Fact or Fiction: Hay Analysis & Your Horse
- Honos Nutrition Co.
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Selecting a suitable forage is the foundation for every feed program, and hay analysis can be a vital part of both assessing forage suitability and balancing the diet accordingly. Horse owners are becoming more and more aware of the benefits of forage analysis, which has led to some FAQ - so let's dive in together.
Fact or Fiction: I can estimate nutrient contents based on cutting and appearance.
Fiction: A chemical analysis is the only way to know the true nutritional quality of your hay. You CAN use visual appraisal to identify the species & maturity of the hay, which can help you predict some nutritional content such as calories, protein, and digestibility, but you will not be able to estimate mineral or sugar content visually.
Fact or Fiction: I NEED to have a hay analysis done.
Fiction - While hay analysis is always recommended, it is important to consider that it is not always practical. In situations where hay changes frequently (ie, you cannot store more than 2-3 months at a time), it may not be practical or feasible for the equine caretaker to be repeatedly testing hay. In such situations, it is recommended to explore alternative hay storage options for the future to allow more consistency, as changes of forage can significantly increase risk of colic. Working with an equine nutrition professional can help you identify local mineral trends for best-matched recommendations when hay analysis is not practical or economically feasible.
Fact or Fiction: Only wet chemistry analysis is accurate.
Fiction: The current accepted techniques of hay analysis are wet chemistry and near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS).
There has been recent concern re: chemical analysis procedures and their accuracy. Despite some horse owner concerns on use of NIRS, it can be an accurate method depending on the situation and procedures used (good quality NIRS will be calibrated using wet chemistry data). Harris et al (2018) compared wet chemistry and NIRS analysis and found good correlation for all paired subsamples.
Most quality equine forage packages will cost $65-75 CAD based on the lab, use wet chemistry analysis for minerals and include equine-specific calculations. If you need help selecting a lab, feel free to get in touch and I'll point you in the right direction :)
Fact or Fiction: Hay sampling method matters.
Fact - If you're not sampling hay correctly, there's no point in paying the lab fee to have it analyzed (and more reputable labs will reject samples that are not quality samples).
"Sampling is the major factor affecting the accuracy of forage quality analyses". - Fulgueira et al. (2007).
The correct way of collecting a hay sample is using a forage probe, which samples at least 20 cores of multiple bales. Any other method will not give you an accurate, representative sample, and is not recommended by evidence-based equine nutrition professionals.
A 2016 (Bodner et al., 2016) study comparing chemical analyses of samples collected via forage probe or hand-grab method reported that hand-grab samples resulted in values representing LOWER nutritional quality:
Affected 73% (11/15) of investigated parameters
Resulted in higher fiber contents
Lower values of macro- AND microminerals
The grab method will underestimate nutrient content of your hay, resulting in the interpretation that you need to supplement with more nutrients, which could increase risk of excessive intake and toxicities.
Sending a sample from 1 flake of hay is not representative of the whole hay lot due to bale differences, which is why a minimum of 20 cores is recommended when using a forage probe. Variation from sampling is 5-10x higher than variation in the lab (Fulgueira et al., 2007), so if you're investing in a hay analysis, make sure the sampling is done with a hay probe following proper sampling procedures (ie, collecting multiple samples, proper probe positioning, proper storage & transport to a reputable lab for analysis, etc).
"Never send in flakes or grab samples, it is nearly impossible for these samples to represent a hay lot." - Putnam and Orloff, NFTA.
As a NFTA Certified Forage Sampler, Honos is committed to following the established best-practices for hay testing.
How Honos can help:
References & Recommended Reading:
Bodner, A., Prunster, T., Reiterer, R., Peratoner, G. 2016. Hay sampling methods affect the results of forage analyses. Grassland Science in Europe, vol 21. 179-181.
Fulgueira, CL., Amigot, SL., Gaggiotti, M., Romero, LA., Basilico, JC. 2007. Forage Quality: Techniques for Testing. Fresh Produce 1(2). 121-131.
Harris,et al. (2018). Comparison of NIRS and Wet Chemistry Methods for the Nutritional Analysis of Haylages for Horses. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 71: 13-20.
Comments