What's in Your Hay?

Whether you feed prairie, bermuda, alfalfa, or any other type of hay, it's hard to know what's really in your forage.  The only sure-fire way to know is to have it analyzed.  Having your hay (or pasture) analyzed may not be for the everyday horse person, but for those who truly want to know how their horse's dietary needs are being met, it's the way to go.  The National Research Council (NRC) has established the horse's nutrient requirements, and these will serve as guidelines in balancing your horse's diet.  Several years ago, I took Dr. Eleanor Kellon's NRC Plus course as part of my equine acupressure education, and I learned how to balance my horses' diets by using a hay/ pasture analysis.  I have to say, it was a very eye-opening experience.

I'm no math whiz, but I'm proud to say that I now balance my five horses' diets at least twice a year so I can supplement whichever nutrients are lacking in their forage.  Since we cut our own hay here on our property, my hay analysis results are fairly consistent each time--our hay pastures are lacking in magnesium, copper, and zinc mainly.  My goal now is to add those minerals to the soil to get a more mineral-sufficient horse hay. 

So how does one get started with a hay analysis?  The first thing you need to do is borrow (from your county extension office) or buy a hay corer in order to obtain a sample.  Many local universities can analyze your hay for you, but I get a pretty thorough analysis from Equi-Analytical.  It's not all that expensive, either.  I ship off the sample (pasture is a little more complicated to sample and ship than hay) and usually receive the analysis the next week.

Before balancing diets, I get a fairly accurate estimate of each horse's weight.  Then, using my analysis, I determine each horse's digestible energy (DE) needs and the amount of hay needed to meet those needs.  From there, I figure out how much protein and mineral content is in each horse's ration to see where deficiencies appear. 

As I said earlier, I've had to supplement magnesium, zinc, and copper on a regular basis.  I've also had to occasionally supplement phosphorous.  Last year, with the drought conditions, I had to supplement protein as well.  That may be the case again this year.  You might be wondering where you can buy individual minerals like these--I order mine online from Horsetech, but there are several companies that sell them, and some are even available (like magnesium-oxide) at feed mills. 

If you're inexperienced in balancing, I don't recommend you attempt to balance your horse's diet by yourself. You should instead, seek out an equine nutritionist to do this using your hay analysis.  If you really have the interest of learning to do this yourself though, take Dr. Kellon's NRC Plus course--it's online.  I have to warn you, though, you'll never look at your horse's feeding program the same!

Ta-ta!