Forage Analysis Question

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djlynwood

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How do you get it done and where do you start?

Who do I contact? I have no idea what sort of company does this.

Im on a very large yard, is it worth getting it done?
 
I am on a very large livery yard and I had the grass and my hay analysed this year by Forage Plus.

I had both the nutritional and mineral analyses done on both samples. I also paid £60 for the bespoke feed plan but in hindsight as I now use the Feed XL service I could have saved myself that extra money.

You need to gather samples from about 10 to 20 random bales of your hay to get an accurate report on your hay. The same went with the grass. I took randon samples from the fields all over the farm, where the horses graze. This resulted in a mean average (hopefully). I am very glad I had the reports done. It was very interesting to see what minerals were lacking. Quite a surprise in some instances.

Simple Systems feeds also offer an analysis service, as do Dengie and Dodson & Horrell (Google them for more info). But I think the Forage Plus one was the most comprehensive analysis I could find at the time I wanted to choose someone to do it for me.
 
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Forage Plus do the analysis and a feed plan. Other companies, such as Dengie, will do an analysis, but won't supply the feed plan. Instructions will be given on the companies' websites as to how to go about it.

As to whether or not it's worth it... It depends on whether your forage is all from the same source or if you buy in from different suppliers. Or, if doing an analysis on grass, how much of the horses' diets is based on the grass (i.e. how much turnout they get).

I was going to do a forage analysis when I moved to my own land, but in the end didn't bother, as I feel that the mineral deficiencies are generally pretty predictable in the UK. I may still resort to it if I can't grow a decent hoof on my TB, however.
 
Before you start, are you on spring water at the yard? If so, there's no point doing a forage analysis until you look at the water analysis. If the water is high in anything that needs to be balanced (iron/manganese being the most common) then you can't balance your forage because on any one day you have no idea how much your horse has taken in the water.

If you are on mains water, high imbalances will have been removed by the water company already.
 
ah, theres a lot more to it than I thought.

I have no idea about the water supply. Im guessing its mains but will check. Our hayledge is grown by YO but obtained from different fields across the land. We have a mountain of bales in the yard that were cut this year.

I would only be able to get samples from opened bales.

There is no point having the grass in winter field analyised as there is none left in there!
 
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