Feeding this years hay cut in August (make horse silly)????

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EJJ999

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The yard supplies our hay and they couldn't get any more of last year's harvest. Unfortunately, horse cannot tolerate sugar without going hyper and even more highly strung and silly.

This hay is very green and fresh looking. How long do I soak to remove sugar? And will this take away all/most of the sugar?

Any other helpful tips???
 
The hay will be very new and fresh, but that doesn't mean it's high in sugars. It depends on how often that same field has been cut this year (some are on their second cut now) and about a billion other factors such as whether the hay is mostly timothy, rye or even alfalfa, what the weather has been like when it was cut, blah blah blah. The only way to get a real answer on this is to pay for a hay analysis. You could also ask the person responsible for cutting as they probably have a rough idea of what the hay's nutritional content should be like.
 
Hay shouldnt be used until at least 6mths after cutting. Could you not source some bales of older hay yourself? It could bring on a bout of laminitis using new hay.
 
While I don't think it's a great idea to be feeding horses grass clippings, if the hay is baled and pretty dry there's no reason not to feed it?? If it could cause laminitis it is obviously cut from a grass not suitable for horses whatsoever and shouldn't be fed anyway.
 
I think in the old days hay was pretty damp when it was baled and stacked, I can remember having to check the stack for heat and potential fire. Hay then continues to change 'make' in the stack. With late cut hay, its pretty fibrous, even if its green and baling now happens so quickly, you can turn twice in one day and bale the next if the weather is good, its hardly ever a high % of moisture. There is even kit now that flash dries it before its baled
I've been and collected left hay off the field if we have been short of grass and fed it the same day.
 
Micky said:
Fresh this years cut hay can be given to a horse 6/8 weeks after it's been cut, ensuring it's hopefully dried out properly..risk of colic otherwise...
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I never knew that. The hay here in Spain is very dry when they bale it. It is almost tinder dry before they cut it. I have given my horses hay which has been baled just days previously and didn't even think twice about it. I thought that all the sugar levels are 'trapped' at the time of cutting and it is only the moisture content and vitamin / mineral levels which change over time. But I would like to know why it can cause colic if fed too soon, as this is something I never knew about before, and all the animals are given freshly baled hay over here.
 
here in Italy we feed hay 40 days after it's been cut. The heat ensures that it's really dry before baling so mould etc is very unlikely.
 
Thanks for these replies. It is properly dry but it is green. I always have a good indication of when it is too nice (sugary) for him as he is overly keen to get to it. Trouble is he does not react well to sugar. Will soaking get rid of any sugars? It was an early cut (June) so I have a feeling it is too fizzy for him.
 
Micky said:
Fresh this years cut hay can be given to a horse 6/8 weeks after it's been cut, ensuring it's hopefully dried out properly..risk of colic otherwise...
Click to expand...

MDB said:
I never knew that. The hay here in Spain is very dry when they bale it. It is almost tinder dry before they cut it. I have given my horses hay which has been baled just days previously and didn't even think twice about it. I thought that all the sugar levels are 'trapped' at the time of cutting and it is only the moisture content and vitamin / mineral levels which change over time. But I would like to know why it can cause colic if fed too soon, as this is something I never knew about before, and all the animals are given freshly baled hay over here.
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The main risk of colic is from changing the hay, or any major part of their diet, without doing it gradually so going from old to new hay in one go can mean they gorge on the richer stuff, make any changes gradually if possible and you should have no problem feeding well made dry new hay, soaking will reduce the sugars, I have also opened a bale and dried it out inside my barn where the sun gets in if I have had to feed it very early.
 
be positive said:
The main risk of colic is from changing the hay, or any major part of their diet, without doing it gradually so going from old to new hay in one go can mean they gorge on the richer stuff, make any changes gradually if possible and you should have no problem feeding well made dry new hay, soaking will reduce the sugars, I have also opened a bale and dried it out inside my barn where the sun gets in if I have had to feed it very early.
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Ah yes of course. I always add any new food slowly, whether it be back onto grass in autumn when the rain brings fresh growth, or introducing hay at other times. I thought it was something specific to newly cut hay, but your explanation of course makes sense.
 
We made our hay in June this year which is the best time to make it. It's absolutely beautiful and as it was so well dried, we started feeding it within a week. We have done this for over 20 years of running our yard with no issues at all. Tbh though, our horses spend so much time out in the fields they don't really have any behavioural problems and I certainly wouldn't be putting it down to the hay if they did? My daughters event horses are all on diet paddocks and are fed hay twice daily so as to control their weight. They are all fed on performance cubes, performance balancer and this years hay and are all as laid back as it gets lol!
 
We've been supplying new hay since the beg. of July to all our hay customers, so dozens of horses will have been eating it, inc. my own.

We always tell more novice owners to mix it in with old hay for a couple of weeks, to introduce it gradually, in fact we often take 50/50 deliveries to help people to do this.

Never had a problem yet.
 
i would never under any circumstances feed hay less than 2 months old, and i never do, i make certain i have old hay to last until the new hay is a least 4 months old, but preferably older.

its one of those NEVER would do things for me.

i believe there is a chemical present in very new hay for at least 2 months after baling, not good for horses.
 
Soaking should reduce the sugar content OP. I would try and soak for a couple of hours, but the time is always a debatable point.
I have always believed you should not feed the current years hay until after the first frost.
 
tristar said:
i would never under any circumstances feed hay less than 2 months old, and i never do, i make certain i have old hay to last until the new hay is a least 4 months old, but preferably older.

its one of those NEVER would do things for me.

i believe there is a chemical present in very new hay for at least 2 months after baling, not good for horses.
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This is one of the (many) things I don't understand. He has a lovely paddock where he is eating long grass. No effect on him. Why does it seem to make him silly once it has been cut. Surely its just long grass been left to hay???? Is there some sort of chemical change that takes place once it has been cut and baled???????
 
Spottyappy said:
Soaking should reduce the sugar content OP. I would try and soak for a couple of hours, but the time is always a debatable point.
I have always believed you should not feed the current years hay until after the first frost.
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Wow! sometimes we don't see a frost in winter? Everyone has their own opinions on feeding new hay which I totally respect, but as previously stated in my post, I've been feeding new hay within a week of baling (provided it's well dried) to all 20 plus horses on our yard for years and never had a problem. Each to their own I guess!
 
It's just that he will be used to the grass in the paddock. Because of the way horses digest hay and grass they are pretty sensitive to changes in nutritional makeup (plus any toxins or chemicals) of whatever you're feeding them in a way that cows, sheep etc aren't. You just have to be careful how you introduce a new forage and how much effect it will have will vary hugely on your hay source.

I have one who is very prone to colic (she has to be introduces to a 'new' paddock very gradually and with much digestive aid pumped into her), but she's currently eating hay that I picked up straight off the field without any adverse effects. I introduced it gradually over a week and I know the grass was well cooked before being cut, is organic and has lowish rye content.
 
Fed this years hay to my 2, within 2 weeks of making..... not a problem. The only thing I have noticed about 'older' hay is it becomes more dusty and discoloured the longer it is stored. I agree, with some horses it is necessary to make the changeover carefully, but as each of us know our own horses we can make decisions accordingly.
 
Carlosmum said:
Fed this years hay to my 2, within 2 weeks of making..... not a problem. The only thing I have noticed about 'older' hay is it becomes more dusty and discoloured the longer it is stored. I agree, with some horses it is necessary to make the changeover carefully, but as each of us know our own horses we can make decisions accordingly.
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Me too. I had some of last year's hay left but it wasn't very good and I mixed it up to start with and now they are tucking into this year's hay.
 
It is a complete myth you cannot feed new hay - AS LONG AS DRY.

IF it was tinder dry being baled then just get on and feed it. Horses and cows eat grass like that on the ground, what is the difference?

There are circumstances where you would have to wait e.g. when you think there's a chance of damp. In that case the only reason to wait is to allow the bales to dry properly and gives you time to sample the bale if the mould you think is there has proliferated - THAT is the cause of botulism in most cases.

Otherwise, if you are happy of the conditions of the baling process and the bale, great! Green hay is lovely and nutritious!! Why on earth would you want to wait until it's yellow and dusty?? yuk. Once it's like that, it's basically sugar and indigestible fibre - not a lot else.

I would not feed hay over a year old and much happier to feed good fresh hay.

If you absolutely NEED to soak hay, 30-40 mins is enough to leach out water soluble sugar, after that, valuable minerals start to leach and you reactivate spores and these eventually cause respiratory problems.

Hay is much better when balanced with it's minerals intact, even for laminitics. Do look up the latest research at The Laminitis Site, Katy Watts, Jaime Jackson, Forage Plus, University of Kentucky Equine Research Labs etc... so much data out there....
 
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