Oat Hay?

We used to feed my friend's feisty little TB good oaten hay (a biscuit a day, she also got grass hay, alfalfa chaff and wheaten chaff, plus other stuff). She was never hot on it despite being stabled 24/7 - there was no oaten hay one month and had to replace it with grass hay instead, didn't make any difference to her temperament. Oats, on the other hand...

That is a good question. I am guessing that different areas sell different varieties of "oat hay" seed. Whenever it is grown as a cover crop for horse hay, the grower first and foremost wants it to "cover" seedlings, and if possible, cut it while it has a green/gold color and fine texture. Its nutritional value and texture depends on when it was cut. Whereas "straw" used for bedding is the "stalk" of crops that are grown for the oats...not for livestock "hay".

Anybody know the nutritional differences? My oat hay is definitely cut late. All oats fall out, it is still light green-yellowish. I have seen VERY green oat hay with no kernels visible.
Some bales of mine are softer, finer stemmed, others more coarse. My horses prefer the coarse.
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I don't think one can tell w/o having it tested. It is often a "one shot" deal for cover, and the "time at which it was cut" values aren't as well documented or reliable as its alfalfa counterpart. We ordinarily cut it before the oat heads were dry b/c it usually had served its purpose at that point and I prefer it cut while it is still greenish. It always sold before it hit the ground. I fed it to my own horses w little to nothing else, until the subsequent grass hay was ready - they always did very well on it.

Thanks MissyMay.
I know the farmer planted it for hay, not as cover crop. He has no harvesting equipment, so somebody else baled it for him, who also happens to offer oat hay....so my guess is that mine was cut and baled last. It's somewhere between hay and straw. So I guess I check both for values and take the medium

My horses love it...looks like straw almost, but they thought it was pretty snazzy!
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