sweet question
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It isn't always. Hays are made when the grass has stopped growing. Sugar is highest during stages of rapid growth. When the grass is cut it will continue to metabolize sugar until it "dies" by having moisture levels get too low. If it has access to storage forms of carbohydrate (fructan or starch) it will use those too, to keep the sugar at a normal level until it dies. The final hay will then have a sugar very similar to when it was alive, but lower than when it was still growing. If the cut grass cannot access the storage carbohydrate (fructan is stored low to the ground), sugar will drop until the grass dries out and dies.
Sugar level in hay does not change but in pasture it does. It is highest with lots of sunshine and in growing grass, before it flowers and goes to seed. When nights are warm, sugar is lowest in early morning and highest late afternoon.
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Eleanor in PA
EC Owner 2001
Sugar level in hay does not change but in pasture it does. It is highest with lots of sunshine and in growing grass, before it flowers and goes to seed. When nights are warm, sugar is lowest in early morning and highest late afternoon.
So if a field of mixed meadow grasses has been growing for a couple of months through spring, was mowed a once or twice early on in March/April and now is maturing with seed heads, it slowing down it's growth period and maybe becoming more 'safe' than fast growing grasses. OK - so I understand that.
But relative to evaluating safety for possible limited grazing - I've wondered about the seed heads themselves. Aren't they like little packets of starch? And would they make the more mature grass just as unsafe as the growing-stage grass?
For mature grass stands (with seed heads) is it safer to mow high to attempt to get the seed heads prior to grazing rather than to leave them for possible ingestion?
Or does mowing (even high) restart the growing process (as is my understanding from sustainable Ag. methods for dairy/cattle grazing systems). Maybe not, if the temps are high and spring rains are past. (?)
Thanks.
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MaryS and Hoover
Sept. 2016, South Central PA
Hoover's Case History: https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/files/Mary%20and%20Hoover/Hoover%20Case%20History%202017%2003%2023.pdf
Photos: https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/album?id=4749 .
Grass seed matures quickly (3 to 10 days) and is dropped so just seeing the heads doesn't mean they are getting much starch. Starch is much lower in the younger seeds.
There is huge diversity in seed yield/plant, even among the same species:
http://www.publish.csiro.au/CP/AR04204
so it's impossible to generalize how much starch intake is theoretically possible.
The seeds are also tiny and may escape chewing - 35% in this study with sheep:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4002700?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
Grains are just domesticated "improved" grass seeds. The larger the seed/grain, the more starch. Pasture grass seeds (except perennial rye) have about 30% each protein, fat and starch. Good article here on grain vs seed
https://landinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/PF_FAO14_ch15.pdf
If you have a horse that needs restriction you can always pull them off pasture when seed setting starts and return when the seeds have dropped.
Mowing restarts growth and is also a stress/injury.
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Eleanor in PA
EC Owner 2001