# Alfalfa/Orchard grass mix?



## mrs.h (Feb 1, 2010)

I have found Alfalfa/Orchard grass hay for $8 a bale. Which is what I pay for bermuda around here. I pay $14 a bale for Alfalfa. Is this a good mix? I'm going to go look at it Saturday, I was just wondering if any one had any input? Is orchard grass good?


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## nightskyfarm (Sep 7, 2009)

If cut at the right time, it is a very good choice.


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## Ziggy (Nov 13, 2009)

I agree with Ms. Downey - however if you shop around you should be able to find pure Alfalfa for $8 per bale or possibly less. Just stay away form the feed stores and people that cater to the equine crowd.  - try dealing direct with a grower and you should be able to find it. 

I prefer feeding straight alfalfa when the does are in milk.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

If you can only find the alfalfa/orchard grass mix, you can feed alfalfa pellets along with the hay. Growers around here tell me that it's really hard to grow and harvest pure alfalfa in Va. It takes a long time to dry in the humidity, and it has to be cut at just the right time. I imagine conditions are similar in GA.I've heard various other complaints, so most pure alfalfa here is shipped in from Penn. New York, or Canada. These are very good hays, but more expensive than if locally grown.


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## hyamiranda (Jul 24, 2009)

Boy am I glad I live where I do. We bought 1.5 ton bales of alfalfa for $65. I wish I could send some your way.


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## mrs.h (Feb 1, 2010)

hyamiranda said:


> Boy am I glad I live where I do. We bought 1.5 ton bales of alfalfa for $65. I wish I could send some your way.


Me too!! The feed store gets theirs from Colorado and this Alfalfa/Orchard mix I think he said was from Nebraska or some other far away place. The last Bermuda I bought from a local was dusty and made my goat cough and I think it made my chickens sick! So I'm sticking with the feed store.

When you can only store 4 or 5 bales of hay it's hard to get a reasonable price!


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## nightskyfarm (Sep 7, 2009)

I don't know about that Anita. I have been feeding 4th cut alfalfa to my girls for the past year. It's absolutely beautiful hay and by golly, it's local! Grown 3 miles down the road. So, if the weather is right and the farmer knows how to make "good" hay, that's what you will have. So many farmers in this area really have no idea how to make a high quality bale of hay, they are so used to feeding their beef cattle whatever will grow and be made into a bale of hay. There are a few old timers and a very few younger farmers in the area that actually understand the art of making hay. Up North due to the larger numbers of dairies, the hay is of exceptional quality.


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## Poverty Knob Goats (Apr 13, 2010)

In high humidity area alfalfa can be hard to put up correctly. Too high humidity and it won't dry enough and if it is turned to much the leaves will shatter. There is a small window of thim to put alfalfa up correctly. I don't envy farmers in high humidity areas.


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## Angela (Feb 13, 2010)

Orchard Grass/Alfalfa is a great mix. Depending on how much of each is in it you may still want to feed alfalfa pellets. If the pure alfalfa bales are going for $14 in your area it may be that this is mostly orchard grass.

As far as growing alfalfa in Virginia, we were just given a small field to cut and bale last week. Someone we know had it planted for deer and they had done all the right fertilizers and lime. It made beautiful hay but we were guessing about the drying. (We have never made alfalfa before.) It turned out fine but had I been there I would have told my husband to wait & not bale it yet and it would have been too dry. I can understand why some around here don't like making pure alfalfa. A lot of the big farms up north spray it as it is baled with propionic acid to stop mold.

Angela


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## deJardine (Apr 29, 2009)

The Orchard/Alfalfa locally in CA is garbage. Not even good enough for "cow hay" LOL! I stick with a nice leafy Alfalfa. Thank goodness the prices have dropped from $16+ per bale down to $10!!


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## beanerskj (Mar 24, 2010)

I am new to goats and have nubian's. I need to know if they are known to be picky eaters. I been feeding 2nd cutting hay free feed and 1 flake of Alfalfa per goat split half in the morning and half in the evening, they have been doing fine until recently. The hay I bought they wouldn't touch and so I tried orchard grass and they don't seem to want to eat that. In my area 2nd cutting is a little low right now thats why I tried orchard grass. Any ideas?


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## deJardine (Apr 29, 2009)

beanerskj said:


> I am new to goats and have nubian's. I need to know if they are known to be picky eaters. I been feeding 2nd cutting hay free feed and 1 flake of Alfalfa per goat split half in the morning and half in the evening, they have been doing fine until recently. The hay I bought they wouldn't touch and so I tried orchard grass and they don't seem to want to eat that. In my area 2nd cutting is a little low right now thats why I tried orchard grass. Any ideas?


You could try setting out Alfalfa pellets and see how they like that...


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## Dana (Dec 7, 2009)

Beanerskj,
My goats have always been picky with the hay I give them no matter what kind it is. I have given them pure alfalfa hay and they do chow that much better but there are still stems and a fine crumble of leaves at the bottom of the manager that they don't bother to clean up. It's hard for me to get alfalfa so I just have my front pasture baled which is orchard/ grass mix and the goats get that all year long. Then I give the pregnant and milking does alfalfa pellets mixed with other grains. 

There is more info on the correct ratio of alfalfa to grain on DGI. I believe it's 3:1 to 2:1. 

I never used to give alfalfa in any form to my goats because I didn't know better. Now I'm up to almost half alfalfa pellets and grain mix. My goats do not like the pellets. Some of mine will eat around the pellets! Picky buggers. I'm hoping to eventually get the right ratio with my goats by this fall for the preg. does.


Dana


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## billinohio (Jun 24, 2009)

i feel lucky......I get mostly alfalfa .....2nd and 3d cutting for $3.00-3.50/bale. Of course we have a LOT of dairy farms in this area.


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## Kris (Mar 28, 2010)

billinohio said:


> i feel lucky......I get mostly alfalfa .....2nd and 3d cutting for $3.00-3.50/bale. Of course we have a LOT of dairy farms in this area.


You and me both Bill. 13 dollars a bale? Woah. *long descending whistle*


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

We pay $12 to $15 a bale for alfalfa. These are the regular 2 strand bales. All of it is hauled in from other states. My favorite is the 3x3x8 bales which we could get last year but don't seem to have anyone bringing those in this year. I certainly have no place to store a truck load of those bales myself.


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## MilkMan (Feb 3, 2010)

billinohio said:


> i feel lucky......I get mostly alfalfa .....2nd and 3d cutting for $3.00-3.50/bale. Of course we have a LOT of dairy farms in this area.


I was going to say the same thing. I just bought some last night for $3, and the farmer offered me first cutting right out of the field next week for the same. The field is right across the road and said he would bring the wagon to my barn. He is a big dairy farmer and actually said he has so much extra, I could get up to 300 bales.


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## nightskyfarm (Sep 7, 2009)

Ohio is the place to be! But, I do pay $5.50 a bale for excellent LOCAL alfalfa hay, 45 -50 lb bales. So, VA is not to bad, but $3 is a difference.


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

The problem I've found in SW Michigan is that everyone sells "alfalfa" hay, however it's really a grass/alfalfa mix. Many times, it's mostly grass (which I love for our horses), so we really have to open and look at the hay (my husband is not very good at that -- city boy). The goat just waste anything that isn't 3rd cutting almost pure alfalfa. Of course, it's a bad time of year to find the hay we need so I just put out alfalfa pellets for the first time. Goats seem to love it. I'll still give them hay, but there's my $$ out the window.

Oh, and most hay here is $5/bale, quality and cut almost don't matter.


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## LLB101 (Sep 29, 2009)

Dana said:


> ...There is more info on the correct ratio of alfalfa to grain on DGI. I believe it's 3:1 to 2:1.


Is that by weight? Who weighs their hay?


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## mrs.h (Feb 1, 2010)

nightskyfarm said:


> Ohio is the place to be! But, I do pay $5.50 a bale for excellent LOCAL alfalfa hay, 45 -50 lb bales. So, VA is not to bad, but $3 is a difference.


You guys are killing me down here!


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

Lacia:

We weigh our hay. We also will weigh flakes at times so that we get a feel for how much we are feeding. Is it exact? No. But better than not knowing anything at all.


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## feistymomma (May 20, 2009)

Wow! Some of those hay prices makes me happy I spend hours and hours in the hot sun baling my own!!!! We raise really nice alfalfa/orchard grass here.


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## LLB101 (Sep 29, 2009)

MF-Alpines said:


> We weigh our hay. We also will weigh flakes at times so that we get a feel for how much we are feeding. Is it exact? No. But better than not knowing anything...


I agree & guess I should try it again. 
You say you "also...weigh flakes" so what do you normally weigh, the whole bale? Or a multi-flake one-feeding quantity?


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