[Jacob-list] hay

[Neal and Louise Grose]

"Weeds" is relative. (Isn't everything.) Our sheep routinely clean up the
lambsquarter, pigweed, smartweed, blackberry briars and poison ivy but leave
Bermuda grass, pokeweed and Mexican Tea weed. Keep in mind that many herbs
are actually poisonous in quantity. Be wary of leaves from trees. Maple and
wild cherry leaves are fine while fresh, but are deadly when wilted.

Alfalfa palatability is entirely dependent on the ratio of leaves to stems.
The leaves are higher in nutritional value than the leaves of orchardgrass,
but the stems are lower. As the plant gets older, the stems gradually become
more like wood. The same process takes place in older grass. The idea is
that metabolism shifts from energy production to holding up seeds.

Grasses that tolerate warm weather such as Bermuda grass, fescue and millet
are fairly low in palatability compared to cool season grasses like
ryegrass. (An exception to this is crabgrass and Johnsongrass...great stuff
for grazing, were it not for the nasty business of nitrate poisoning after
frost.)

Neal Grose
North Carolina

----- Original Message -----
From: "gf" <fayg at mebtel.net>
To: "Linda Bjarkman" <patchworkfibers at alltel.net>; <stonecroft235 at juno.com>;
<jacob-list at jacobsheep.com>
Cc: <bob at helplion.com>; "Dave Cowan" <davecowan at yahoo.com>;
<smorgue at aol.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2003 5:38 AM
Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] hay