Hay test results

[rubygirl1968]

I went ahead and tested the hay after counting bales and estimating we have enough until January. This is for a plump Fjord that developed white line disease so I wanted to be sure he wasn’t being overloaded with sugar. I have a new farrier and took him off the r/b and am doing timothy pellets with AZ Copper Complete. I went with it because it has added Lysine, Methionine, Threonine as well as 4,000 iu Vit E and 5,000 mg of Magnesium.

I uploaded the results in FeedXL and everything is covered there, but I wanted to make sure I was calculating NSC right.

WSC + Starch - 6.1 + .6 = 6.7 or is it the other set of numbers (gm/lb), in which case it’s over 30.

Here’s the hay results:
Digestible Energy (DE), Mcal/lb .85 .93
% g/lb. % g/lb.
Crude Protein 13.2 60.0 14.4 65.4
Estimated Lysine .46 2.1 .50 2.3
Lignin 4.1 18.4 4.4 20.0
Acid Detergent Fiber (ADF) 34.9 158.5 38.1 172.8
Neutral Detergent Fiber (aNDF) 58.8 266.9 64.1 290.8
WSC (Water Sol. Carbs.) 5.6 25.4 6.1 27.7
ESC (Simple Sugars) 5.1 23.2 5.6 25.3
Starch .6 2.6 .6 2.9
Non Fiber Carb. (NFC) 11.4 51.7 12.4 56.4
Crude Fat 2.4 10.9 2.6 11.9
Ash 5.9 26.7 6.4 29.1

As Fed DM
% g/lb. % g/lb.
Calcium .33 1.48 .36 1.62
Phosphorus .38 1.74 .42 1.90
Magnesium .41 1.87 .45 2.04
Potassium 1.47 6.69 1.61 7.29
Sodium .038 .170 .041 .186
ppm mg/lb ppm mg/lb.
Iron 149 68 163 74
Zinc 26 12 28 13
Copper 7 3 7 3
Manganese 87 40 95 43
Molybdenum .4 .2 .4 .2
As Fed 100% Dry
RFV 86

[Scribbler]

I am used to seeing the carbs as % of the weight of the hay calculated on dry weight. You are giving several numbers for each nutrient and I don’t know what they indicate.

When using %, non fibre carbs are nonstructural carbs plus pectin. NSC is water soluble carbs plus starch. WSC is ethanol soluble carbs (some sugars) plus fructan.

Does your hay analysis provide a % for these?

[rubygirl1968]

I tried to make a chart but it didn’t format when I posted, sorry. The first numbers are as fed; % and gm/lb. The second numbers are dry matter; % and gm/lb.

So the WSC dry matter is 6.1 % and 27.7 gm/lb. The starch is .6 % and 27.7 gm/lb.

[Scribbler]

Well on the hay tests I’ve seen locally when hay has let’s say 12 % protein or 23 % NSC it means that is the percentage of the hay that is protein or carbs or whatever. If you add up the percentage of nsc, protein, ndf etc you get about 100.

It looks like your dry weight nfc is 12.4 % which is just on the edge of the 11 % recommended for metabolic horses.

Minerals are measured by weight but the big macronutrients protein carbs and fat (the last not an issue in hay!) by % on hay tests and feed bags.

I am not sure what the gm/lb measurement says. Are they giving you the grams of the nutrient per lb? In that case if you have 45 grams of a nutrient in a pound, which is 450 grams, that nutrient would be 10 % of the total.

[rubygirl1968]

I knew it had to be more complicated than just adding two numbers together. My mind puts up a mental block when it comes to math. ; )

I uploaded the file I got back from equi analytical. Thank you so much for helping me.

[Scribbler]

That looks like very nice hay!

[JB]

Is this Teff? When I see protein in the 13-14% range, and NSC as below 7, it’s always been Teff. This is nice hay.

The biggest problem is the ca/phos ration, which is inverted at 1:1.15, when it should be 1.5-2:1. So you’d definitely need to add calcium to make up both the % and total amount needed.

Iron is, as expected, high. The Fe:Cu:Zn:Mn ratio is 21:5.7:1:1.7, and it needs to be closer to somewhere between 4: 1: 3: 4 and 10: 1: 3: 3

To raise the ratios, you will need to supplement those minerals. I haven’t done the math, but that AZ Copper Complete might do the job. I’d do a selenium test on him in 3-4 months just to make sure the 2mg in that isn’t making him too high.

[rubygirl1968]

The B/O told me it was orchard grass/fescue mix. The horses all like it, even the dentally challenged ones.

I was thinking of sending the results to Horsetech and see if they could mix up something but I may just add calcium and do the selenium test until they get the next batch in. I don’t know, I could also send them this and see what they come up with.

[Kolsch]

Horsetech will not, last I knew, blend you something from a hay test alone. You’ll have to have a nutritionist calculate it and then give them a formula. The nutritionist I used knew exactly how to write it for them.

[rubygirl1968]

Who did you use and were you happy with them? I found some old threads here with a lot of information but not many recommendations of nutritionists that had been used.

[Kolsch]

I was very happy with Great Plains…
http://www.desertequinebalance.com/balancing/the-team

This year, the Horsetech AZ Complete fits with my hay well, so I’m just going with that.