Forage for horses
Forage is the most important type of feed for a horse. With good-qualityt forage, you can often reduce or even eliminate the concentrate feed and only supplement with minerals and vitamins. This of course depends on the type of work/trainingthe horse is doing and its overall body condition.
carried out with the horse and how well the horse is in condition.
If the horse is to be utilized to its maximum potential, analyses and feeding plans should be followed carefully. Forage should always be the most important type of feed.
We produce hay and hay silage for horses. We take feed samples from each individual batch that is produced. This gives you accurate information about the content of the roughage you give your horse.
Analyze
H-classes
Analyses of horse feed are classified into five classes based on energy content. H1 has the highest energy content and H5 has the lowest. The exact energy content is stated in FEh (horse feed units). In recent times, it has become more common to state the energy in the feed in MJ (mega joules). This gives a more accurate measurement of the energy in the feed, but can also be somewhat confusing as there are several different units that are stated in MJ. For example. MJ NE = net energy or MJ ME = metabolic energy (marketable energy). Especially if you use foreign feed, you should be aware that it may be stated in a different energy unit. It is not always specified which unit it is as it may be a unit that is standard in the country in question.
We analyze all our different batches of hay and hay silage. The energy content is mostly in the H2 and H3 classes. We also sometimes have batches with H1 and H4.
Sugar
NEW in 2018 is that we have analysis reports that also show "Total sugar" which also includes fructans. Normally, only the simple sugars have been stated. These are the simple sugars that are absorbed in the small intestine and can cause problems for sick and hypersensitive horses. If you are going to compare with other analysis reports, you must be aware that you must compare the correct numbers. Fructan is a more complex sugar where the sugar is not easily available. It depends on being broken down in the large intestine for the sugar to become available, which means that this is absorbed very slowly and to a lesser extent than the simple sugars. There is little research on the extent to which the fructan content can affect the horse in any way. And there are also no standard figures that say anything about what is high or low fructan content.
For more information about roughage and setting up a feeding plan for your horse, see these links:
- grovfornett.no - various professional articles about forage.
- eurofins.no / ofotlab.no - laboratories that analyze feed.
- pc-horse.no - create your own feeding plan for your horse
