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  Discussion on Johnson grass in hay.
Author Message
Member:
lindas

Posted on Wednesday, Dec 24, 2008 - 10:05 pm:

Hi Dr. O.
This year the first cutting of orchard grass that I had contracted to buy got rained on so I purchased the same farm's second cutting in the fall. He normally has beautiful hay but the second cutting is not as good as usual. The hay looks good and smells okay, but is a little dustier than normal (not too bad), and has some Johnson grass with seed heads in it. Some bales are worse than others. Everybody around here has Johnson grass so I am not surprised, but I would like to know if I am wasting my time picking out all the Johnson grass I find. My pastures have always been clean of this weed, but now I know the seeds will get out there when I feed the horses in the pasture. Darn! Guess I'll be spending more time with my round up sprayer next summer!
I've found a couple of articles on your site about Johnson grass. It looks like it is normally minimally toxic if mixed with large volumes of other grasses, which seems to be the case here, but under certain circumstances can be more toxic. These fields are well fertilized in the spring. This year we had a pretty rainy late summer so there should have been no stress from DrOught. The grasses are well seasoned and have seed heads. Do I need to worry about not being able to pick out all the Johnson grass or if my kids forget to take the time to pick it out?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Dec 26, 2008 - 7:47 am:

Hello DrS,
I cannot pass judgement on your hay. There are two ways Johnson grass (Sorghum halepense) can be toxic: nitrates and cyanogenic compounds. The only way I could say whether your hay was safe or not would be through testing it. However you should note Johnson grass is as common in some areas as sunshine and reported published poisonings in horses are almost non-existent. If you are looking for a second informed opinion you might try your local extension service agent who would be familiar with conditions in your locale.

I should note that I would be more worried about that "dust" than a very small amount of Johnson grass. If this dust is hay mold spores I would consider the hay unsuitable for horses for more see Horse Care » Equine Nutrition, Horse Feeds, Feeding » Moldy Hay, Heaves, and Horses.
DrO
Member:
lindas

Posted on Saturday, Dec 27, 2008 - 12:43 am:

Hi Dr. O,
Yes I thought about having the hay tested, but I know that this hay came from several different fields, and many of the bales have little or no Johnson grass. Those are easy to pick out. The ones that have a lot of the stuff get thrown out! I've thrown out one bale so far.

As for the dust, the last lot I purchased had some bales that were full of chunks of dirt. They looked like they had simply been cut too short and a bunch of roots with dirt on them had been stuffed into the bales. The bales with the dirt chunks had visible mold...you could see it and smell it. Presumably the dirt was not dry when they were baled and the mold formed around the dirt clumps. Those bales were thrown away. The rest of the bales do not smell moldy and are only mildly dusty. This dust smells more like clean dirt and is gritty. I'm going through the bales for Johnson grass anyway so I'm looking for signs of mold. These fields were cut when it had been dry for at least a week or more. I think they just cut the hay too short to try to maximize yield and picked up some dirt. I have looked for other hay, but once I realized that I would only be able to get 60 bales from the first cutting (the rest got rained on) there was no other first cutting hay left around here. I guess because of last years DrOught people were determined they would not get caught short again and snapped up as much of the first cutting as they could get. I don't blame them. The other hay that I have looked at was absolutely awful, so for now I will have to continue to pick through what I have and get rid of any that looks bad.
Member:
lindas

Posted on Saturday, Dec 27, 2008 - 1:08 am:

As an addendum, I have noticed that one of my horses has a slight cough. Hmmm... I've been reading your articles on heaves, and will immediately start shaking out his hay outside and then bringing it inside. Unfortunately at this time I have to store the hay in the barn, and this particular horse is stuck in on stall rest for an injury for the next several months. One good thing is that he spends most of his time with his head hanging out of his stall door, which faces outside. I am leaving tomorrow for several days, and will see what I can do about getting the hay stored in another shed when I get back. Why does this stuff always hit at the holidays????
Happy New Year!
Linda
Member:
scooter

Posted on Saturday, Dec 27, 2008 - 10:09 am:

Hi Linda just FYI you usually get the dirt/grass clumps when the rake is set too low...the farmer should be able to adjust this easily.
Member:
lindas

Posted on Saturday, Dec 27, 2008 - 11:44 am:

Yeah, I'm sure that is what happened. The guy I buy the hay from is another vet (my boss!). It is his property the hay is cut from, and he has worked out a deal with a friend who has a big Quarter Horse farm to get it cut and baled for free. I guess they split the hay. That farmer has some world champion horses, very expensive, I figured he would be pickier about how the hay is cut and stored. Usually his hay is wonderful and I have always been pleased with the quality. I plan to mention it to him the next time I see him.
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