Hay - old wives tale or true?

[LouiseS]

I have always been told you should use last years hay up to Christmas and then move on to this years. This has usually happened without any particular planning but this year the farmer I get my hay has none left from last year due to his cattle being in for much longer due to FMD hence it will have to be this years crop as soon as I start feeding - which wont be long now.

So can anyone enlighten me as to the origin of this 'rule' and whether one should still be mindful of it.

Thanks

Louise

[ros]

Hi Louise

I don't know the scientific explanation, but I think it's a bit like eating too much newly cooked bread!

When hay is first stacked away there's always a degree of heating that goes on as any remaining moisture dries off. Once the hay cools I wouldn't worry too much if I had to feed it in small quantities. We usually reckon it should be OK after a couple of months in the barn, and we've been in the same position as you in having to feed it fairly fresh sometimes. Neither we nor any of our hay customers have had any problems (at least none that I know of). If I have a choice I wouldn't feed hay made in, say, July, until around October, but we don't usually bring ours in until November anyway, and by then I'm quite happy to feed the new season stuff.

If it's any consolation, I once asked a well-respected horse vet the same question, and his answer was that he'd much rather feed good new hay than poor old hay!

[liz--y]

my horses have been on new hay for a while now, i couldnt get any old from anywhere

[Spydgal]

I'm really surprised to read this as I always thought the newer year's was better than last years old stuff! Also, because a lot of farmers sell of the older stuff really cheap, you start to presume it aint that good!
I can see the sense in waiting though until its not too fresh. We dont bring ours in until November too so it probably works out okay in the end. Something to bear in mind though ......

[KarinUS]

Maybe it actually is referring to the old hay's "expiration date" and means don't use the old hay after christmas, rather than don't use the new hay until after christmas.
Does that make sense?

[ros]

No, it's definitely this year's hay the saying refers to.

Last year's hay is fine provided it's good quality, and you judge it just the same as new hay - should smell clean and sweet, and have a nice amount of leaf in it etc. If we sell off old hay cheap it's generally because it isn't as nice, but we don't tend to sell it for horse consumption - there's usually a farmer who wants some extra cheap fodder for his bullocks. But sometimes a farmer may just have to make room for this year's crop, so unless you see what you're buying you can't really make any assumptions about the quality. But of course, that goes for new hay too!