With dry weather prevailing across much of the UK, what feeding advice should horse owners be aware of when grazing is poor and choice of hay may be limited?
Dengie Horse Feeds’ Technical and Product Development Manager, Dr Katie Williams Ph.D, MSc (Dist), RNutr, shared her tips to help your horse maintain a healthy diet during this time, from feeding straw and chopped fibre feeds, so slowing speedy eaters and providing supplements.
Many owners are supplementing their horses’ diets with more hay than usual for the time of year, due to a lack of rain and grass growth, and while hay offers a good substitute, it can be difficult to assess its nutritional content.
“Analysis will give some indication of the nutritional value of a hay but it can take time if more accurate testing methods are used which isn’t always practical,” Dr Williams told Your Horse.
“There is no way of telling the sugar content by looking at a forage although if you know the hay has been made when conditions are bright, sunny and hot it’s very likely to be higher in sugar. The older a hay crop is when it’s harvested, the less calorific it’s likely to be but it could still be high in sugar.
“The calorie or energy value tends to be lower in later cut, highly fibrous hay which you can get some idea of when looking and feeling the hay. If it feels coarse and fibrous with less leaf then it’s likely to be higher in fibre and lower in energy. But, it’s important to reiterate, that doesn’t mean it’s low in sugar too.”
Feeding straw to horses
Dr Williams explained that soaking hay helps to reduce some of the sugar, but it is a very inconsistent process and soaking for long periods isn’t a guarantee that much sugar will be removed.
She also advised against soaking hay for long periods in hot weather.
“Other than soaking, diluting it with an alternative forage is really the only option [to reduce sugar content],” she continued.
“Straw is high in fibre and has a very low-calorie level compared to other forages. This makes straw an ideal fibre source for mixing with high quality hay or haylage to dilute the calories for good doers, especially in situations where it is difficult to buy separate forages, such as on a livery yard where forage is provided as part of the livery package.”
It is recommended that horses and ponies with insulin dysregulation should be fed forages lower than 10% non-structural carbohydrate (NSC). In practice this can be very hard to achieve, especially in years when there is a long hot summer as has been seen again this year. NSC values in hay made in these years has exceeded 20% regularly and more than 30% in some cases.
“Straw provides us with a useful tool to ensure that horses and ponies that need a low NSC forage can still receive plenty of fibre to promote digestive health and satisfy their need to chew,” continued Dr Williams. “Introduce slowly and increase to between 30 and 50% of the forage ration.”
Chopped fibre feeds
Chopped fibre feeds are another alternative that help your hay go further. Many are based on straw to provide low calorie forage replacers, and are likely to have been dust extracted.
Products that are based on legumes such as alfalfa and sainfoin will also be low in sugar but do provide more quality protein, vitamins and minerals. These can be really useful for horses in work and breeding stock.
Dr Williams advised replacing the same weight of hay with the chopped fibre feed.
“They can be fed in a large trug or bucket; think of them as you would hay in that there’s no issue with meal size because they are high in fibre,” she said.
Many horses speed through their hay ration, but there are ways to slow down their consumption so that their forage lasts for longer.
Using small holed nets and slow feeders are one method, and mixing with straw is also useful as some horses will sort through the forage trying to find the more palatable bits.
Studies have also shown that straw takes longer to eat so even if a horse eats it as a mix of forages, it will take them longer to munch through the straw.
Dengie always recommends using a supplement or low calorie balancer, especially if horses and ponies are in work.
“Undoubtedly, the levels of essential nutrients like vitamin E will be much lower when grass is so dry and there is little of it,” added Dr Williams.
“We are definitely hearing from more horse owners who are noticing issues in their horses that are likely to be linked to a reduction in intake of trace minerals and vitamins because the pasture quality is so poor.
“A basic broad spectrum supplement or balancer is ideal for counteracting this and it may be necessary to feed above the recommended feeding rates in some cases.”
Speak to a nutritionist or vet if you have concerns about your horse’s health or condition.
