Now lets focus on what kind of hay is acceptable for horses. There are many different types of hay that are suited for horse feeding programs. The popularity of a particular type is usually influenced by the geographical area of concern. Here in the south, coastal bermudgrass is well adapted and thus quite popular. As you move north in the country, alfalfa, timothy, orchardgrass and alfalfa-grass mixes become more popular. Because of the potential for health problems, kleingrass, johnsongrass, sudangrass and sorghum/sudan hybrids are not recommended for horses.
When choosing a type of hay to feed to horses there are several factors that should be considered. Most important is cleanliness, followed by nutrient value, and the type of horse that is being fed.
The best hay is clean hay when it comes to feeding horses. If hay is moldy or dusty, it should not be fed to horses. Hay that contains dust or mold can inflame their respiratory tract and impair breathing ability. Hay with mold or dust suggests that conditions in the field when hay was cut and baled were not ideal. Is the hay insect free? Alfalfa hay may be infected with blister beetles. When a horse eats a blister beetle, a chemical in the beetle causes colic, fever, and eventually death.
Color is often used to determine hay quality yet it can deceiving and overestimated as an indicator of quality. Although bright green hay often indicates the absence of rain damage and good harvest conditions, color can be misleading. Bright green weeds can add color yet lower quality of hay and make it unpalatable.
The biggest factor that affects nutrient content within a type of hay is the stage of maturity at harvest. Hay that is cut very early in the forages growth stage often has a soft texture, is very leafy, and has a high nutrient density and palatability. Forages cut at this stage are cut soon after the seedheads emerge with grasses or before the plant begins to bloom with legumes. In contrast, forages harvested in late maturity will have coarse, thick stems and less leaf material. Bottom line, the older the maturity of the plant at harvest, the lower the nutrient value and palatability.
The best way to evaluate the nutrient value of a hay sample is to have a chemical analysis performed form a lab like the Forage Testing Lab at Texas A&M University. A submittal form and sampling instructions can be found at this web site; http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/files/Forageweb2.pdf
Another option for a hay source would be hay cubes. There are two possible advantages to feeding hay cubes over baled hay; one would be there is less dust than long hay and the other would be less waste. Hay cubes are usually more expensive than baled hay and consumption of cubes may be greater than baled hay.
To get the most value from hay it would be best to have some type of hay feeder. Hay feeders will reduce the amount of hay that the horses waste and in may cases can reduce waste by more than 20%.
More information about hay sources may be found at the Texas Department of Agriculture web site “Hay Hotline” http://www.gotexan.org/HayhotlineHome.aspx
