Evaluating Your Horse’s Hay Quality
Horses are natural grazers and need access to food frequently throughout the day, so when creating an equine nutrition program, you should always start with addressing your hay. Evaluating your hay quality will help you understand its nutritional value so you can better tailor your equine nutrition program to what your horse needs.
How much does the nutritional value of hay vary?
The nutritional value of hay and forage can vary greatly due to several factors, including:
- Type of Hay: There are many different types of hay depending on the location it’s grown in, such as alfalfa, timothy, orchard grass, coastal Bermuda, and more.
- Soil Quality: Type of soil, soil quality and fertility will vary by location, which will affect the quality of hay grown on it.
- Weather: During the growing season and/or at harvest, the weather can affect overall quality and nutrients.
- Forage Maturity: Harvesting forage too early or too late can affect the nutritional value of it.
- Hay Storage: Storage plays an important role in how the hay holds nutritional value, such as it being covered in a barn or sitting outside exposed to the elements.
To evaluate your hay, look at the stem-to-leaf ratio, you want to see as many leaves as possible, along with a bright green color, and fresh aroma. You don’t want to see any dust, mold, or foreign material. Keep in mind that visual appraisal is not always accurate. If your hay appears to look good but your horse is not performing up to expectations, has a poor body condition score or you notice a change in body condition they are most likely not receiving the essential nutrients they need. This is where a professional analysis of your hay could be helpful to develop the appropriate equine feeding program.
Testing your hay will tell you if your horse needs a supplement or feed concentrate added to their diet. Often, horse owners will blame a drop in their horse’s weight or change in body condition on their feed, when it is really the quality of hay, forage, or pasture that has changed. A hay analysis will give you a starting point of where to go nutritionally to keep your horse performing.
How do you properly take a sample for hay analysis?
- Using a hay probe, collect samples from 10-20% of the bales in a single load.
- Combine the samples and thoroughly mix them together.
- Grab two separate samples from the mixed ones and place each in a separate plastic bag.
- Label them by hay source, type of hay, cutting date, date bailed, and the date sampled.
- Ship both off for analysis.
When sampling, make sure you don’t sample just one bale, but take random samples throughout the load. If you’re buying enough hay for a year or longer, it’s especially important to get the hay tested for its nutritional value. Getting your hay tested periodically is also important, especially on a breeding operation when raising young horses. If you don’t have a hay probe you can work with your local feed store or extension office.
To create a successful equine nutrition program, the program needs to be based around your hay and its nutritional value. This eliminates the guessing game, and you will know exactly what other feed and supplements your horse needs.
For questions on equine nutrition or Sentinel Horse Feed products, ask one of our equine nutritionists.