Feeding your horse grass hay & Other varieties of hay

Feeding your horse grass hay is the standard feed for horses today. You will need hay pretty much all year round, especially in the winter months. Unless you use a complete pellet feed. If you’re going to feed hay in the winter then you need to make sure your store enough up to get you through, depending on how many horses you have. Feeding hay will help to conserve your limited supply of pasture in the summer months. Depending on where you live, hay can cost less than feeding pellets. And if you cant find good hay then you might want to consider a complete pellet feed.

Good grass hay or pasture is all you really need to keep your horse or horses healthy and in shape. Unless you are doing some hard ranch work or showing your horse then you’ll want to consider a supplement with the hay. There are several other varieties of hay, Alfalfa which has the highest in protein, oat hay, rye hay, coastal hay, timothy hay, and bermuda grass hay to name a few.

Finding good grass hay is not always easy to find. When buying good hay you need to be able to identify it. Good quality horse hay should be leafy; fine stemmed and not overly dry, most of the nutrients are in the leaves. The hay on the inside of the bale should be bright green in color, the greener the better. Green hay is high in protein & vitamins. Be careful with feeding hays such as alfalfa and clover, they are very high in protein and to much can cause your horse to become sick. It is best to purchase an alfalfa grass mix. Good hay should be free of dust mold and weeds. It should not have a musty or moldy odor either. There should be no excessive moisture to cause overheating or spoilage.

You can purchase hay by the bale at your local feed store or from a local hay grower. Buying hay from the local feed store can be a bit expensive depending on how many horses you have and the quality may not be as good. You can also purchase your hay every 6 months or for the year. It is best to feed the current years hay than last years hay.

Lastly make sure you store your hay in a high dry & cool area free from moisture so that your supply won’t mold. If you feed moldy hay to your horse it can cause your horse to get sick and colic.


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