Last week I made it out to a horse rehabilitation facility which was going to work with and train our newest horse, Dezzie.
As we chatted, I happened to look down and find a huge stalk of Teff Grass hay. Excited, I help it up and said “Ah, you’ve fed Teff Grass, isn’t it awesome?”
The owner looked at me in horror, “No! It’s terrible! Our horses lost tons of weight on it and even our vet said Teff is bad horse hay!”
I looked at the girl in shock! Bad horse hay? I don’t think so!
But looking at the stalk in my hand, she was partially correct: this was in fact BAD horse hay! This hay had already started to seed, and it was past cutting prime. Some grasses like Brome and Timothy ae flexible with cutting and don’t lose nutritional value quickly. Others, like Teff and Orchard MUST be cut at a specific stage to ensure all nutrition is available for the animal who will be eating it.
Who ever had sold the girl this Teff, was basically conning her into it. He knew it was no good. You don’t grow hay and not know when to cut it. Now, whether or not she told him she had starved, rescue horses, I don’t know. But incorrectly cut Teff is bad for starving animals!
Lets get the facts on Teff Grass:
Taken from http://teffgrass.com/feeding-teff
Let me be clear – I researched Teff BEFORE I decided to plant it last year.
Teff is similar to the nutritional profile of Timothy, but, as the website suggests, the feed value lowers when you wait too long to cut it. Having grown it myself for hay, and fed it to my horses AND cows, the animals did VERY well on it, and slurped it up like spagetti! I had to be careful feeding it because they loved it so much they devoured their rations faster than other hays!
BUT . . . I also paid VERY strict attention to when I harvested it, and I cut it right at the correct stage of growth. I even got two MORE cuttings off it later, which were equally good!
Why Teff?
It’s fast.
Teff Grass can be cut 45 days after planting, and every 4-6 weeks there after. It gets thicker each time you cut too!
It’s an annual.
Unlike other grasses, Teff is an annual, so it dies in winter. It’s a “warm season” grass so it performs best in HOT weather. This makes it ideal for southern or western states where “cool season” grasses won’t grow for most of their grazing season.
It’s also good for northern states who need pasture during the short-lived summer months, and want to fatten cattle faster.
Being an annual, it allows farmers to keep something growing in their fields between major crop plantings, yet still get a paycheck from.
So if I love Teff so much, why am I not planting it again?
I would! BUT, I’d most likely plant it for summer pasture for the cows. At the moment I don’t have an extra area to plant as my previous area will be planted with Brome grass. Teff is perfect for farmers harvesting a winter crop such as wheat or brassicas.
Honestly, I’d rather just plant Native Grasses, which are also warm-season, but are perennials so they grow thicker each year. Native grasses are some of the best hay you can feed a horse but that’s a topic for another post!
Bottom line: Teff is excellent grass and hay. But do your research on it before you decide to buy it, so you can go to your hay seller with confidence! Or ask for a nutritional analysis. Or get one done yourself!
Teff Hay at correct stage for cutting, photo taken while cutting first cutting (note the stray timothy heads that snuck into my field?)
Photo of Teff Hay drying in the rows. Being a thin grass most think it dries faster and bale it too quickly. It dries at the same rate as other grasses, so don’t rush it!
*Doesn’t it look like an overgrown lawn?
