As the weather turns colder and the grazing makes a dramatic exit from your paddocks, now really is the time to focus on your hay situation. Forage is a must for any horse, yes even performance horses, and it is the one area that is hugely often overlooked.
The fermentation of fibre in the hindgut provides energy and essential nutrients to the horse. Fibre also aids in maintaining a healthy digestive system by promoting gut motility, preventing digestive disturbances such as colic, and reducing the risk of gastric ulcers.
But before we delve further into the world of forage let’s just touch on the terminology which can often be confusing.
“Forage” simply means the edible parts of plants, minus the grain portion, that serve as food. Forage can include grazing/pasture, hay, hay pellets/cubes, chaffs, and even beet products.
“Forage quality” refers to what makes the forage valuable to horses. Such as energy, fibre, protein, vitamins, and minerals.
“Fibre“– Fiber is considered a structural carbohydrate and can be utilized by the horse for energy. Fibre is an essential component of plant cell walls that provide strength and structure. As a plant matures, the fibrous component increases and lengthens to support the plant.
“Long-stemmed forage” – this term indicates the physical length of the plant material as given to the horse. Long-stemmed forages include hay and some pasture-type plants. When forage is chopped or ground and formed into cubes or pellets, it is no longer considered long-stemmed forage.
“Hay Cutting”- this is a term used to describe when farmers cut their hay during the growing season. For example, 1st cutting hay describes the first time the farmer cuts the field of hay, the 2nd cutting is the second time they cut the field and so on. The cutting doesn’t really tell you much about the quality of the hay however something that can give more detail is the maturity at cutting.
“Maturity” – refers to the stage of growth at harvest. In general, although not always, mature forages will provide more non-digestible (non-usable) fibre and have lower levels of protein and energy, compared to younger or more immature forages. Mature hays also tend to have a higher proportion of thick stems which can make them less palatable than more immature cuts.
This however doesn’t mean more mature hays are not useful- for example, overweight horses could be fed more mature hay to satisfy their need to eat as well as assist with gut health without higher levels of nutrients that they just don’t need. This is certainly by no means an accurate assessment of hay, the only true way to know your hay’s value is to have it tested.
“Leaf-to-Stem Ratio”- although a very basic method of looking at hay quality it can give a small insight into the value of the hay you have. The leaves have a higher level of digestible nutrients than the stems and thus a larger leaf content is desirable. If the hay has a higher proportion of rough, thick stems and a very low leaf content, it generally points towards a less nutrient-rich batch.
“Dry Matter”- all horses require a minimum of 1.5% of body weight in hay (long-stemmed forage) per day. When we discuss hay it’s important to factor in dry matter.
Dry matter simply means “without moisture”. It’s important to work out your horse’s hay in terms of dry matter as the non-moisture portion is the portion with all the valuable nutrients. Hay seems dry however it will contain a small amount of moisture and each batch/hay can be hugely variable.
Although this sounds hugely complicated, stay with me I promise to make it simple.
We can get a good estimate with the following calculation, so let’s take a 500kg horse as an example.
500kg x 1.5% = 7.5kg
Hay typically will have 12-15% moisture and so let’s assume the highest amount of 15%. This means that 85% of hay is dry matter so for every 1kg of fresh hay fed 850g will be dry matter and 150g is water.
7.5kg / 0.85 (the dry matter) = 8.8 kg Total minimum hay needed to be fed per day.
“Hay cubes/pellets” – these are pellets/cubes made from ground/chopped up hays. These may vary in the type of hay used and the level of hay provided in them can be variable. These products can be useful for horses not able to have long-stemmed roughage due to digestive issues or even poor/no teeth. They can be easily soaked, and quality cubes/pellets will provide good levels of fibre. The fibre provision of these products should be at least 35% in order to be considered high fibre.
“Super fibres” – these include ingredients such as sugarbeet, soya hulls and lucerne. These ingredients provide higher levels of digestible energy. For example, good hay can be between 40-60% digestible whereas beet products are around 80% digestible, thus providing more energy from fibre in a smaller amount.
“Square bales”- typically are between 15-20kg bales. Small square bales are generally the most ideal in situations where only a few horses are being fed. The bales can be used quickly, reducing the chances of spoiling due to storage. These bales are often easier to store and don’t take up as much space. They are easy to handle and can be divided by the slice, although I would still recommend weighing your hay, slices typically weigh around 1kg, and can be easier to assess how much you are feeding.
“Round bales” – round bales are a way of feeding larger numbers of horses as they provide around 200 kg +-. However, they need more storage space and can often be difficult to use, as they must be unwound, making filling hay nets harder. Also, keep in mind that when pulling hay off a large bale can “fluff it up” making it look like a lot when it doesn’t weigh much at all. Therefore, be sure to weigh your hay. More wastage occurs as quite often the outer layers are not suitable for feeding and must be discarded. Large bales stored in a dry barn can be used successfully, however, if they are not stored correctly, they can be susceptible to mould due to their compact nature. Large round bales should be used in situations where there are enough horses to use up the bale in a few days.
In our next newsletter, we will look at the types of hay and which horses are better suited to which.
Warm regards,
Team HH Feeds
