e-Tip of the Month

[November 2007]

Do You Have Enough Hay to Feed This Winter?

Conserving hay can be accomplished by using hay racks to decrease the amount of hay that is wasted by feeding hay on the ground or without racks/feeders.

Many people throughout the United States have been affected by drought, floods, and fires. These extreme environmental conditions have had a severe impact on the availability of hay.

In some parts of the country, such as the Southeast, horse owners have been feeding hay all year as a result of extreme drought conditions. Other states, like Texas, which typically raise a great deal of hay have had the opposite problem - too much water. This past year much of Texas has dealt with flooding, so growers have not been able to produce hay. Other states that have fared much better may be exporting hay to areas experiencing a shortfall, thereby driving hay prices up in their own state.  

Horses need to eat at least 1% of their body weight in forage daily. In addition, long-stem forage (at least two inches in length) helps promote a healthy gut. Finally, horses are hard-wired to graze and chew. If forage isn’t available, they will chew on your barn, fence, trees, and even other horses’ manes and tails.

Ideally we want to provide some long-stem roughage to meet both the physiological and psychological needs horses have for forage. So there is a need to make a little hay or pasture go a long way.

Additional Sources of Forages

Some ways to “stretch” your hay or alternative fiber sources include the following:         

• Ship in hay from other parts of the country where hay is plentiful. This choice can be very expensive, so you may still want to stretch this hay with some other alternatives.
  
  
• Feed chopped or bagged hay. There is more “fiber in a bag” being sold than ever before. Remember that the increased stem length of the forage source is advantageous to the horse when compared to pelleted hay.
  
  
• Feed hay cubes. The process of manufacturing hay cubes has improved considerably over the years. There are grass, alfalfa, and mixed cubes available. You no longer have to spend time breaking the cubes apart to prevent choke in the normal, healthy horse. For more information on preventing choke in horses go to Equisearch.
  
  

• Alfalfa Pellets

  Feed hay pellets. While hay pellets offer an excellent uniform source of fiber for horses, they don’t provide the long-stem roughage that stimulates gut motility. In addition, they can be eaten quickly so you will need to figure out other ways to entertain your horse. One solution might be to put some pellets in a feeding ball that slowly releases the feed as the horse rolls it around. An advantage of both hay pellets and cubes is the ease of handling a bag versus a bale of hay.  It is easier to pack 50-pound bags of alfalfa cubes for a show or trail ride than to pack 50-pound hay bales.
  
  

• Beet Pulp

  Feed beet pulp, an excellent source of fiber. While soaking isn’t necessarily required before feeding normal, healthy horses, many people will soak shredded beat pulp. For more information on feeding beet pulp, visit Equisearch.
  
  
• Feed concentrates that are beet-pulp-based to increase the fiber component of your horses’ diet and “stretch” your hay or pasture supply.
  
  

• Complete Feed (notice beet pulp)

  Feed complete feeds. Some concentrates are called “complete feeds,” meaning a hay source is built into the feed. These feeds are excellent for older horses that have low digestion abilities and poor teeth, making it difficult for them to graze or chew and digest hay. These feeds are also fed to horses that have had colic surgery and cannot consume hay. Again, you will need to handle the boredom factor, since a complete feed will be consumed quicker than hay or pasture.
  
  Typically, feeding instructions will require you to feed about three times the amount of concentrate due to the high fiber content. Make sure you read the feeding instructions and know the weight of your horses when using complete feeds.
  
  

A round bale hay rack can help save up to 40% of hay that is normally wasted or lost if fed without a rack. Hay racks in a stall.

• If your horses need more nutrients than you can provide from hay and/or pasture alone, consider supplementing the diet with a balanced concentrate. Remember that the amount of concentrate to be fed should never be more than 0.5% of a horse’s body weight (5 lb. for a 1000-lb. horse) per feeding.
  
  
• Rotate pastures. Rotating pastures can increase the amount of forage available for your horses. Graze horses on one section until the grass is about two to four inches high and then move horses to the next section. Rotational grazing will require planning ahead and crossing fencing. For more information on rotational grazing, visit eXtension Horse Quest FAQ’s.
  
  
• Use hay racks or round bale feeders made for horses to conserve hay. Horses that are fed round baled hay or square baled hay in feeders can save 20%-40% of their hay.

We hope these options will help you supply the needed fiber to your horse this winter!

 

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My Horse University is a national program located on the campus of Michigan State University and founded by the MSU Department of Animal Science, MSU Extension and MSU Global.