# ever heard of "blue stem" hay??



## kdtexas (Feb 20, 2006)

it's all my feed store has and it's $8.00 a bale. they also have alfalfa and timothy; but I've always fed coastal bemuda and she said the blue stem is closely comparable?

what do ya'll think? I'm going to call around for other feed stores to see what they have. my regular feed store said no coastal bermuda till May.


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## Becky (Feb 20, 2006)

Absolutely! That's what I'm feeding now. The bales I have are completely weed free, green and leafy. My horses prefer that over bermuda!


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## RJRMINIS (Feb 20, 2006)

Well I am from Kansas and I haven't heard of this type of hay................




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## Becky (Feb 20, 2006)

Blue stem is one of the native grasses in this part of the country. It makes up a great 'prairie' hay and is a top quality grass hay.


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## CLC Stables (Feb 20, 2006)

So it is Bluegrass that carries a stem...............


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## RJRMINIS (Feb 20, 2006)

Becky said:


> Blue stem is one of the native grasses in this part of the country. It makes up a great 'prairie' hay and is a top quality grass hay.


Then it probably is what we call prairie hay!



:

We use mainly brome or prairie hay here.


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## whimsical (Feb 20, 2006)

My neighbor is using it for his full size horses and they don't like it. He has to bribe them with a little alfalfa mixed in. I ended up finding a great hay reseller near us by going to this website. Their alfalfa is only 7-8 a bale. You may have better luck that way.

http://www.agr.state.tx.us/producer_info/h...om_texashay.htm


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## chandab (Feb 20, 2006)

CLC_Miniatures said:


> So it is Bluegrass that carries a stem...............


No, bluestem is a different species from bluegrass. Sorry, I can't tell you more than that.


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## pepperhill (Feb 20, 2006)

Bluegrass is a lawn grass, like Kentucky Blue. It only gets 8 " tall or so and is not usually found in pasture hay except by accident. It won't hurt the horses, but it isn't a "feed" type grass.

You must be referring to the Blue Stem grasses. There is a Little Blue Stem and a Big Blue Stem that are two different species, but the only real difference is how high they grow.

Big Blue Stem grasses are the ones that grow about waist high. It is an ideal grass for pastures and for baling. It has excellant nutritional value in forage or in hay. It is a warm season grass so it doesn't start to green up and mature until a little later in the season, around here in Nebraska that means around May. It is very common, it is a native grass in this area and probably is one of the main grasses in what people call Prairie grass. Frequently you will find Big Blue Stem mixed with Brome as the brome is a cool weather grass and so starts to green up far earlier than the Blue Stem. Between the two of them you can have a green pasture for longer. Right when the brome goes dormant, the bluestem kicks in. Then in the fall the Blue stem starts of back off and the Brome kicks in again. It is one of the main forage grasses around here and fed to just about everything with success. We put up about 100 acres of it each year to feed our horses.

Right now it is selling for about $2.50 per bale. I wish I hadn't sold all our extra! I'd be sending it your way! I hope this info helps.

Ps. Around here the horses seem to like it better than the brome just because the leaves are wider. Nutritionally they are pretty similar. Our Alalfa is selling for $3.50 per bale. I just so wish I could share all this with those of you paying $8.00 a bale!


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## Marsha Cassada (Feb 20, 2006)

If it is a good prairie pasture mix cut at the correct time you are in luck. But it would depend on WHEN it was cut and baled as to whether it is good hay or not. My absolute favorite hay is mixed pasture grass, but not if it is old dried-up grass that the farmer didn't want to be a fire hazard, so he mowed and baled it. Your horses will likely pick through it, and find something they like. But you might have a lot of waste. Some farmers call all pasture grass "blue stem ", when in reality it is mostly weeds.

Marsha


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