Mow species rich hay for horse owners

[Tested Hay Register]

Hi - I hope the mention of horses, or even worse horse owners does nt mean I get zero conversation on this post! I m starting a database of hay to sell which I have tested for sugars, protein, potassium levels in particular. All hays including livestock hay will be included but I will provide quite a lot of information on my website, steering people with unworked or lightly worked leisure horses towards the late cut mixed meadow type bales. This would particularly suit those who have mixed grass and herb species on permanent pasture who could do with a more guaranteed market for this type of hay. I will be doing a lot of work to persuade horse owners that this is the most valuable type of fodder for horses. I hope that it will add incentive to those wanting to enter ELMS schemes (UK) and are concerned that the hay crop will be less valuable than a high protein, high DE crop.
All thoughts welcome, I know its a complicated picture, involving problems with storage, transport, wrap or don t wrap, pricing etc. To be clear, I am not intending to become a dealer, purely a database, information site and links to good contractors.

 

[Welderloon]

Scientific hay & Horse owners .....................this time next year Rodders

 

[Boohoo]

Good luck trying to persuade horse owners!
It won't matter how well the hay tests, if the hay doesn't look right or smell right the horse's owner won't want it.

 

[choochter]

what sort of analysis of the hay would be the ideal you are looking for?

 

[Tested Hay Register]

what sort of analysis of the hay would be the ideal you are looking for?

ESC as low as you can get it 6 - 7% is ideal - over 9% you have to soak it for a lot of horses, which is pretty unsustainable. - it seems that you can considerably reduce sugars can by mowing early in the morning. A sward with a lot of PRG (especially improved varieties) will be quite high and I m waiting to test my mostly Yorkshire fog haylage I made in June to see what that is - I think it will be high, over 10%, which means I ll have to sell it and buy in for my horses.
Protein and Potassium are best low, indicating low soil fertility - CP- 5-7% K below 1.5% NDF can be a lot higher than you would want to see in livestock hays. Basically pretty empty fibre is ideal, the added extras that come from plant diversity are slightly unpredictable - tannins, alkaloids basically compounds that increase gut microbial population and add to resilience.

 

[Tested Hay Register]

Good luck trying to persuade horse owners!
It won't matter how well the hay tests, if the hay doesn't look right or smell right the horse's owner won't want it.

Yes I know there s a problem with horse owners being reluctant to see their horses turning their noses up at 'boring' hay, when that is exactly what they should be eating. If they get bucket feeds with soya and wheatfeed added (which is most of the commercial bagged feed) they get into more of an omnivore type of appetite, where they crave sporadic nutritionally dense food. I think they get confused with dogs!

 

[steveR]

Good luck trying to persuade horse owners!
It won't matter how well the hay tests, if the hay doesn't look right or smell right the horse's owner won't want it.

And the next customer will disagree 100% with the first one as well...

Surely for most pet horses, they need something with the nutritional value of wheat straw?

 

[A Sales representative]

A very good idea, there are to many that think a “that will do approach” with horse hay is okay.
Low sugar high roughage is the holy grail to horse owners that don’t work their horses daily or that suffer from EMS. I just wish Timothy was more widely grown for equine hay.

 

[Tested Hay Register]

A very good idea, there are to many that think a “that will do approach” with horse hay is okay.
Low sugar high roughage is the holy grail to horse owners that don’t work their horses daily or that suffer from EMS. I just wish Timothy was more widely grown for equine hay.

Thank you for your support. Yes Timothy is excellent but I was chatting to a very experienced hay producer who supplies a lot of racing yards, he had grown pure timothy for a customer and the horses would nt touch it. It is very stalky and they can get a bit tender in their hindgut area if they re not used to such high fibre. They need to transition carefully. A lot of standing hay I m looking at at the moment which tends to test about right has a lot of bent, cocksfoot, a bit of timothy, meadow foxtail, fescues (difficult to ID) , some plantain and a bit of variable stuff in different parts of the field.

 

[willy]

Out of interest where do you test your hay?

 

[theboytheboy]

We did a pure Timothy ley.

Struggle to sell it as its to stalky and rough, most owners still want green, sweet, soft hay.

It's about educating the owners.

We also sell "conservation" hay, no fert, no spray, been in a "scheme" for decades. Had it analysed by an equine nutritionist who said it was the best thing they have seen for a horse.......struggle to sell it.

I've tried playing with herbal leys (minus the clover), again, beautiful stuff. Couldn't sell it as it was " full of weeds" (herbs) some of which provide the nutrients and minerals they pay silly money for as supplements.

 

[Doc]

Horse hay or haylage is a minefield of misunderstanding as you say. The problem is marketing where the word ‘quality’ means different things to different markets. Obesity in horses is a much greater welfare issue than anything else. I have found a diverse sward with a predominance of Yorkshire fog grass ideal, it certainly looks the part if well made and is very palatable. I believe that PRG should be considered a weed in horse pasture, it’s just too much energy/sugar per mouthful and blows their hooves off.

 

[Goweresque]

The other issue is weather. Its all very well having the best designed leys etc, and scientific plans on when to make it, unless you get the weather at the right time you're stuffed. Making hay is not a process that lends itself to a rigid plan, there's too many variables not under the control of the hay maker. Its more akin to art mixed with hard core gambling. The condition the grass is in at any given time of summer will depend on the weather earlier in the year, the weather during the summer will determine when that grass gets cut, and the subsequent weather to cutting will determine if you get a half decent product or not.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I've been having the same hay for donkeys years
Organic meadow hay , soft green and low in sugar, no it's not full of weeds
Horses and their customers love it

 

[Princess Pooper]

Scientific hay & Horse owners .....................this time next year Rodders

A friend of mine (who used to work for Pedigree, who make dog/cat/horse feed etc) is extremely particular about the hay that she buys and this is right up her street. Not all horse owners are the same.

 

[Tested Hay Register]

We did a pure Timothy ley.

Struggle to sell it as its to stalky and rough, most owners still want green, sweet, soft hay.

It's about educating the owners.

We also sell "conservation" hay, no fert, no spray, been in a "scheme" for decades. Had it analysed by an equine nutritionist who said it was the best thing they have seen for a horse.......struggle to sell it.

I've tried playing with herbal leys (minus the clover), again, beautiful stuff. Couldn't sell it as it was " full of weeds" (herbs) some of which provide the nutrients and minerals they pay silly money for as supplements.

This makes me so sad! Doing all the right things and struggling to sell it. Yes i would aim to promote this type of hay. Maybe i should do a feature on you for the website? Totally agree about the silly money and supplements.

 

[Tested Hay Register]

Out of interest where do you test your hay?

DM scientific in Ripon for NIR and Nottingham NuVetNa for mineral

 

[Tested Hay Register]

Horse hay or haylage is a minefield of misunderstanding as you say. The problem is marketing where the word ‘quality’ means different things to different markets. Obesity in horses is a much greater welfare issue than anything else. I have found a diverse sward with a predominance of Yorkshire fog grass ideal, it certainly looks the part if well made and is very palatable. I believe that PRG should be considered a weed in horse pasture, it’s just too much energy/sugar per mouthful and blows their hooves off.

Could nt ve put it better myself

 

[Tested Hay Register]

The other issue is weather. Its all very well having the best designed leys etc, and scientific plans on when to make it, unless you get the weather at the right time you're stuffed. Making hay is not a process that lends itself to a rigid plan, there's too many variables not under the control of the hay maker. Its more akin to art mixed with hard core gambling. The condition the grass is in at any given time of summer will depend on the weather earlier in the year, the weather during the summer will determine when that grass gets cut, and the subsequent weather to cutting will determine if you get a half decent product or not.

Yes i need to compile a list of contractors prepared to deal with these complexities.
( art and hard core gambling - love that! Can i quote you? )

 

[Tested Hay Register]

Horse hay or haylage is a minefield of misunderstanding as you say. The problem is marketing where the word ‘quality’ means different things to different markets. Obesity in horses is a much greater welfare issue than anything else. I have found a diverse sward with a predominance of Yorkshire fog grass ideal, it certainly looks the part if well made and is very palatable. I believe that PRG should be considered a weed in horse pasture, it’s just too much energy/sugar per mouthful and blows their hooves off.

Wise words. Gives me a bit of hope for my bumper crop of yorkshire fog haylage, but i don t think theres enough of anything else in it, that and prg. I m going to overseed with some old fashioned grasses (hopefully) this year on a FiPL grant. I have been keeping my horses off the grass altogether and feed bought in hay all year round. Still cheaper than vets bills. Before i started this they were around £7000 a year. Last 2 years i ve just paid for bloodtests to check what i m doing.