rye grass hay.ok for natives?

[peggyloo]

what does anyone know about it?
our local hay supplier only had round bales of this not meadow hay which i usually feed.i thought it was predominently fed to racehorses as was high energy.
not that that matters as they live out 24/7 and aren't really working as such.
Is it safe to feed to natives?has anyone any experience of feeding this to dales and exmoor ponies?

[zeldalithgow]

I thought that rye grass was not ideal for natives, but having said that I've no idea what sort of hay I've fed in the past, prob rye grass

[peggyloo]

i just remember from back in my memory somewhere that its designed for higher energy/low fibre ideal for racehorses and horses in hard work.exactly the opposite of what i need but its either that or small bale meadow hay as they seem to be hard to get this year from anyone, small bales will work out much much more costly and time consuming as il need to ask someone to put it out for me when im not down the yard.as they are in their own paddock a large round bale is much easier.
just didn't know how unsuitable it was for them.

[lucydales]

I think rye grass is used predominantly for fattening livestock and so that's why we tend to get much more occurances of laminitis nowadays as most fields used for agriculture have a high percentage of rye. If your ponies are fatties feed oat or barley straw as they get lots of bulk but less calories! I fed wheat straw the last two years with no bad effects, but you are more likely to get impaction colics with it apparently! If you 're worried about the rhe hay, you could feed a hay straw mixture. I also don't know if rye grass is bad only when "wet" ie growing, you could ask your feed merchants for the relative calorific values for old meadow hay verses rye hay. I think most hayledge is mad from rye grass.
Not sure of that helps you any!
Luce

[Deleted]

Rye is also not recommended for colicy horses.

[peggyloo]

just to update.got the ryegrass bale as it was all he had.ponies loved it.
so much so it only lasted the 2 dales and 1 exmoor 4 days in their field.they didnt move away from it for the whole 4 days except to drink and poo!!!
needless to say they didn't get another one!
but none were even slightly ill from it.

[Debbie]

LOL....I always keep a closer eye on them, and mentally note the hay as "high calories" if they put their noses down and don't come up for air.

I know that beyond a shadow of a doubt, the rye grass is a big no no, but I've never seen the protein/carbs/sugars done on rye hay. For me personally, I'd rate it the same as pure alfalfa....not something I'd care to feed unless there really wasn't anything else at hand.