Pasture analysis interpretation - help!

[Critter]

I sent off a sampling of my pasture for analysis after my mare had a mild episode of laminitis and a high insulin level (124). Right now she is on the closest thing I have to a dry lot and metformin and is looking better and losing some of the excess weight. We’ve had much greener pasture thanks to more rain than usual this time of year. Other than grass pasture, all she gets is Tribute Wholesome blends ration balancer (0.67 pounds total, split into 2 feedings…yes, I weighed it!). Mostly to get her allergy meds in her.

But, I am trying to interpret what the pasture analysis (done following the protocol from the company) means in regards to the sugars/risk for her with the high insulin levels.

[GigiBecker]

Who did you send this off to? What did the company say and reference you to?

[Critter]

Equi-analytical…have used them once before for hay analysis. From what I am reading the NSC would be the WSC plus the starch? And that can of course vary through the day/depending on other conditions. I sampled late morning.

[JB]

For hay, you look at the As Sampled column, and for grass you look at the Dry Matter column

It’s not exact, you’d have to do a bit of conversion to take into account the moisture level, but it’s close enough here

So, on a DM basis, WSC + starch is 8.2% + 1.1% = 9.3%, which is < the desired 10% and also the starch is < the max 4%

As is typical, copper and zinc are low, only 88mg Cu for an 1100lb horse eating 22lb, when he needs at the very minimun 100mg. Zn is only 330mg compared to the min 400mg required

As is also typical of grasses, the Ca:P ratio is low, only 1.12:1, when it needs to be at least 1.5:1.

A good ration balancer will cover these bases well.

A forage balancer is also going to cover the cu/zn issue, but most don’t contain any Ca or P. The only 2 I know of (there may be some more, I just don’t know them) that have useful amounts of Ca and P, are Omniety Premix, and Amino Trace, BUT, AT has more P than Ca, so nto suitable for most grass forages, for the reason seen here which is very typical of grasses.

As long as the balancer you’re using is fed according to her ideal weight, then it’s covering at least her minimum bases. If you have coat and/or hoof issues (excessive bleaching, cracking, skin crud) I’d add additional cu and zn.

A big question here is - what time of day did you grab the sample, what were the conditions like the day and night before, and day of? If you grabbed early in the morning after a nice warm night, sugars will be lower than if you grab at the end of the day. If you grabbed at the end of a cloudy day, after a warm night and cloudy day, sugars will be lower than if any sun was involved.

This is what makes analyzing pasture for the purpose of sugars tricky.

So yes, I would blame the pasture, despite this analysis, since sugar levels vary through the day.

[JB]

just read your last comment, sampling late morning. So, sugars would be lower than late afternoon, but the days and nights leading up to the the sample also matter.

The fact that WSC was 8.2 in late morning, which is before things really start rising, suggests it’s likely well above 10% by the time the day is done

[Critter]

Thanks so much @JB!
She is on a good quality ration balancer…coat looks shiny. Front feet are a little crumbly on the walls…but we did have abscesses in both. I might have to add something for her feet.

I am not going to put her on the pastures the rest of this season…but hoping next year with her weight down that she might be able to tolerate overnight when the sugars would be lower. We will see.

[JB]

Had she been muzzled? If not, she needs to be, full time when on pasture. The crumbling walls may benefit from added copper and zinc, which a lot of forages and horses need, even with a good ration balancer