Category: Hay

In The Face Of Climate Change, Experts Offer Tips For Making The Most Of Your Hay

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by Natalie Voss

 

The cost of keeping horses has been rising for some time now, but last year was an especially bad one when it came to finding hay. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, hay stocks fell to the lowest point they’d seen in a decade and in December 2022 were at their lowest since 1954. After a dry late summer and fall in many places, some 37 percent of the country is still considered to be in “extreme drought” conditions, with even more sitting at milder drought ratings despite recent precipitation.

According to statistics presented at a webinar hosted by the American Horse Council, the average cost of grass hay is up to $109 per ton nationally while alfalfa has climbed to $143 per ton. (This varies widely depending on where in the country you are.)

AHC President Julie Broadway said that hay prices and availability are subject to a variety of drivers, from the weather to fuel costs to fertilizer expenses and even the pricing/demand for hay from foreign countries that import it for their grazing animals.

Five Tips For Proper Hay Storage

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by

 

As summer winds down, focus turns from baling hay to storing hay. Although storing hay indoors is ideal, it is not always possible. To protect your hay investment, follow these five hay storage tips.

  1. When storing outdoors, bales should be covered with a tarp or another durable cover. Tarps and plastic covers have reduced storage losses by half. For round bales stored outdoors, using net wrap or B-wrap reduces storage losses compared to twine.
  2. Water and animal proof the storage site. Don’t stack hay under a leaky roof as it will grow moldier with each rainfall event. Plug rodent holes and detour wildlife, such as raccoons, from living in hay storage areas during the winter months. Not only can rodents and wildlife make a mess of hay storage areas, feces from some wildlife can cause diseases in horses.
  3. Regardless of indoor or outdoor storage, do not stack hay directly on the ground. Instead, stack bales on pallets to allow air flow and help prevent hay from absorbing ground moisture. Hay bales stored on wet surfaces can have as much as 50 percent spoilage.
  4. Use older hay first. However, hay should keep indefinitely if the hay was properly baled and stored. High humidity can increase moisture content and reduce storage life. Therefore, we recommend feeding hay within two years of harvest.
  5. When storing round bales outdoors, store them end to end. Stacking round bales while stored outdoors usually increases losses as stacking traps moisture and limits drying from the sun and wind. Additionally, buy or bale tightly packed bales, store bales on a well-drained surface, and never store bales under trees or in low lying areas.

Find more hay storage tips here.

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Hay! Are You Getting What You Pay For?

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Today’s high forage prices are an extra incentive to understand hay quality.

 

by Stephanie Davis DVM 

 

July 31, 2018 – In most instances, I would argue that the idiom, “You get what you pay for,” is almost always true. Especially as U.S. hay prices have escalated significantly, it would be great if that were true. However, when it comes to buying hay, it’s not that simple.

Just because the hay is expensive, looks or feels good, or is a “heavy bale,” does not automatically mean it’s of high quality. Although hay is most typically sold by weight, much of that weight could be due to a high percentage of ash in the hay.

Ash is the total mineral content divided into two types: internal ash (from the plant) and external ash (dirt and dust from harvesting and storage). So, you could literally be paying more for a bale that essentially has more dirt than another one. A ranch manager in Central California recently paid $345 a ton for the “high quality” alfalfa she requires for a band of senior equine citizens, up from $190 a ton 10 years ago. Fuel prices involved in that hike make it an extreme example, but, at any price, you don’t want much of it going toward external ash.

Therefore, weight is not a good way to determine if the hay is of high quality. It’s important to know if the hay is actually of high quality as well as what factors can affect the quality and nutritional value.
The main factors affecting hay quality include: the type of hay, soil, weed contamination, rain (moisture), and how the hay is cut, dried, and baled. As the buyer for our horses, we cannot control any of these factors. Even if we have a great relationship with our hay supplier, they can only control so much themselves depending upon the weather and the type of equipment they use to bale the hay.

The only definitive way to know the quality of your hay is to have it tested. There are feed companies that will test your hay for you at a very reasonable cost. Additionally, some of the best hay providers will have the hay tested before they sell it to you. The more often you test your hay, you will be surprised by the differences in the nutritional profiles.

In a perfect world, your hay has been tested and shows an excellent nutritional profile with a low ash percentage and has a high leaf-to-stem ratio. If this is the profile of your hay, then why would the hay need to be steamed? There are two simple reasons: mold spores and external ash. Mold spore count can also be tested by a laboratory. They are measured in “colony forming units per gram” (cfu/g). If hay has over 1 million cfu/g, you have a high risk of causing respiratory problems with your horse. Even though the hay has a high nutritional profile, it could still have a high mold spore count.

Unfortunately, as the grass itself grows, there are a number of bacteria and fungi that will grow on the plant naturally. As the hay is cut and dried, certain types of bacteria and fungi will die off but others may thrive in a lower moisture environment. That is why the drying stage of making hay is so very important. However, even if the processing of the hay goes exactly to plan, a certain number of mold spores remain and will inevitably invade your horse’s airway. Second, is the issue of the external ash. Even with a low percent, there will still be an amount of dust and particulate matter that will remain on the hay and become airborne once the horse pulls on the hay to break it apart to eat.

Therefore, regardless of the quality of the hay, all hay will have mold spores, dust, and particulate matter that can insult the horse’s airway. The best way to combat those problems is to steam the hay from the inside-out using a high temperature hay steamer. This is scientifically proven to kill mold spores and reduce the dust and particulate matter.

 

Article provided by Haygain as part of our Horse Health Library, and photos are available on request. For more educational articles on a variety of conditions our products address, please contact Kim F Miller at kimfmiller1@mac.com.

 

Haygain is committed to improving equine health through scientific research, product innovation and consumer education in respiratory and digestive health issues. With offices in England and the USA, Haygain distributes products for healthier horses to 19 countries, including its Haygain® Hay Steamers, ComfortStall® Orthopedic Sealed Flooring System, ForagerTM Slow Feeder and Flexineb® Portable Equine Nebulizer. Visit www.haygain.us for more information.