Clover hay

[Ariel301]

I'm working on organizing a large shipment of hay from out of state to get a better price than the local feed store. It seems that a lot of places have a good deal on clover hay. I have no experience with it at all, does anyone on here? It seems to me that it would be something the goats would like, since it would be fine and leafy and has about the same protein content as alfalfa. I've read some things saying that animals grazing on red clover can have fertility issues (but other websites said it was fine or that fresh clover was bad but hay was ok)--does anyone know anything about that?

 

[Roll farms]

I had several does in 2009-2010 kidding season who didn't settle on the 1st breeding and had to be rebred / kidded late and the *only* variable that year from previous years was that we were feeding clover hay in June / July / August.

We had never had that problem up until that point, and it was only after we'd been feeding it for months that I read about the potential fertility problems in Goat Rancher magazine.

Something about it (clover) having a lot of estrogen (or an estrogen-type) hormone...forgive me, it's been 2 years, I don't recall verbatim...
but I DO recall that when I read it, a light bulb came on and I 'got' why none of my July-bred does kidded in Dec. that year.

I'm talking, I saw them in heat, I saw them bred by mature bucks...and then 1 or 2 mos later I'd see them in heat again. Grrrrrrr.

I have also heard a lot of folks say they had no issues, though...maybe it depends on what stage the plant is in when it's cut...?

 

[Emmetts Dairy]

Ive heard of fertility issues with clover as well. But with any hay IMO it is always best to mix it. I have three differant hay types and Im always grabbing a couple flakes of each to fill the manger and I mix it all together. Thats what I do anyway.

You can probally buy some from the feed store to save some cash..but I would get some from another source, a differant type and mix it up so its not all clover. That may help?

Good luck.

 

[Ariel301]

Thanks. I think I'll just stick with alfalfa to be safe, since if I get it by the truckload from out of state, they only want to load one kind on each truck.

 

[elevan]

I use a clover / orchard grass / alfalfa mix hay. No one around here sells plain clover hay...

 

[Ariel301]

Clover seems to be pretty popular in Oklahoma and Texas, where many of the companies willing to ship hay nationwide are located. They don't seem to have much alfalfa in that area, or at least the sellers I have contacted don't deal with it.

 

[Roll farms]

We have some big rabbit farms around here and a farmer I know from TSC had grown this lovely clover hay for them...and then they didn't buy it. He mentioned to me that he 'needed to move it FAST' b/c he was getting ready to cut alfalfa and needed the room.... and quoted some ridiculously low price like 1.50 a bale.

So...I did some quick searches and couldn't find anything saying NOT to use it, so we did.

If I had it to do over, I'd have bought only about 1/3 of what I did and mixed it w/ grass / alf....but I bought him out and fed it exclusively for 3 mos. (after transitioning slowly, of course). They loved it, and by appearances did well on it....except for breeding.

 

[RabbleRoost Farm]

I've read that with sheep, you want to keep them off clover filled pastures for a couple months before breeding to prevent issues.
I haven't ever read anything about clover hay, but it makes sense that the same warning would carry over.
And I'd assume it's the same for goats as sheep.