What types of hay are there and what are the differences?

Are you also lost when it comes to choosing the type of hay you should give to your horse, sheep, donkey, goats, etc.? There are so many different types that you lose sight of the big picture. When you are choosing hay, you should actually consider the purpose of the hay and also the sort of animal you want to feed it to.

One type of hay is very nutritious and the other is totally worthless. In addition to the nutritional value, digestibility and tastiness can also vary greatly. The following three factors play a major role in the production of hay: The type of grass used for haymaking, the fertilisation of the plot and the moment of mowing (and especially the weather conditions after mowing).

The type of grass

The main types of hay are:

• Meadow hay: Like the name indicates, this hay is harvested from common grazing pastures (grassland) for animals. This happens in the spring before the meadow is grazed that year. These meadows are usually mown only once a year for hay. Later in the year, the meadow can be mowed again to make haylage. With meadow hay, there is usually only 1 cutting of hay, followed by 1 cutting for haylage, or the meadow will be grazed. Meadow hay carries the risk of animals unwittingly eating poisonous plants (such as ragwort) that are often found in grasslands. In the wild, animals recognise these poisonous plants and will not eat them. But as animals in captivity do not recognise the bitter taste of the poison in the dried form, they can ingest these poisonous plants through hay.
• Rye grass hay:: This grass is mostly found on cultivated land and is often sown in autumn after the harvesting of cereals, potatoes or maize. It is a fast growing grass with a high yield when fertilised sufficiently. In earlier days, rye grass was sown mainly for harvesting as haylage but in recent years, there has been a shift towards hay. Thanks to the rapid growth of this grass, several cuts are possible during a year. We then speak of first, second, third and
• Seed hay: This hay is actually a by-product of grass seed production. The grass seed must first be fully ripe before it can be threshed and the hay harvested. The nutritional value of this type of hay is very low, but due to its rough structure, this hay can be very valuable, mainly in non-performance animals.
• Occasional hay: Usually this hay is mowed on abandoned sites or on roadsides. The harvest often takes place late in summer, which means that it can only be harvested once. The quality of this hay is very low. It can only be used as part of the maintenance feed for small ruminants such as sheep and goats. Occasional hay from roadsides can contain strange objects such as cans, glass, etc... Here, too, poisonous plants can pose a risk.
• Variety hay: More and more hay of one or several varieties of grass is cultivated on request. In recent years, grass-clover combinations are increasingly used. Smooth meadow-grass, Timothy-grass and red clover are often added to these mixtures, each for their specific properties. This hay is mainly used for smaller pets such as guinea pigs, dwarf rabbits, etc.