Horse Hay and Bedding Sales

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"Better hay takes your dollars further in tough times"

Ask Us About Price Matching On Any Competitors Load

Husband Free Hay

New SMALL SQUARE BALE SIZE - MOST ARE NOW 40LBS

This will allow for a much easier handling for you the customer. Pallets of hay will be about 5% lighter. We will now have 24 bales in a half pallet and 48 bales in a full pallet! Yes, that means you can get 48 bales of hay in a regular pickup truck bed. We can now get 576 bales on our straight truck and 1152 bales on a semi truck. WOW!

(two strap big bluestem hay pictured)

                           We have become one of the Upper Southland's largest farm for hay supplies and now we are going to lead the way in to education in hay feeding based on science and value added customer service. We are Tennessee's largest hay-only family farm, farming the same land for seven successive generations.

All our hay is sold by the ton, weighed at time of sale on TN state certified trade scales and not by the bale unit unless specified. Delivery available at additional freight charge. Credit cards welcome.

Mon-Fri 8am - 4:00 pm eastern

Saturdays 8am til 3pm eastern

No Sunday Business

423.346.7909 barn office

mailto:cdhoward@highland.net

Traditional (and sometimes comical) ideas on what makes up good hay!

The hay must be green!

There should be no dust or mold.

There must be fine stems and lots of leaves.

There can be no weeds.

It must not have blister beetles.

The hay cannot have been rained upon.

There has to be at least 50% alfalfa in it.

There must be no alfalfa in it.

Hay must be $2/bale and no delivery fee.

The science of what really makes up good hay!

Plant maturity is visually determined by the amount of seed heads of grasses or the flowers of legumes present at the time of harvest. Forages in the vegetative stage will not have visible seed heads or flowers. As plants progress through seed head and flower bud emergence, pollination, and seed formation, the concentration of structural carbohydrates and lignin increases and crude protein decreases. The structural carbohydrates, cellulose, and hemi cellulose are partially digested by the bacteria in the horse’s lower gut, but lignin, another component of plant fiber, is not digested at all. As lignin increases one percent, the digestibility of the forage dry matter decreases three to four percent. Forage digestibility is indirectly measured by determining the level of acid detergent fiber (ADF) in the hay. As the plant matures, ADF (cellulose and lignin) increases, and digestibility decreases. Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) a measure of cell wall content, increases as the plant matures and is an indirect measure of how readily a forage is consumed.

Immature hay is more easily digested by the horse (lower ADF percent) and more readily consumed (lower NDF percent), thus it is worth more to the horse owner. The maturity of the plant is not related to a particular cutting, but rather to the stage of maturity of the plant when cut.

ADF is composed of cellulose, lignin, and other poorly digested components. The lower the ADF value, the more digestible the nutrients in the hay. Levels above 45% are of little nutritional value and samples with less than 31% ADF are excellent. The higher the NDF%, the less the horses will consume. NDF levels below 40 are excellent and those above 65 will likely not be eaten by most horses. A high relative feeding value(RFV) reflects higher quality, greater intake, higher digestibility, and fewer concentrates needed to supplement the diet. When buying horse hay, RFV should be a prime consideration.

Source: Selecting Quality Hay for Horses, Mark Russell and Keith Johnson Purdue University.

Translation:

RFV is used to compare quality of forage to its nutritional worth, based on the maturity of the plant when harvested. Notice how much less the horse/cow can eat per day, as a percent of their body weight, as the forage matures. This is because, as the non-digestible fiber (ADF & NDF) increases, the palatability is lower and the rate of passage through the intestinal tract slows due to its poor fermenting quality.

What all this means for our customers.

All hay produced by Production Acres will be marketed with the following 6 quality grades. In the past, we have only used #1, #2, and cow hay. This grading system was not based on much except personal feelings about the hay. All hay will now be graded based on the RFV. This will be very helpful to you the consumer as this will give you several objective numbers to base your hay selection on. Notice also from the chart below the DMI is based on the RFV. Example: A 1000 lb. horse eating a #4 hay can only consume 15 lbs. of that hay per day. A #4 grass hay will have about .77 Mcal. DE/lb. A 1000lb. Lactating mare in the first 3 months after foaling would need about 25MCal per day.

That would mean that she would have to consume 32 lb of #4 hay a day; but, this is impossible due to the high NDF. Thus you have 3 options, 1. Feed her grain to supplement the hay. 2. Feed her better hay. Or 3. Let her lose weight! Conversely, a #1 hay would have upwards of 1.10 Mcal and you would only need to feed 23lbs. Per day. This is very doable as the mare could consume 26lb of this type of hay.This is the science behind why "better hay takes your dollars further in these terrible economic times."

Meadow Grass hay still growing in early May.

Quality Standards for Legume, Grass, or Grass-Legume Hay.

Source: Hay Market Task Force, American Forage and Grassland Council.

It is our strongest suggestion that all hay fed to horses be #4 grade or higher!

March 1, 2010 Inventory Below

Bagged shavings $4.25 bag

no refunds on any #5 hay

48-54 bales per ton on average depends on hay type

Available Hay

Hay Type		Relative feed value		all photos of actual hay stock
Prime Alfalfa - very leafy, premium hay		168
Prime Orchardgrass/Alfalfa uber fancy 75%alfalfa		180
#3 Timothy/Alfalfa 75% timothy		out
Prime Orchard/Alfalfa 75%Orchard		190
#4 Mixed Meadow Grass		91
#5 Mixed Meadow Grass no refunds	$3 bale	less then 75
#3 Bluestem Very Nice & Leafy
#4 Bermudagrass - nice clean 2nd - 4th cutting		90
Wheat Straw	$3.50 bale	You're kidding,right ?? :}

Alfafa and Orchardgrass home farm in May.