How to compensate for nutritionally poor hay?

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BogTrotter

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Good evening :)

I was hoping for some advice about supplementary feeding.
The hay that we get in this part of Scotland is, erm, variable as it's not generally known to be good haymaking weather up here!:D It's good enough to keep TurboCob ticking over, but he's always rather lacklustre come spring. This year I wish to do more with him, but feel he needs a bit 'more' from his food as more effort will be asked of him.Oats argree with him, mixes don't due to the molasses.

So I suppose my question is, can I 'feed a few handfuls of concentrates' to counteract the lower nutritional value of the hay (that they have plenty of)?
If so, to work this out, do I need to get my forage analysed or can one 'guesstimate' it?
I'm fairly new to the area and I don't know any local horse owners that I could ask about this. I really want to do the best for him to feel abd be healthier. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks :)
 
What a shame you can't get hold of good hay easily. Living in a beautiful part of the country does have it's down sides I guess.

I think you're first step should be to made contact with the other local horse owners. Maybe they get good hay from a reliable source and viola, problem sorted quickly? However, it's probably best to speak up about your concerns with the quality of the hay with your yard owner first. She may not have the time to do looking around and then you can phone away all you like, but just be careful not to offend your YO. She'll probably appreciate that you came to her first before talking to other people about your need for better hay.

There are feeds of which you can feed loads to replace large amounts of forage, like fibrebeet and speedibeet, (you really can feed loads and loads of fibrebeet), but then again it might not be the appropriate type of feed for your horse. There are also a plethora of general supplements, or those for owners wanting a very specific supplement. You could spend hours looking at supplements. There are supplements available if you know you're feeding nutritionally not as good hay/haylage, but I'm sorry I can't remember the names of the latter.

If I was stuck with the worst kind of hay, I'd improvise and make my own hay steamer. Yes, I know it doesn't work nowhere near as good as a proper haygain, but by keeping the kettle boiling the whole time during the steaming process, one after the other, and keep chucking it in the rubbish bin, the hay gets too hot to handle eventually and I'm sure it does steam to a certain extent. It smells beautifully anyway. Failing that, at least it's soaked in pure water!

But for me personally if the hay situation can't be improved and there are other yards available with better facilities incl guaranteed better hay, I would consider moving, as my 16.2 TB needs ad lib good quality hay.
 
A good mineral balancer like Progressive Earth/Forage Plus etc do, salt, linseed for protein and general coat condition and then oats if you need more calories should cover all the bases. If you need more protein you can add extra lysine etc as needed.

You can get forage analysed if its all from exactly the same place, but the mineral balancers will work to cover the most usual deficiencies
 
Never thought of adding grass pellets too his diet normally soak like sugar beet could add a bit more to his diet
 
I have had my hay analysed for the last couple of years and it has been a revelation. Protein levels were a bit wanting, so I feed soya meal, soya hulls, bran and/or lysine depending on how well each horse does on the hay. Sugars were low (hurrah, no need to soak for the laminitic) so really unless you buy from several sources it could be worth it at £27ish (from Forageplus, reputable analyses). You could easily waste that much "topping up" unnecessarily
 
I bought a small load of poor hay that no one else wanted, it was super, yes it looked wispy and not bright green, it was about a £1 a small bale ex farm and I fed Mare and Youngstock to my herd, mare, foal and a youngster. They all did well. There was no dust and no mould.
I am happy to feed micronised linseed, non mol beet and oats and minerals, ie straights to any horse in work. They should be getting a few bits and pieces if they are out on pasture.
 
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You say he is 'lacklustre' come spring, but is he losing weight? And how long does being lacklustre last for?

Spring is a dangerous time to be feeding a good doer more, and I would expect him to be lacklustre in December if it was the hay?
 
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