difference between tifton and coastal

[Anonymous-0]

My hay supplier now has tifton hay as well.

The round bales of tifton he sells are about 1100-1200# and the coastal round bales are 700-850#. the tidton bales are only a few bucks more. With that much extra hay.. i was considering switching.

I've never fed tifton.. and don't know anything about it.

I'm feeding cattle and equines. The $4 difference in price onthe tifton seems like it will buy me 50% more hay.. that would mean I can go maybee 5 weeks per bale rather than 3 weeks.. in each pasture.

any info is appreciated.

Soundguy

 

[Anonymous-0]

According to the grassland index tifton-referred to there as "tiff", the difference is in the stolons, and fewer seed heads. The notes also say it is a superior forage to coastal bermuda. I know of one producer in Baldwin County, Al. that produces tifton, and he has to sprig it. Most producers according to the internet have to sprig to get their stands started. There is no mention of nitrate poisoning that I"ve found. I do know that bermuda grass-mostly coastal in our area can fix nitrogen in the stems as nitrate during drought. The nitrate can poison livestock. No mention if Tifton has less propensity to do this. Check the Alabama Extension Coop website for any papers out of Auburn University on this variety.
Ed Parker

 

[Anonymous-0]

Go to the Alabama Extension Coop website-search it, it should come up, and search their database for ANR 1015-or just tifton bermuda. I just glanced at it, and they list 4 different tiftons. Happy reading.

 

[Anonymous-0]

While you may get more hay do you know what its nutritional worth is? Does your hay outlet/producer give test results? What Im getting at is even though you get more for the $ does that extra give any more feed value? W/o a test its impossible to know. Looking at the physical characteristics only gives the grossest indicator of quality.

Concerning nitrate poisoning I was talking w/ my county agent just this past week about it in regard to orchard grass and bermuda. He says that both will have problems and as a producer I need to pay attention to how much N is applied in a given period of time. Im poking around the various extension sites trying to verify that in regard to bermuda but theres not so much written about it.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Uh.. that's why I posted here asking for info concerning the comparison of tifton to coastal.

All my supplier knows is that tif is 4$ per bale more... etc.

Soundguy

 

[Anonymous-0]

Youre asking a question thats not possible to answer. The quality you get is determined by how the field was managed, when the hay was cut and how it was handled after cutting. That could have little or nothing to do w/ how a variety performs during a trial/study. I inc'ed some links which might be helpful. HTH

http://commodities.caes.uga.edu/grasses/bermuda.htm
http://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/agr/agr48/agr48.htm
http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/turf/publications/foragebermuda/bermuda.html
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/DS081
http://www.ag.auburn.edu/aaes/communications/circulars/cir316.pdf

 

[Anonymous-0]

Calling hay "tifton" is confusing as the name tifton
can be used for bermuda grass and bahia grass.
In bermuda grass tifton is usally followed by numbers such as tifton44. there are several of the tifton bermuda grass hybrids. There is also a cultivar of pensacola bahia that is called tifton 9. Tifton actually refers to Tifton, Georgia where much work has been done with grass. All that being said if it was me I would try a roll and see how the animals consumed it. If the hay was cut in a timely manner
either one is probally sufficient.

 

[Anonymous-0]

If it is Tifton 85,it is better hay than coastal,it will out produce and have better protein of cource that is if is cut and fertilized right,we had a producer here that had some tested at 20%, I grow alot of it and plant alot of it with sprigs and it has been the best grass that they have came out with so far. In East Texas it is our alfalfa. HTH

 

[Anonymous-0]

Some more extension notes:
University of Florida Extension IFAS
Pubs source: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu
"Bermudagrass Varieties for Top Quality and Yields"

U of F through the Escambia County Florida Extension Office"Forages for Northwest Florida"
This paper simply says Coastal is well adapted to north Florida.
Tifton 85 is also recommended that is digestible, good grower, and high yield.
The ANR1015 from Alabama Extension was informative, and leads one to believe whether one variety is "better" than the other is very subjective.
The fact that you can get more for your money is strong reasoning for the Tifton variety. I dont think in all reality (with quality being equal) that the coastal, and cultivar won't be as good as the other. If your in Florida souNdguy what are the preferences for feeding to equine-square or rounds? A while back kyhayman said in his area horse people are moving away from squares to rounds for economy. Thanks for reply.

 

[Anonymous-0]

sourNguy, *** Here In Central Texas*** NO!, NO! NO! I am Not saying it is a bad hay, or anything like that. It is NOT worth the Extra cost in sprigs, reletive to our rainfall with equal fertilization.
In our area, run Coastal and Tif-85 in side x side compairison. With the same fertilization rate and our usual rainfall and there is not a nickles worth of difference in tonnage. Year in and year out it will be that way.
The place Tif-85 does best is under Full Irrigation or heavy rainfall areas then and only then would Tif- 85 be worth the $100+/acre for spriggs as opposed to + - $55/acre for Coastal.
Your area may or may not be different for our findings here. Hope this helps.
Later,
John A.

 

[Anonymous-0]

As someone else stated the $$ value of hay is derermined by several factors,number of days between cuttings,fertilzation,rainfall,protein and RFV. All things equal if it was fertilized and cut in 28 days or less I'd take the heavier bales for $4 more. I wouldn't care even if it was Common Bermuda as there is alot of that baled where I live.Tx Jim

 

[Anonymous-0]

Thanks for the reply. Same is happening where I live. Squares are going thru the roof. 5$ at the cheapest place I've seen.. and they sell out the day the truck comes in. Everywhere else sells 5.25 to 6.25 for coastal squares. The mixes and higher $ bales like timothy start at 9$ for the small squares and in the 12-15$ range for regualr squares. It's killing us horse owners.. since last year.

Most of the horse owners I know ( not the big training farms ) are going to the 'good looking' coastal rounds. They were 50$ last january, and are now up to 59$.. look good and fresh, barn kept. The feed co-op just brought in the tifton this weekend as I was getting hay.. seems the owners brought it in cause us farmers are going broke. As i said.. it's about 4$ more per bale, and the average bale is coming in at 1100# vs the 800# for the coastal. That's a lot more forage for 4$ Hay looks just as nice. The tif is spiral twine wrapped, and the coastal is webbing wrapped. not yellowed.. also looks kept under roof.

The co-op is scaling back on the squares he's bringin in. He used to keep about 4-5 semi trailer full of it.. now only 2. The people still buying the squares are the people with 1 horse.. or a mini.. etc.

The co-op is also selling compressed hay cubes ( alfalfa? ) in the 160$ range.. I'd guess 1500#.. but the big horse farms are buying them mostly. I once tried one for my horses.. of course they love it.. but then won't eat anything else till they are starving...

Last year in florida was hot and dry.. lots of people with pastures lost them and went to hay. My horse pasture very nearly turned to dust bowl.. My cow pasture DID. it was dry and hot.. no rain.. and i fed hay ALL last year. Only now is my horse pasture starting to come back with this warm january and wet weather.

Soundguy

 

[Anonymous-0]

It was so dry last year that most o fthe local hay farmrs went bust. one guy i know.. the only one i know that bailed anywhere near me, even bailed fields with lots of bahia in them.. yeilding a dark crop. Lots of horse owners won't buy that.. and that leaves it for the lower priced cow hay.. so the guy got stuck selling 25$ and 35$ bales they were otherwise good.. but dark.

Soundguy