing superior buffering capacity compared to other forages. Gastric ulcers are very common in performance horses, affecting more than 90% of racehorses and 50 to 70% of other performance horses.

What is the protein content of peanut hay?

Peanut hay was appreciably high in crude protein [CP; 105 g/kg dry matter (DM)] and lower in neutral detergent fiber (NDF; 466 g/kg DM).

What to feed horses to prevent ulcers?

Alfalfa-hay is a good choice for reducing ulcer risk in horses that require an energy-dense diet. It has a buffering effect in the stomach due to its higher protein and calcium content. Horses fed alfalfa-hay had a healthy stomach pH and lower number and severity of gastric ulcers compared to bromegrass hay.

What hay is best for older horses?

A reduction in fiber fermentation means that older horses receive less nutrients from forage resulting in higher quality forages being required. Alfalfa hay and good quality grass hays are preferable to stemmy and mature hays that have tougher fiber to ferment.

Is orchard or timothy hay better for horses?

Orchardgrass and timothy hay are both excellent, but orchard grass gets the nod as the best of the two. It has a higher protein and calorie content and balanced levels of calcium and phosphorus.

How is peanut hay made?

Perennial peanut is planted using rhizomes, or underground stems, dug from a nursery planting. It does not require nitrogen fertilizer, and once established, can be maintained with low level management. Hay yields in north Florida range from 3-5 tons per year for well-established stands.

Is peanut hay any good?

Perennial peanut is a high-quality persistent tropical forage legume which can be grazed or fed to horses, dairy and beef cattle, hogs, goats, sheep and rabbits. It can be stored as dry hay or silage and is a substitute for alfalfa.

Will deer eat peanut hay?

The digestibility of perennial peanut ranges from 55 to 67 percent – comparable to alfalfa – making it very palatable to both livestock and deer. Florigraze and Arbrook are the two common commercially grown varieties, with Arbrook being less cold hardy and better suited to dry sites.

Can you feed peanut hay to cows?

Residual peanut hay is by far the most widely used peanut by-product fed to beef cattle, and if it is properly harvested with minimal leaf shatter, it is comparable to good-quality grass hays in nutrient content.

Does alfalfa have protein?

Alfalfa as a Protein Source

Even late cut alfalfa typically contains 12 to 15 percent crude protein. Fiber content of alfalfa hays range from 20 to 28 percent. In contrast, grass hay averages 8.4 percent crude protein and 31.4 percent fiber.

How do you plant perennial peanut seeds?

Planting Seeds

Plant husked seeds or seeds removed from their hull 1/2 inch deep in pots or prepared soil. If you plant seeds as groundcover, sow at the rate of 3/4 to 1 pound of seed for each 1,000 square feet. The seeds should germinate in 10 to 14 days, establishing a uniform, dense cover in two to five months.

Is soaked hay better for horses with ulcers?

Consider feeding soaked hay. Although not always practical in very cold weather, soaking hay helps to reduce the sugar content and of course, less sugar means less calories! Due to the loss of nutrients (and therefore dry matter) into the water, each haynet will also contain less 'hay' and more water post soaking.

Is hay or haylage better for ulcers?

There is no difference between hay (dry, soaked or steamed) and haylage as a forage source in relation to ulceration. Straw feeding should not exceed 0.25kg/100kgBWT, and it should not be the only forage source.

Is hay or haylage better for horses with ulcers?

Haylage is much closer in texture and nutritional value to the horse's natural diet of grass. It is much more digestible than hay and if your horse is prone to gastric ulcers or colic you will likely opt for feeding haylage over hay. Horse's that are fussy eaters or poor doers often do much better on haylage.

What hay is lowest in sugar?

Low sugar hay is extremely important in a horse's diet due to its health properties and the enormous benefits it can offer. While lucerne usually has lower sugar than a lot of grass hays, it more often than not tests HIGHER in sugar, starch & protein compared to our Low Sugar Hay.

What hay has the most protein?

On average, alfalfa hay has much higher levels of protein, ranging from 15% to 21% depending on when the alfalfa was cut. This is much higher than the protein levels of grass hay, which typically contains 10% or less protein.

What can you feed horses instead of hay?