Hi again, I hope I soon catch on to posting on the right threads. my question is about year old hay, if it is well kept is it as good as fresh cut hay?

Even if it is kept in a barn out of the weather and stays clean and dry, it still loses most of its nutritional value. The current years cutting is always better than last years. If you want to feed it up you can it will be good for mid day feedings or a horse that is on a diet. Fed with a little quality hay/ or grain supplement it can still be used. I have had year old hay that has been kept properly. I ended up giving it to them free choice (our horses are on dry lots, no pasture) and supplemented them once a day with a flake of this years cutting/ or with a grain supplement. They did fine.
Hope this helps

You could always sell it off as cow hay also, but if it is still fairly green I would feed it.

Thanks for the knowledge, I personally dont have the old hay,this is the first year we have had horses for many years, I did hear of someone that always feeds year old hay by preference and I thought maybe I was wrong about fresh hay. I really appreciate this sight and all the knowledge you all give.thanks

Not a problem. When I lived in Texas we would have to store hay from the last cuttings in late summer and would not be able to feed fresh until late spring early summer depending on the weather. As long as it is stored properly it should be fine it just wont have as many calories as the fresher stuff. That's why I would supplement. Glad to hear you have horses again. I don't know what I would do without mine.

I have fed year old hay (actually what I am feeding now) and my horses are fine.
But they are on pasture also and one is given grain. (the one that actually does anything)
It does lose some of its nutrional value, but forage is so important to a horses' gut function.

Time for me to go go cut some fresh cut hay now though.
I am down to 5 bales.

Thanks again guys,my horses are on pasture now and also get treated with grain morning and evening,also treats thru the day.I know they dont need that much especially the treats,Also they are now just pleasure horses and dont get worked,just hope we arent loving them to death.
With a two year old daughter riding time is a stand still right now.When we do start riding again it will be short rides.

I'm new to and hope to also catch on to where to post things, we will be searching for hay for sale in south central Kentucky this fall or winter if any one is from that area or knows anyone there. I'm from Indiana but have horses in Kentucky also. This year the drought there is really hurting the producers, as well as the hay-burnners which is the catagory my horse fall into! Slonepony

We are not too far from Kentucky and the drought has affected hay availabity in both WV and VA. Good luck.