The importance of forage is something we are taught in the early stages of learning how to take care of a horse, but how can you know what is in your horse’s hay or haylage? A new test promises to provide owners with a quick way to analyse their bale so they can make more informed choices around feeding.
Forage Quick Scan, launched by Thunderbrook in association with Eurofins Agro, provides forage analysis results in three working days using dry NIRS testing provided by Eurofins Agro’s laboratories.
“Forage consists of between 80 and 100 percent of a horse’s diet,” said Thunderbrook’s Rob Krabbenborg. “It supports digestive health, natural behaviour, and overall wellbeing but it is often fed with little understanding for its nutritional values.”
Forage can differ depending on many factors including soil quality, plant diversity, stage of maturity at harvest, weather conditions and storage. With so many variables, no two bales are the same and content can vary dramatically in levels of energy, sugar, protein and minerals.
“Analysis is crucial to understanding what is being fed out,” said Mr Krabbenborg. “Horses are designed to consume fibre little and often, with a digestive system that relies on a steady intake of forage to function effectively.
“Forage also contributes significantly to the intake of sugar, energy and essential nutrients. If these elements are out of balance, the effects may be subtle at first, but over time can influence weight, behaviour, hoof quality and metabolic health.”
Mr Krabbenborg points to the need to control sugar and starch intake, suggesting that both should be kept below 10 percent and that this can only be ascertained through accurate and regular testing.
“Eurofins Agro provides very fast but, more importantly, very accurate results that are easy to interpret and action,” he continued. “Understanding the nutritional composition of forage allows for a far more precise and thoughtful approach to feeding.
“Rather than adding supplements or balancers as a precaution, decisions can be made based on actual requirements.”
The Forage Quick Scan costs 24.95 per sample. The service can be purchased online and owners send off a sample of forage after receiving instructions via email on how to do so.
Once testing has been completed, the results and accompanying advice will be sent by email. This practical feeding guidance is aimed to help make the data more useable and relevant to owners with a variety of experience levels.
“Horse owners need not be concerned that the data will be overwhelming,” Mr Krabbenborg added. “In fact, quite the opposite is the goal. The test results have been designed to make forage analysis easy to understand and, more importantly, easy to action.”
