Hay Vs Haylage

Here at Saracen Horse Feeds we collect the data from the 3 types of forage analysis we offer, these are:

NIR (Near Infrared Reflectance) – this test provides a basic analysis and will include Dry Matter, Crude Protein, Oil, Ash, NDF, ADF, Sugar and Digestible Energy.

Dietary Minerals – this test provides information about the mineral content of the forage and will include Dry Matter, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Calcium, Sodium, Potassium, Chloride as well as CAB and Macro Mineral Analysis.

WSC (Water Soluble Carbohydrates) – this test will indicate the water-soluble carbohydrate level of the forage and is suitable for determining the suitability of the forage for feeding to horses with issues such as laminitis, for example.

Below are some of the results from our analysis.

As the above graph shows, the dry matter (DM) for hay is higher than it is for haylage, which is to be expected. Taking the DM into consideration is important when calculating the amount of forage your horse needs, as you would need to feed more haylage than hay to reach the same level of fibre intake after taking the water content into consideration.

Remember!

Horses should consume a minimum of 1.5% of their bodyweight in dry forage per day to maintain digestive health. This forage can come from grass, hay, haylage, or short chops such as chaff.

For example a 500kg horse should consume a minimum of 7.5kg of forage on a dry matter basis per day.

The graph above shows the average digestible energy (DE) for hay and haylage in 2022, interestingly it shows that the DE for hay was higher than haylage, which could indicate that there are different factors involved when people say their horse gets too energetic on haylage.

The above graph shows the average sugar for hay and haylage in 2022. The findings show that hay had a higher sugar content than haylage from our samples, this is important to take into consideration especially when choosing the right forage for horses who may have metabolic conditions or weight issues.

There are many factors that can affect the specific nutritional quality of forage, forage analysis can be a very useful tool when working out rations for horses with specific dietary requirement such as Cushings, EMS or the need for weight loss/weight gain as it will give you a guide to work from.