Do you know the quality of your horse’s forage?
It’s the time of year when many horse owners are feeding preserved forage due to reduced grazing time, poor quality grass and a lack of fresh hay.
For some horses this means that alternative calorie sources and nutritional supplements must be provided to maintain energy levels and a balanced diet. Although you may not have much of a choice when picking your hay, you should always take quality into account when deciding what your horse needs in order to meet their dietary requirements.
During the storage of hay, some nutrients are lost. The process of oxidation, exposure to air and light, causes a decline in vitamins, mainly vitamin A and E. Minerals, on the other hand, are inorganic and therefore remain fairly stable within conserved forage. If hay becomes damp or begins to heat internally then protein content will also reduce gradually.
What makes hay good or poor quality and how can I tell the difference?
Good quality hay and fresh grass have a higher sugar and digestible fibre content compared to poorer quality hay that may have been harvested at a later maturity. This is because in mature hay more of the sugars will have been used through the process of photosynthesis in order for the plant to grow before it is cut. Therefore, hay of higher quality will provide your horse with more energy.
The best way to check the calories and nutrient content of you hay is to have is analysed. However, you can get a rough indication of the quality by looking at it! Leafy green hay with shorter stems and fewer seeds is likely to have a higher sugar and digestible fibre content and therefore provide more energy. Any forage kept for over 2 years will have very little nutritional quality at all. Quality can also be determined by how well your horse maintains their weight. Horses that lose weight will require concentrate feed supplementation for calorie content.
Some horses, such as performance horses, require a much higher calorie (and protein rich) diet due to their greater energy demands and workload. On the other hand, certain horses, such as those who are overweight, benefit from lower quality hay with fewer calories. Certain concentrate feeds and supplements can provide the additional protein, vitamin and mineral requirements for the horse.
Some horses and ponies may even require hay replacers, this could be due to dental issues which reduces their ability to chew long stem fibre. If this is the case with your horse, consider feeding a grass or a fibre block.
If you require any feeding advice, please feel free to contact our Nutritional Advisors…
You can email [email protected] or call our Freephone Advice Line on 0800 585525 (we are open seven days a week; 8.30am - 5.30pm on weekdays and 10am - 4pm during the weekend).