Last Year’s Hay – What Nutrients are left?

As summer has finally come to Cody, Wyoming I have reduced the amount of hay fed to the Research Horses back down to 2% of their body weight daily. In the colder weather the horses were getting up to 2.5% of their body weight daily.

Every year seems to be different in the quality of hay and nutrients.

Last year’s hay was not as nutrient dense as some year’s hay I have purchased. After reducing the amount of hay the horses started to lose weight. Obviously they hay’s nutrients had decreased since last year which is normal, but quality in the early summer is related to quality last year. Bottom line is I have gone back to 2.5% of body weight per day and the horses are doing fine.

The take home message is that always evaluate your horse condition by the amount of feed you are feeding. Also remember that as hay ages it loses nutrients and that is one of the reasons to feed a complete supplement daily