We had bought enough hay to feed our gelding through the winter but then purchased a second horse. Now I'm needing more hay. Just spoke with a guy with is selling Bermuda hay mixed with perry grass. He says some people wont feed it to horses but he feeds it to his.

I can't find anything on Perry grass. I remember recently reading about a type of grass that is toxic or can be and I'm thinking this may be it but just not finding anything on it.. Any reason I shouldn't feed it?

I'm betting he said Prairie Grass. Or y'know. That's what he thinks it's called, Perry Grass but it's prairie grass. LOL


Kinda the difference between girth and gert in Oklahoma.

PS. Johnson Grass is what is toxic to livestock (Among other things) and it is common.


This crap grows everywhere:

"Johnson grass has been used for forage and to stop erosion, but it is often considered a weed because:

• Foliage that becomes wilted from frost or hot, dry weather can contain sufficient amounts of hydrogen cyanide to kill cattle and horses if it is eaten in quantity.
• The foliage can cause 'bloat' in such herbivores from the accumulation of excessive nitrates; otherwise, it is edible.
• It grows and spreads so quickly, it can 'choke out' other cash crops planted by farmers."

Oh yes! You and I even talked about that!!


I think you are right about the prairie grass. His text was such a mess I imagine he was using voice to text.

Prairie grass is good stuff. My horses love it.

Not gonna lie. Prairie is a tricky word to text correctly. Autocorrect may have ninja'd him too. I've spelled words absolutely correctly and because the phone thinks I've lost my mind and didn't mean that exact word, it's autocorrected me the second I hit send. TICKS ME OFF.


But yeah. Prairie grass is indeed good stuff. We don't see it a lot here for hay in SE Oklahoma - it's pretty much all bottom land bermuda. If you buy local I mean and don't have it brought in.

The deal with prairie grass is that is a catch all name for a variety of grasses that are typical in areas with unimproved pasture lands or spaces that are allowed to be hayed to save municpalities/governments having to pay to have them cared for. Unless you know where the grass is coming from and what location it is actually hayed then you are at the mercy of the person that hayed it. There are some really great mixes out there that horses love and are in line with what a horse has evolved to live off of. Not a monoculture so you can have a better profile that provides more than a hay of only one species. So, not knocking prairie hays - just a buyer beware.


Prairie hay that is truly Prairie hay is mostly going to consist of warm-season grasses like the bluestems and gramas, indiangrass, switchgrass, lovegrass, or prairie sandreed. There might be cool-season species present. Again all is dependent on location.

Every time I see this thread with the Perry Grass it gives me a chuckle...just the name...should be listed on the "isms" thread.

@AnitaAnne you are so right!