Hay Testing

[Bebe_Falcon1]

What expectation, if any, is there for the barn you board at to get their hay tested? I’ve never really cared all that much before as I had a hard-keeper and tended to focus more heavily on the concentrates (and lots of them) to keep weight on.

But I have a portly pony now, and learning all about laminitis and Cushings and insulin resistance and carbohydrate-sensitive equines is a THING I never had to consider before. Currently, pony is on outdoor board in a dry lot with free access to hay in a slow feed net (and plans to add another slow feed net to limit intake even more). Grain once a day, and it’s just a handful of a balancer. No history of laminitis and I’d like to keep it that way.

Part of me would like to know what the nutritional analysis of the hay is, but the barn has already had a winter’s worth of round bales delivered, so is there even any point to either A) asking barn owner if she’d consider having it tested or B) submitting a hay sample myself if she’s not open to doing it herself?

[wsmoak]

I would just grab some samples and send it in yourself. If the barn owner were interested they’d have done it already (before purchasing).

Have you found a place to get it tested? I’m mildly interested in testing what I’m getting locally…

But what do you think the outcome is going to be? Can the barn accommodate private turnout and soaking they hay if you find it’s not what you want? Or will you bring in separate tested hay and expect them to feed that to only your horse?

[Scribbler]

Most barns do not test hay, IME.

You can certainly have the hay tested yourself if it’s all one batch and you think the results will be consistent across the round bales. It’s not expensive and might give you peace of mind.

The number one thing is not letting horses get obese. I watched a person at our barn make her young stock horse obese and laminitic through feeding freechoice 24/7 tested low sugar hay. Likewise, horses won’t necessarily get fat on higher sugar hay if they aren’t eating that much.

[Simkie]

Unless it’s a barn that advertises specifically for some sort of metabolic care, I’d never expect the barn to test hay (nor have I ever been at a barn that did test!)

If the barn purchases in large enough quantity to make testing worthwhile, I’d ask if you can do it yourself. Equi-analytical will tell you everything you need to know!

[walkinthewalk]

Ditto the previous posters.

Test the hay yourself and use Equi-Analytical. I’ve been using them since 2008. Their turnaround time is pretty fast, if you ask to have the results e-mailed.

I would take a sampling from a few round bales.

[Flyaways]

For those of you who have tested your hay, do you use the special probe? How much does it damage a square bale?

[Heinz_57]

I have never been at a barn that tested their hay. I would just send off a sample to Equi-analytical, mine came back pretty quickly this year.

[goodhors]

I learned last year about hay testing on here. Equi Analytical was recommended here on the Forum. I found them on line, copied off their form to send in with my sample. There is more to collecting hay samples than just grabbing a couple of wisps off a bale to mail in if you want a comprehensive test!

They recommended using a hay sampler probe, getting hay samples from 20 bales or so, that came from all over the hayfield. My sampling was a bit more “redneck” because the least expensive sampler was $ 150. I took a handful from the center of about 25 small bales, chopped it up, mixed the cut pieces to mail in. Tight big bales may be hard to get samples out of the centers where it is still green hay. They want about a half-gallon bag full to test. I used a cardboard, photo-mailing envelope from the post office to mail in the bag, form and check. I figured the stiff cardboard would protect the bag, not let it get punctured.

I got the test with 28 (I think) items. They emailed the results fairly quickly, 2 weeks I believe. Then I had to learn how to read the results! I Googled “how to read a hay test.” The University of Minnesota Extension came up and I learned from their site. They were very helpful in explaining things, saying the range needed in nutrients for good nutrition. My hay tested pretty well, right in the good numbers range for everything, just high in sugar. We have no obese horses or other health issues, so the high sugar was not a problem for my horses. We were very pleased with how well the horses did on our (first time hay balers) hay. They actually consumed less bales, looked VERY good, and used a minimum of grain and wet beet pulp, vitamins, from last Oct to almost June this year.

Trying to monitor hay nutrients in a boarding situation might be difficult. Does your pony’s hay come from a special pile of bales or from the main storage area? Did owner buy all the bales from the same supplier? And hay nutrients can vary between cuttings if farmer fertilizer the fields over summer. We put fertilizer on in Sept because the soil test said we needed more minerals after taking off hay last summer.

I would say if you wanted the hay tested, you will need to send it in yourself. BO will not see any advantage to herself in getting it tested. Not going to raise her income, so not something to spend extra money on. I was very curious about our hay quality, after buying some really poor hay for a higher price. Hay “looked good, nice green, soft, no dust” and it sure fooled us!! Had no nutrients either!! Horses looked poorer than expected, needed extra volume of wet beet pulp to fill them up, more grain than we ever used before. They are normally quite easy keepers.

[Simkie]

@Flyaways

For those of you who have tested your hay, do you use the special probe? How much does it damage a square bale?

Yes, I use the probe. It doesn’t damage the bale at all.

[Bebe_Falcon1]

@wsmoak

But what do you think the outcome is going to be? Can the barn accommodate private turnout and soaking they hay if you find it’s not what you want? Or will you bring in separate tested hay and expect them to feed that to only your horse?

Well when you put it like that, the answer seems awfully clear With no option for private turnout or soaking of hay, there’s really no point to knowing anything more about it!

Adding another slow feed net over top of the existing one is probably more useful than testing an arena full of hay that’s already been bought and paid for anyway

@goodhors

Trying to monitor hay nutrients in a boarding situation might be difficult. Does your pony’s hay come from a special pile of bales or from the main storage area? Did owner buy all the bales from the same supplier? And hay nutrients can vary between cuttings if farmer fertilizer the fields over summer. We put fertilizer on in Sept because the soil test said we needed more minerals after taking off hay last summer.

It makes sense that someone cutting their own hay for their own horses would want to know how it fares nutritionally speaking Having no experience growing, selling, or buying hay, I know so little about the whole process!

It’s interesting to hear that most barns just don’t bother with testing, though. As a boarder I suppose I just assumed it was done. Do farmers provide buyers with any kind of analyses or test results at the time they sell their hay, then? How does anyone ever know what they’re actually buying and feeding their horses?

[Simkie]

@Bebe_Falcon1

Do farmers provide buyers with any kind of analyses or test results at the time they sell their hay, then?

Generally no, although some do.

@Bebe_Falcon1

How does anyone ever know what they’re actually buying and feeding their horses?

A whole lot of people are cool just eyeballing it.

[JB]

@Bebe_Falcon1

the barn has already had a winter’s worth of round bales delivered, so is there even any point to either A) asking barn owner if she’d consider having it tested or B) submitting a hay sample myself if she’s not open to doing it herself?

the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t, so yes, it’s still a good idea to get it tested since you have a whole season’s supply.

Your county extension agent may have a corer you can borrow to get the proper samples. Otherwise, it’s going to be hard to get best samples from round bales. But she still has to agree to have some of the bales cored. Get as random a sample as you can, 10-20% of the bales.

Send to www.equi-analytical.com - their site tells you how to take the samples, mix them, bag them, etc.

If you decide you’re going to test hay regularly, buying the probe from E-W will get your first analysis free.

[JB]

@Bebe_Falcon1

With no option for private turnout or soaking of hay, there’s really no point to knowing anything more about it!

You can supplement hay that is poor quality, or really imbalanced in some way, and that’s something.

If you DID have a metabolic horse, it may mean you have to make some alternative hay choices or risk literally killing the horse.

@Bebe_Falcon1

It’s interesting to hear that most barns just don’t bother with testing, though.

Most don’t know it’s a valuable thing, as it’s really just kinda sorta starting to become a Thing in the horse world. It’s been a Really Big Thing in the dairy world for a while - it pays to get cows to make the most milk they can. So because most horse people don’t know it matters, they don’t ask. So, we horse people have to keep asking, and the cheapest way to get alllllll this done, is for the hay farmers to get it tested. Some do supply that.

@Bebe_Falcon1

Do farmers provide buyers with any kind of analyses or test results at the time they sell their hay, then?

sometimes. More now than a few years ago, because buyers have started asking about it.

@Bebe_Falcon1

How does anyone ever know what they’re actually buying and feeding their horses?

They don’t. So many owners go “is the hay green-ish, smells good, horses like it? Awesome” and “are they in good weight? Yes? Great” and that’s that.

[J-Lu]

In the county where my horse is boarded in, they’ll analyze hay for free or super cheap and the extension service will let you borrow a hay borer for free.

The quality of hay depends on your horse and the environment. I’ve used Equi-Analytical to analyze the pasture. I used to feed very good alfalfa to supplement his hay when he was young but these days he’s rather fat and I don’t want him to have nutrient rich hay. He’s on his own very well maintained pasture 24/7, goes into the fall rather fat and has items to munch on. He gets to graze for short periods on rich grasses at least twice weekly. I feed balancer to the label to balance the nutrition which I’ve shown does balance his nutritional needs.

Try your extension, they are free in my area and Equi_Analytical is not. They may also be able to lend you a bale borer.

[Arlomine]

Testing the Hay: is only going to be useful if you have a consistent hay source. There is even a variation from field to field within the same farm. If you’re boarding facility is getting the hay from different fields, or different farmers you are wasting your money.
My farmer tests hay in each different hayfield with varying results.

[JB]

Just know that many free/cheap analyses don’t include trace minerals, so find out what those tests include. There’s not a whole lot of value in an analysis if you don’t have those. Yes, you’ll get protein, calcium, phosphorous, probably even ADF and NDF which tell you digestibility and palatability, but most problems don’t come from those nutrients, most come from the trace mineral imbalances

I’ve seen a lot of cheap county extension tests that only include those basics, and by the time you add on a trace mineral profile, you might as well go through Equi-Analytical and get a whole lot more

It doesn’t matter where the hay comes from, what matters is whether you have enough of it at once to warrant a test. If you have the whole Winter supply, but it comes from 4 different sources, so what Take a 10% sample from each supply, mix well, and submit that.

OR, if you only get 1-2 months at a time, but every 1-2 months comes from the same hay - same field and cutting - then you can test that too.

But if you have only 1-2 months at a time, and the next 1-2 months will be from a different source, then don’t bother.

[goodhors]

JB is giving you good information. I followed her suggestions from previous hay testing threads and found them very helpful.

[candyappy]

@Bebe_Falcon1

Currently, pony is on outdoor board in a dry lot with free access to hay in a slow feed net (and plans to add another slow feed net to limit intake even more). Grain once a day, and it’s just a handful of a balancer. No history of laminitis and I’d like to keep it that way.

I wouldn’t expect a BB to test the hay unless they get enough from one source to last a year. Otherwise it really does no good if they are getting loads of hay off different fields. Managing her intake is easier.

If she is too heavy then get rid of the 24/7 access to hay and go with multiple small meals. Or feed the amount she needs to maintain a healthy desired weight in 2 meals ( not popular here but it works).