Choose the right hay for your horses

You invest a lot of care and appreciation on your horses, so it is wise to spend some time considering their primary diet -- forages.

The horse evolved over time to be efficient as a grazing animal thriving on forages. As we adapted the horse for colder climates, the horse was well-suited to thrive on hay and other conserved forages. Currently in Montana, we have many pleasure horses on small acreages that subsist on hay 365 days a year, and their only involvement with "pasture" is a place to exercise.

What are the principles of feeding hay to horses? Compared to other nonruminant animals, the horse has a relatively small stomach, normal-sized small intestine and a large hind gut. This digestive arrangement makes the horse better suited to grazing continuously than to having one or two large meals a day. Entire textbooks are written on this topic, but the basics are:

* Hay and other roughages provide nutrients and satiety for your horse.
* On average, a horse must consume about two percent of its bodyweight per day.
* Different ages, classes and workloads of horses require different levels of nutrients from the hay.
* All hay is not the same.

How should you choose hay? The nutrient needs for your horse can be met in a number of ways. For example, if you have late-maturity grass hay no matter if it is timothy, orchardgrass, or brome, it will be deficient in protein. You can supply protein and energy in the form of concentrate, which can be grain or a processed feed. Problems with this diet include low forage intake - the late maturity grass hay is consumed at a low level, and horses may develop colic or other disorders from consuming high levels of high-starch grains. At the other extreme, full access to early bloom alfalfa hay can lead to weight problems in lightly-used pleasure horses, due to the high intake potential of the alfalfa. In both of these examples, it may be difficult to meet the horse's daily nutrient demands consistently, and behavioral problems associated with boredom can occur. The compromise for most U.S. horses is a good quality grass-alfalfa mix hay.

An inexpensive hay analysis will tell you the level of crude protein, total digestible nutrients, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and potassium in the hay. Some other characteristics to consider when you view hay are color (horses are colorblind, but bright green hay usually indicates proper curing conditions without nutrient loss), leafiness (particularly of alfalfa -- you need to see intact leaves not leaf fragments or dust), and absence of foreign material (mold, dust, weeds, rocks, dirt, wire, rodents, etc.).

Get to know your hay producer and stick with a good one. Most horse hay in Montana is sold as small square bales (60 -75 pounds), and many commercial producers provide a hay test and bale weights. Hay in small rectangular bales sells more per ton than large bale packages, because the hay producer goes through the effort of handling, stacking, covering (many do), hauling and dealing with small lots of hay and many diverse customers. Good hay buyer-seller relationships will provide trust, respect, prompt payments and consistent hay supplies. Once the hay is home, place it under a shed or tarp it to preserve its quality.

Horse owners also ask whether first or second-cut hay is better. There is more variation within a cutting than between cuttings. First-cut hay is often discriminated against for several reasons -- rain damage or rain delays make hay harvest occur at advanced maturity, and there may be more weeds present. One problem with late first-cut mixed hays in Montana is course steminess of both alfalfa and grasses, and reduced intake of the grass. Second-cutting hay can generally be put up without rain delays. However, overly-mature second-cut hay can still be less palatable and nutritious. The best bet is to view the hay, see its condition and ask for a hay analysis.

Federal and state forests and trailheads in Montana now require that "Certified Noxious Weed Seed-Free Forages" be hauled and fed to backcountry horses. This is an excellent weed prevention program to reduce the spread of noxious weeds in Montana. The Montana program consists of voluntary field inspection prior to hay harvest to assure that standing hay is free of noxious weeds. For many small acreage landowners, buying certified noxious weed seed free forage is a good idea to prevent introducing knapweed, spurge and other weeds onto your place.

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Choose the right hay for your horses