We were warned for about a year this would be coming . I'm in southern CA , home of all things fresh alfalfa , but the only alfalfa we can get here is dry, dusty, pale JUNK. Grass hay is not easy to find either . The nice fresh alfalfa is being shipped to China and the moddle east I guess . I've been soaking it ,but my

horses are still having respiratory issues and coughing . I'm at my wits end and seriously contemplating just finding the best grass hay I can and feeding some alfalfa cubes and complete feed . Any ideas? Thanks ! 

What kind of future expatriate is shipping hay to China? That's insane. Grass hay isn't going to hurt then. May be time to move.

The big growers here are selling the premium green alfalfa to the big race horse trainers in China and Middle East  at 4x what they can sell it for here . They are trucking in alfalfa from AZ at this point . I went to tractor supply and picked up 10 bags of nice smelling cubes . If it works I can buy a pallet at a time  . I would move but I teach high school here and make 4x what I can make out of state lol 

We buy alfalfa from AZ and due to all the rain in AZ during late summer, we had to get CA alfalfa and you are right, it was really stemmy and dry.  The growers in AZ are baling hay again but they don't have near enough stockpiled to last thru the winter.  Probably going to be a rough winter for livestock owners.  

And this my friends is why I will be placing an order for a whole pallet of alfalfa cubes. 

I'm in southern Nevada and I switched to strictly Chaffhaye and throw some grass when I can get my hands on it.  I really like the consistent quality of the Chaffhaye and at 30 cents a pound it's a tad more expensive than cubes but I don't find a bunch of rocks at the bottom of my feeders when they're done eating and that makes me feel better.  Plus there is little to no waste.   My local dealer is absolutely the best to work with as well.

Rocks in your cubes? Alfalfa ships to China? No grass hay? What the heck is going on out west? We're a little short because of a dry summer but we lucked up and our hay guy didn't raise his prices until after we bought. 

I tried CHaffhaye once and my horses would not even touch it. But it was probably because they had good green alfalfa at that time. LOL But might have to give it a go! 

2 of my 3 took right to it.  It took my picky mare about a week to decide she would clean up a full feeding and if I had kept giving her other options she probably would have taken longer to switch over.  Even now she'll leave some if I throw her any other kind of hay.  But my 2 porkers act like it's candy.

I've started adding a flake of fresh alfalfa to my horses diet. Before, they were fed Renew Gold and alfalfa cubes. I keep coastal out for a filler. The last few times Ive bought alfalfa, the bales are full of rocks and dirt! Im not happy about it. A fine grey dirt and rocks. Ive never noticed that before when feeding fresh. Im kind of confused on why 

The whole reason I started feeding fresh is from my mare that decided that was ALL she would eat her last 2 months of pregnancy. No feed, no cubes, no coastal. ONLY FRESH ALFALFA!!!! Anything for my princess.... So I kept buying and  feeding it. But the dirt in these last 10 bales has been extreme IMO. They like the leafiness of these bales but will the dirt hurt them? Im worried about respritory issues. 

EXACTLY!!!!!! My experience out here as well!! dirt clods, rocks, DRY DRY DRY!!!!! WHen I submerged it in water all sorts of crap would fly up!!! Not happening! 

I have some neigbhors that have switched thier horses to a fodder type feed.  One worked with a nutritionist from Utah State University to help him save on hay since he had to buy 100% of his feed (doesn't raise any and has limited pasture).  He started using https://www.medalistfeed.com/ and his horses look really good.  They told me they give them a flake of hay with this feed to give them something to chew on.  They also said its going to save them a lot of money since hay is sky high around here.  The drought hasn't been the wests friend.  I haven't used it yet, but am very interested in it as an alternative.  We  raise our own hay and luckily had a decent crop this year.  But if things get short towards the spring the horses I may be trying this. 

I bought from a different place yesterday. Much better quality. Not as leafy but nowhere near the dirt and rocks either! I forgot to ask what states both places buy from. 

i wouldn't feed my horse junk I would switch to cubes or pellets or chaffee hay..............