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How can you tell if hay is a good quality horse?
Good quality hay should be bright green in color with little fading. A bleached, yellow, brown or black color may indicate aged hay, mold or poor storage conditions. Storage condition and age have a significant effect on vitamin content of hays.
What kinds of problems could arise by feeding poor quality hay?
Poor-quality hays also generally have lower vitamin content than good-quality hays and may be less palatable, which may reduce consumption and increase waste. In addition, these poor-quality hays may contain dangerous molds, trash, or debris.
What is poor quality hay?
So what constitutes “poor quality hay?” It is hay that limits how much a cow will eat, has a low energy value, low protein content, and as a result requires a large amount of supplemental feed to support cow performance.
What does bad hay look like?
Smell the Hay Make sure that the hay doesn’t smell like mold or mildew – if it does, refuse the hay. Shift the hay through your fingers and look to see how much dust is released. Hay which is very dusty is not good to feed to horses, especially if your horses have respiratory issues.
Why is hay important for horses?
It can satisfy the horse’s appetite and provide necessary roughage without excess calories and protein. A good-quality grass hay may meet most of the adult horse’s basic nutritional needs. A fortified grain concentrate can be used to supplement the ration, increasing its energy, protein, vitamin and mineral content.
Is green hay bad for horses?
Green. Without question, the most desirable color of hay is bright green. Greenness indicates the hay was not subjected to any adverse conditions during curing or storage, thereby suggesting the forage is nutritious and free of molds. Green hay is often rife with carotene, a precursor to vitamin A, and vitamin E.
What can I do with poor quality hay?
Consider grinding the hay Meeter says, “Grinding poor quality forages can help increase intake. Be aware of the cost associated with grinding (normally around $10 per bale). Also, grinding and mixing hay with other ingredients makes it more difficult for the cow to sort around dangerous components.”
How do you know if horse hay is bad?
Signs that your horse hay may be bad include a lack of color or dried-out appearance, a moldy smell, excessive dust, visible mold, or excessive heat towards the center of the hay bale. Because hay provides your horse with so many essential nutrients, you must provide your horse with the best quality hay available.
Why is my horse’s hay bad?
The nutritional value of hay is compromised with increased exposure to heat, sunlight and rain, which speed up this process. When good quality hay for your horse is scarce or too costly, you may need to compensate for poorer quality hay. You can do this by supplementing with a quality balanced horse feed.
Why is it important to choose the best quality hay?
Because it’s such a big part of the ration, a good quality hay can help keep a horse healthy, while a poor quality hay can be detrimental. This is why, as nutritionists and horse owners, we put a big emphasis on the quality of hay we feed. The nutritional value of hay is the most important factor when determining its quality.
What are the benefits of grass hay for horses?
It can satisfy the horse’s appetite and provide necessary roughage without excess calories and protein. A good-quality grass hay may meet most of the adult horse’s basic nutritional needs. Mature horses require 10 to 12 percent CP (crude protein) in their diets. Many native or prairie grass hays contain just 6 to 8 percent.
How much forage should a horse eat?
Forage makes up between 50 and 90 percent or more of a horse’s diet. Much of the forage part of the diet comes in the form of hay. Because it’s such a big part of the ration, a good quality hay can help keep a horse healthy, while a poor quality hay can be detrimental.