What makes a decent looking hay protein deficient?

[where I want to]

Hay is not readily available here to put it mildly. There are maybe 3 feedstores within 90 miles and I swear they all buy the same hay from the same grower.
The last 3 years it has beengravel in the bales- enough that I used the stuff I shook loose and swept up to make paths. Before that it was massive baled clod os dirt. There was the year of baled curly dock.

Anyway this year there was little rock. The alfalfa in hay was overly dry and had a lot of the leaves crumbled to dust but otherwise it looked unusually good.
But first my horses, then the goat started looking skinny over the top lone. I kept increasing the feed and the fgot fatter bellies but no weight on top.
The vet mentioned in passing that might signify a lack of protein. So I added a small amount of alfalfa pellets, first to the one horse, then when I saw the fast improvement to her, to the rest who all also improved fast.

So I believe the vet was right. But I do wonder what growing practice made this problem, which is the first time it has happened?

[mmoetc]

There can be a lot of factors that affect protein levels in hay. It can be as simple as when it was harvested. Too early or too late and protein levels aren't optimum. Handling and storage can also cause deterioration. Sunlight, moisture, heat are all bad. How old was it? Last year's? The year before that? Age lessens nutrition.

[Bearfootfarm]

Most states will do forage testing and tell you the nutrition values
Lots of things can cause variations in quality

[Patchouli]

This was my first year ever getting dirt clods in my hay and it irked the snot out me. I won't be buying from them again. I have never had the protein issue before though. Around here unless it is a droughty year we get 3 hay cuttings and sometimes 4. So nutrition is generally pretty high.
I will be interested in the answers too.

[Allen W]

The alfalfa in hay was overly dry and had a lot of the leaves crumbled to dust

The leaves are where the protein is.

[geo in mi]

Isn't all the good stuff being exported?

geo

[where I want to]

I can see there is something else to check. I'll try to buy some leafy straight alfalfa if I can get some to add to the grassy hay when I feed.
I have never been fond of pelleted feeds but I now wonder if that will be what I have to do to keep even idle animals healthy.

[Allen W]

Leaves, soft steams, seed head maturity, are just some of the things to look for. Seed heads are dependent some what on the type of hay, but the further developed they are the less protein the hay will have also the stems will be harder and less digestible as the seed heads mature. Crabgrass is a rule breaker, it will have seed when you cut it and not lower the quality unless totally mature and then it is still good cow hay.

[Patchouli]

Originally Posted by where I want to

I can see there is something else to check. I'll try to buy some leafy straight alfalfa if I can get some to add to the grassy hay when I feed.
I have never been fond of pelleted feeds but I now wonder if that will be what I have to do to keep even idle animals healthy.

We switched to Chaffhaye this winter as our supplement and the goats loved it. I am not a fan of pellets either and neither were the goats to be honest. We went with regular hay for the roughage and this as the protein supplement.
http://www.chaffhaye.com/

[rambler]

Originally Posted by Patchouli

This was my first year ever getting dirt clods in my hay and it irked the snot out me. I won't be buying from them again. I have never had the protein issue before though. Around here unless it is a droughty year we get 3 hay cuttings and sometimes 4. So nutrition is generally pretty high.
I will be interested in the answers too.

Actually, many cuttings with fast hay growth might lead to low protien, as the grasses grow too fast and can't keep up the N.

Typically a dry year is the one that leads to real high protien, as the plants grow slow and fill in extra protien.

As others say, there are many factors, but it comes down to N in the soil gets turned into protien in the plant.

And most hay plants store the protien in the fragile leaves, so the leaf is the most nutrient dense part of the hay crop. If it gets knocked off you lose protien.

Then, most grass crops take the protien stored in the leaves, and rush it to the flowers and seed heads when they seed out, robbing the plant of protien as they manufature the seed head. So there is a rapid loss of protien in hay when it becomes over ripe and sets seed, or about to.

Something along those lines happened.

It is common to test hay for nutrient values, costs a bit of course.

Paul