Lespediza Hay-Worms.

[OneFineAcre]

In my OP I said that they call lespedeza the "poor man's alfalfa". I then said he was so poor he walked 5 miles to school both ways, uphill.

I think I may have been off base. I do think it is a fine product.

My wife arranged the whole deal, and I was not there when they delivered. We got 50 bales delivered to our house. My first impression was based on the fact that when the trailer was empty there was a lot of loose hay, and they asked her if we wanted it. They put in a trailer I had in the yard. It was probably another 5 bales that were free. But, it was loose and not really good.

But when we started to open the bales, it is actually really nice hay. The goats love it. And, we had a couple of animals who were undercondtioned, who have greatly improved. Also have a couple who were good conditioned who are a little too fat now.

I know it doesn't have as much calcium as alfalfa, and I'm not sure of the actual nutritional value otherwise. But, my impression is that it is superior to the grass hay we normally get around here.

Cost, is about half what we would pay for alfalfa, but more expensive than Bermuda which is pretty cheap here.

It has a very sweet/spicy smell

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Wow it looks really nice, and that's great to hear your goats like it and have been getting in better condition because of it!

 

[goatboy1973]

We have Lespediza growing wild on our farm. Our goats love it. Oak leaves and acorns all have tannins also.

 

[bonbean01]

Not speaking for Southern here, but I believe she was saying it is not a dewormer, but an excellent preventative. We use garlic barrier and ACV on our sheep as a preventative of worms...treatment and preventative are two different things. Lots of hot debate on this in the past and don't want to stir any hornet nests on the subject...treat worms when needed, but also don't forget the preventions...everyone has different situations and with sharing experiences, we all learn and our animals are the ones getting the benefits. Bottom line is, we all want what keeps our animals healthy.

 

[goatboy1973]

My grandfather was a seed salesman and he got all kinds of experimental hybrid varieties of seed and he would sow the stuff in areas of the farm to see how they did so that he would have 1st hand knowledge of what he was selling. The experimental clover and Lespediza he sowed 20+ yrs ago grows like wild fire and the goats love it!

 

[OneFineAcre]

My grandfather was a seed salesman and he got all kinds of experimental hybrid varieties of seed and he would sow the stuff in areas of the farm to see how they did so that he would have 1st hand knowledge of what he was selling. The experimental clover and Lespediza he sowed 20+ yrs ago grows like wild fire and the goats love it!

I got the batch that started this thread brought in from Va. I had to buy 50 bales. My barn was a mess. I had two 5x5 round bales of coastal and then 50 bales of the lespedezza. Couldn't even move in there. I wish I new a local source where I could get smaller quantities. Regardless of it's benefit in worm prevention, it is really good hay. It has a wonderful, sweet spicy smell. My goats love it and gained condition when I was feeding it.

 

[Southern by choice]

I would love to get some also. Same issue... storage. I can't store 50 bales and my round bales. I can do 20-30 bales max
I can't even find it.
@One Fine - did it affect the taste of the milk?
It grows wild here but doesn't do me any good in the winter and in the spring/summer they only eat it if they need it I guess because they will eat it and then other times we will cut it and tey will leave it.

 

[OneFineAcre]

I would love to get some also. Same issue... storage. I can't store 50 bales and my round bales. I can do 20-30 bales max
I can't even find it.
@One Fine - did it affect the taste of the milk?
It grows wild here but doesn't do me any good in the winter and in the spring/summer they only eat it if they need it I guess because they will eat it and then other times we will cut it and tey will leave it.

I don't recall that it affected the taste of the milk, but I also don't think we were milking much at the time. I seem to recall we didn't want to give any chemical wormers because we had some in last month of gestation.

 

[goatboy1973]

I can't find any of the stuff in the form of bales. The Lespediza we have grows in big clumps around the rocks in our part of the farm that we can't get a bush hog into. I too, wish I could get some bales of this stuff. There's a variety of it called Korean ... And it has been proved best for grazing and haying but it is so very, very expensive. I don't know what variety our's is though.

 

[Southern by choice]

Korean grows wild in these parts.