Hay is an essential component of a horse’s diet. As natural foragers, a horse’s ability to travel and graze freely is taken away when humans place them in captivity. Most horses will consume around 1.5%-2% of their body weight in forage (grass or hay) per day.
The hay owners feed is dependent on their horse’s special nutritional needs or the availability in a specific area. Hay comes in different varieties, including oat hay, legume hay, or grain hay.
Nutritional Content: bulk of hay’s nutritional value and contentPowerful Duo: Oat Hay and Alfalfa: high fiber and high protein diet, great for working, and growing horses.
Oat Hay: grower, find out what stage/maturity the hay was cut and if any testing is available.Oat Alfalfa Hay: improves the crude protein content of the oat hay.
Although oat hay can be very beneficial for some horses, especially when paired with alfalfa, it is not one-size-fits-all hay. Specific nutritional requirements will help horse owners determine the ideal hay or hay mix for their horses.