About Horse Hay
Most of us have seen hay. The countryside around rural highways are dotted with mammoth, round hay bales. A lot of us have ridden on hay, perhaps in the bed of a wagon at a dude ranch. And a significant portion of us are allergic to the stuff. But do you actually know what hay is? Before researching hay in order to create this website for Doolittle Farm, it turns out this designer had no idea.
That's not a problem, though. I'm a web designer and don't own a horse, and haven't ridden one since I was a kid. But there are a lot of people who do own horses who know much less than they need to know about hay, a substance that equine nutritionists describe as a critical part of the diet of horses, especially those that live in stalls.
So what is hay?
Hay is not a specific type of plant, but is derived from a variety of grasses (like timothy, fescue, coastal Bermuda, Tifton Bermuda, rye, and brome) or legumes (like alfalfa). There are multiple grades of hay, ranging from premium hay intended primarily for horses, middle-grade hay used mainly for cattle, and low-grade hay frequently fed to animals such as goats.
Premium hay, like that grown by Doolittle Farm, is primarily used to supplement a horse's diet when grazing is not sufficiently available, whether due to drought or during winter, or if no pasture is available, as at a racetrack or riding school.
"Any horse that is kept in a stall and not out to pasture all the time needs hay," Doolittle Farms owner Debbie Wilson said.
But a horse owner must know good hay from bad hay.
Poor-quality hay is generally yellow or brown in color, contains as much stems as leaves, and is tough. It may have seed pods, evidence that the plant was too mature when cut. It frequently has a musty odor and has discolorations, signs of having been left in the field too long and being subject to too much moisture after cutting. Besides the poor appearance, low-quality hay is lower in nutrients. It may contain weeds and other foreign objects that can be poisonous. While middle grade hay is cut at the farmer's leisure and sometimes left in the field, premium hay is held to a much higher standard and much tighter schedule.
To produce premium hay, a farmer must cut, dry, and bale the hay within a narrow window of time. The grass must be cut before it has matured, usually at approximately four weeks old. Even the time of day the hay is cut can play a role in maximizing the nutritional value of hay.
Doolittle hay is cut at approximately thirty days of age, when the Coastal Bermuda is twelve to eighteen inches tall and bright green in color. Cutting is done in the afternoon, when photosynthesis is at its peak and nutrients and sugars have been drawn from the roots into the leaves.
"You have to wait until all the sugars get up into the stem, probably around 1:00 to 2:00," Wilson explained. "Then you've got until the sun starts going down. When it starts getting dusk, you need to quit. How much time you have depends on what time of year it is, but the best is about a three- or four-hour window in which to cut."
The hay then spends an anxious two to three days in the field, hopefully drying in the sun.
"You pray it doesn't rain," Wilson said. "If it rains after the hay is cut, it will ruin a crop. A little rain may be okay, but more than that and its ruined."
The cut hay is flipped half way through the drying, then it's baled. Depending on the weather, the process takes three to four days, though heavy humidity can slow the process. After baling, premium hay is immediately moved to dry storage. Is the extra work worth it?
"You can really see the difference," Wilson said. "Our hay is a beautiful deep green, and it's soft. It comes off the bale in flakes.
"But cheap hay is old, tough, and has very little nutritional value."
The price of hay can also be a giveaway as to its quality. The progress of each crop is closely monitored - from fertilizing schedule to tracking the plant's maturity, and it is regularly tested for its nutritional content - all factors that drive up costs.
"It's quality versus quantity," Wilson argues. "You can't get good horse-quality hay for half price."
In fact, Wilson explains, skimping on hay can actually make it more expensive to maintain a horse.
"If you take away good quality hay, you have to give a horse more supplements. It's just like the dog and cat industry, people spend a fortune on all kinds of supplements, this feed is supposed to do this or that, make the hair shiny or whatever. They keep adding to it and adding to it and adding to it, and it gets more and more expensive. The cost ends up actually being higher than if they had bought good hay."
It's a daunting amount of information that a horse owner needs to know. Equine nutritionists can be a great help, and Wilson made use of such a consultant when she was getting started at Doolittle.
"There's a lot to it, and you keep learning."
From The Basics of Equine Nutrition
by Carey A. Williams, Ph.D.
Extension Specialist in Equine Management, Rutgers University
Characteristics of Good-Quality Hay:
Low moisture content (twelve to eighteen percent).
Green in color.
Sweet smelling, like newly cut grass.
Free of mold and dust.
Cut before maturity.
Grass hays before seed heads mature and alfalfa cut early in bloom.
Free from weeds, poisonous plants, trash, or foreign objects.
Characteristics of Poor-Quality Hay:
Damp. Too much moisture causes mold.
Brown, yellow or weathered in color. Gray or black indicates mold.
Musty, moldy or fermented odor.
Dusty and moldy hay is unacceptable.
Cut late in maturity. Mature seed heads with grass hay or alfalfa cut late in bloom.
High weed content, poisonous plants, or animal carcasses in hay bales.
