Hay Testing Results

[Pocket_Pony]

Wow, Equi-Analytical is fast! I sent my sample in on Tuesday and got my results today!

It was 1st cutting orchardgrass hay.

Results (Dry Matter)
Digestible Energy (DE), Mcal/lb = .93
Crude Protein = 13% / 59.2 g/lb
Estimated Lysine - .45% / 2.1 g/lb
Lignin = 4.1% / 18.6 g/lb
Acid Detergent Fiber (ADF) - 33.8% / 153.4 g/lb
Neutral Detergent Fiber (aNDF) = 59.3% / 269.0 g/lb
WSC (Water Sol. Carbs.) = 12.6% / 57.2 g/lb
ESC (Simple Sugars) = 7.3% / 32.9 g/lb
Starch = 1.2% / 5.4 g/lb
Non Fiber Carb. (NFC) = 14.9% / 67.6 g/lb
Crude Fat = 2.9% / 13.1 g/lb
Ash = 9.9% / 44.7 g/lb
Calcium = .29% / 1.32 g/lb
Phosphorus = .18% / .83 g/lb
Magnesium = .23% / 1.05 g/lb
Potassium = 1.97% / 8.96 g/lb
Sodium = .256% / 1.159 g/lb
Iron = 192 ppm / 87 mg/lb
Zinc = 20 ppm / 9 mg/lb
Copper = 7 ppm / 3 mg/lb
Manganese = 74 ppm / 33 mg/lb
Molybdenum = 1.1 ppm / .5 mg/lb

I could have sworn I ordered the report with NSC on it, but I guess I didn’t. Is there a way to calculate that based on other numbers above? Is there a online spreadsheet that exists where I can put in these numbers and get an idea of how well-balanced this hay is?

Any general comments on the quality based on these results? I have three not-so-hard/fairly-easy keepers.

Thanks!

Edited to fix funky formatting!

[Katy_Watts]

NSC = WSC + starch

It’s pretty average on all parameters. Potassium pretty high but not a problem unless you have a horse with HYPP.

[Pocket_Pony]

Thanks for the quick reply, KW - I was hoping you’d chime in!

No HYPP here.

How would it be for a horse who isn’t metabolic but I worry about it just in case? He’s a TB who puts on weight very easily and is a bit on the rotund side.

[Katy_Watts]

Hard to say. It’s not the kind of hay you can feed a fatty free choice. Might be OK for a horse that is exercised 5X a week and fed weighed amounts at <2% BW. I prefer low NSC hay fed free choice, but it’s hard to find in some places.

[Pocket_Pony]

What is considered low NSC hay (%-wise)?

He’s retired, so he only gets self-exercise in turnout. He will never get free choice hay, as he just doesn’t know when to stop or how to regulate his eating. He gets weighed amounts of hay 4x per day in a hay net.

Thanks!

[China_Doll]

If you want to lower the sugar just soak his hay for 30 minutes.

[horsepoor]

I try to get NSC<10% for my IR horse, and my others do well on it too. I pretty much have all easy keepers, whether IR or not, and in the winter they don’t get a whole lot of work. I also try to keep my overall protein level around 10%, so I do a mix of the good Central OR hay (higher protein) and some local (low protein). This year, our weather conditions were favorable for low NSC – everything I have tested thus far has come in quite low (so I was surprised yours was where it is, but lots of factors can affect it including time of day of harvest, etc.). Even the local, which is “usually” high NSC, has been relatively low for what I’ve seen test results on.

[Katy_Watts]

[QUOTE=Pocket Pony;8303638]
What is considered low NSC hay (%-wise)?

He’s retired, so he only gets self-exercise in turnout. /QUOTE]

Low means lower than average. For IR horses I like <10% WSC+starch. You either need less calories or more exercise.
If he is fat, and exercise is not possible, then I would prefer lower NSC hay. However, people need to consider 15-20 min per day of free lounging at trot. Can make a huge difference, and you can do it while talking on the phone if you are pressed for time.