lezpedza hay

[treeclimber233]

I buy hay from a local guy that lives right around the corner from me. He has a lot of lezpedeza (sp) in his hay. Is this a good hay to feed my goats? I read somewhere that that plant is good to help control worms. Is that correct? Is there any way to find out what the nutrition level is in hay?

 

[Southern by choice]

Yes, it is very good for your goats.
It is not a dewormer but what it does do is kind of causes a coating on the worm which prevents the worm from feeding and also reproducing. This gradually causes them to die off and lowers counts.

You can have your hay tested.
Gere we van go through our extension services but we also often have the feed stores run a one day only "hay testing" they often coordinate with ext. services and you take in a pound of hay... it is sent off.

Some hay dealers test their hay and that is always helpful.

 

[goatgurl]

x2, what Southern said. i had a hay source that had lespedeza in his hay and my goats loved it.

 

[OneFineAcre]

Lespedeza is wonderful for goats. It's sometimes called the "poor man's alfafa"
I bought 50 bales of mostly lespedeza one time and my goats loved the stuff.

 

[Meaghan]

As there is virtually no lespedeza (or alfalfa for that matter) in Florida, do the lespedeza pellets function in the same way? Or should I just order some seed and sprout them as a way of naturally managing worms?

Sorry for hijacking the topic a bit...

 

[Southern by choice]

the seed is $ but yes you can grow it easily... i really don't know about the pellets. It grows wild here so we just cut some and give it to the goats. Usually they will only eat it fresh and if they don't have any parasite load they won't really eat it, if they do they will eat it.

Kind of like the pine bark... I have a buck we brought in, well several, and we are really having a hard time with parasites with them... they are all over the pines. My other bucks have very low counts so they aren't touching it.

 

[Hens and Roos]

what does the pine bark do?

how far north does this type of hay grow?

 

[Meaghan]

I didn't know pine bark had tannins, I knew about the Lespedza plant and oak leaves. Perhaps we will buy some seed and spread it in the pasture for it to grow.

 

[Southern by choice]

The bark assist in reducing parasites. Similar to the way the lespedeza works. High in tannin.

The key to growing it is making sure you leave enough for it to grow back after you cut it...
Here it grows everywhere.. side of highways you name it it is all over. Some states hate it and think of it as an invasive species.
There are several species, the Korean grows wold here but is very effective. The one used for hay and used in the studies is Sericea lespedeza.

This is a good company to order from...
https://hancockseed.com/

This link is also helpful
American Consortium for Small Ruminant Parasite Control
http://acsrpc.org/Resources/sericea.html

 

[jodief100]

Lespedeza is a legume, like alfalfa. High in protein and calcium. Good stuff if you can get it. The pellet work as well but goats need some roughage. If you feed the pellets they will still need some kind of long, stemmy stuff to eat. Either forage or hay.