Where is hay needed

Click here to print out and do your hay calculations by hand. Livestock Winter Hay Needs With winter coming on, it is time to make sure that you have enough hay in the barn to last until your pastures are growing again next spring. Before performing any calculations, take these factors into consideration: Length of season.

The number of months you will need to feed hay will vary by your location. Animals can forage much later in the fall and earlier in the spring in the southern half of the United States. Northern areas are much more dependent upon hay to keep animals in good condition through the winter months. Here in Indiana, we typically need to feed hay from October through March.

Though it is sometimes tempting to allow animals to forage later or earlier in the year, it is best to remember that this can damage pastures and keep them from reaching peak production during the growing season—a topic for another blog.

Mix the samples together and then put them in a tight, clean, plastic bag or the bags that the forage testing lab provides. Mail the bag to the forage testing lab as soon as possible and have it analyzed.

A representative hay sample must be taken with a hay probe on a variety of bales in a hay lot. Image left For more information on hay analysis, visit Equi-analytical Laboratories. Interpreting Hay Analysis Results. Interpreting your hay analysis results may not be the easiest part of this process. If you cannot determine what the results mean, you may want to consult an extension specialist in forage crops or agronomy at your county extension center, an animal scientist or a county extension agent.

Some of the main things to focus on when you see the analysis reports are:. Dry Matter DM — This tells you how much of the sample is left after water is removed. It is the moisture or dry matter content of the sample.

Hay will generally be about 89 percent dry matter or greater. Digestible energy DE — This is a measure of the digestible energy in the hay. For a light-working horse, DE should be Hay may have. It may range from 40 to 55 percent. Crude Protein CP — This is a measure of the protein concentration of the hay and can range from 6 percent to 8 percent in native grass hays to about 15 percent or higher in high quality legume hays. The higher this is, the less hay the horse will eat. As ADF increases, digestibility and nutrient availability decreases.

Timothy and alfalfa hay may have a 15 percent or 20 percent NSC value, respectively. If you want this analysis done, you should check to see if the lab offers it, as it is not a common analysis at this time.

Starch and Sugar- This is a measure of sugars and starches in the feed. You should feed no more than 15 percent of total daily calories from starch and sugar to horses with EPSM equine polysaccharide storage myopathy and PSSM polysaccharide storage myopathy. EPSM is a muscle disease found in over draft breeds that may cause severe weakness and muscle wasting in horses of all ages, poor performance, abnormal hind limb gaits and shivers, in which the muscles keep twitching.

Symptoms include reluctance to move, muscle stiffness, sweating, shifting lameness and tremors in the flank area. Now you know some basics about analyzing hay.

Be sure to consult your county extension agents or state specialists for help if you are not sure how to apply these results. By analyzing your hay, you will be able to feed your horse more effectively and efficiently.

Forms of Hay. Hay comes in several forms—baled, wafered also referred to as cubed , and pelleted. Baled hay is the most commonly used. It is usually less expensive than processed hay. Long stem roughage is also best for gut motility. Small hay bales with an average weight of 50 lbs. Small bales are easy to move manually and can be stored easily.

Small square bales are commonly fed to horses. A bale may range in weight between 40 — 75 lbs. Round bales weigh an average of lbs. Round bales must be stored under cover to prevent loss from mold. To decrease waste loss, round bales should be fed in round bale feeders designed for horses. Round bales are usually cheaper per pound to purchase and can save on feed labor and costs if they are managed to limit hay waste. Round bales should be fed in feeders specifically designed for horses to decrease wastage and ensure the horse's safety.

There may be times when baled hay is hard to locate or not practical to feed. However, horses will tend to eat processed hay faster, particularly when it is in pelleted form.

Processed hay is sold by the type of forage processed. A well-made cubed hay is easy to chew and should not need to be broken to avoid choking, if your are feeding healthy horses with good dental hygiene. Pelleted hay, while providing the needed fiber for the diet, is eaten more quickly than baled hay; and thus a horse may become bored and be more prone to wood chewing or other abnormal behaviors. In times of hay shortages, it is best if hay is rationed out and extended with supplemental hay pellets to ensure there is some long-stem roughage for gut stimulation.

Alfalfa pellets are on the left and alfalfa cubes are shown on the right. Hay pellets provide dietary fiber, but are consumed much faster than long stemmed forage. Purchasing Hay. Get to know your hay producer and stick with a good one. Some commercial producers will provide a hay analysis and bale weights.

Hay in small rectangular bales sells more per ton than large round or square bales, because the hay producer goes through the effort of handling, stacking, covering many do , hauling and dealing with small lots of hay and many diverse customers.

Good hay buyer-seller relationships will provide trust, respect, prompt payments and consistent hay supplies. Once the hay is home, place it under a shed or tarp it to preserve its quality. Hay Storage. Hay should be put under a roof to avoid exposure to sun and rain, but the area should also have good ventilation to reduce the occurrence of mold. The bottom row of hay should be raised off the ground with boards or pallets to allow for air circulation and to ensure the hay stays dry.

Hay will lose nutritional value the longer it is stored. However, hay can be fed the second year after it is cut as long as it is dry and free from mold. The lower the moisture content the longer it can be stored with less chance of mold and spoilage.

It is common to store hay in a loft over the stabling area of the horses. However, a mass of hay can reduce air ventilation in the barn environment if it inhibits peak ventilation of the barn roof. In addition, large quantities of hay stored in the stabling area are a fire hazard. Dry hay is not only highly combustible, but hay stored wet can also build heat through fermentation and spontaneously catch fire. Many insurance companies will give farms rate reductions if hay is stored in a separate building.

Hay should be stored under a roof and raised off the ground to ensure that the hay stays dry. Additional Resources. Griffin, Ashley. Factors that Affect Hay Quality.

Hays for Horses and Their Characteristics. Selecting Horse Hay. Horse Hay. Horse Hay Publications. Therefore, it is important to provide animals with the best quality forage available.

By paying close attention to the quality of forages, you ensure healthy animals and minimize the costs of purchasing concentrate feeds. A hay that meets all the nutritional needs of a pleasure horse would not meet those of a lactating dairy cow. Make sure to keep the needs of your animal in mind when reviewing the different ways of evaluating forage quality. The stage of maturity at harvest plays a major role in determining the quality of a forage. Early in the growing season, forage plants move into their vegetative stage, characterized by leafy growth containing high concentrations of starches, sugars, proteins, and minerals.

As the growing season progresses, plants enter the reproductive stages, characterized by elongated stems and developing seed heads. The dry matter in these mature plants has a lower proportion of nutrients and a higher proportion of plant fiber. The greater the fiber content of a hay, the less digestible it is, and the less an animal will consume before it fills its stomach. Therefore, the best hays contain a high proportion of leaves and few seed heads or stems.

Hay quality will also depend on how the hay was harvested, handled, and stored. Ideally, to preserve nutrients, hay should cure in dry, sunny weather as quickly as possible.

Hay not harvested and stored under these conditions may lose nutrients or get moldy, both of which dramatically lower quality. Weeds often have poor feed value, and some species are toxic to livestock. High quality hay comes from healthy forage stands with few or no weeds. Hay balers occasionally pick up stray foreign objects, such as trash or broken machinery parts. These pose a real threat to animal health, so high quality hay must be free of foreign material.

Hay quality can vary with forage species. Orchardgrass matures very early in the growing season, and the first cutting may be too coarse by the time ideal harvesting conditions prevail. There is little stem or seed head development in most grasses in second or third cuttings, and these generally make very high quality hay.

Legumes are generally more difficult to dry than grasses because of their coarse, thick stems. Leaving legume hay in the field long enough for the stems to dry risks overdrying the nutritious leaves to the point where they shatter from the stem.