Buying and Storing Feeds

Feed is a major expenditure for any horse owner, and we all want it to be money well spent–both in terms of nutrition and quality. Getting the best value often means buying and storing feed in bulk. But unless that’s done properly, you might

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Feed is a major expenditure for any horse owner, and we all want it to be money well spent–both in terms of nutrition and quality. Getting the best value often means buying and storing feed in bulk. But unless that’s done properly, you might find you lose a major portion of your investment to mold, insect infestation, or water damage, any of which can make your hay or grain unsuitable as feed for your horses. Here are some notes geared toward getting your best value, and protecting what you’ve got.


Inspection Time


In terms of nutrition, you get what you pay for. Thus, beware of underpriced hay or grain–it’s usually of poor quality, and a false economy for your horses (although it might be perfectly suitable for cattle, which have less demanding–and delicate–digestive systems). Before you buy hay, crack open several bales. Hay not only should look green and relatively leafy and free of weeds, it should smell sweet, not dusty or moldy. Hay cut late will be full of seedheads, a tipoff that the nutritional content of the grasses and legumes is past prime. Patches of mold, wet spots, or unusually heavy bales are indicators that the hay was rained on after cutting, or stored in a damp location.


Buying in bulk generally will save you money–or at least persuade your supplier to bring the hay to you, rather than leaving the onus on you to pick it up. In terms of balancing your nutritional program, buying a large supply of hay from one grower with whom you’ve established a good relationship is an advantage–doing a nutritional analysis of that hay can allow you to balance your grain ration to complement the hay for your entire herd. That’s considerably more difficult to do if you’ve laid in a supply of hay from many different growers and many different fields, as the numbers can vary considerably from batch to batch

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Written by:

Karen Briggs is the author of six books, including the recently updated Understanding Equine Nutrition as well as Understanding The Pony, both published by Eclipse Press. She’s written a few thousand articles on subjects ranging from guttural pouch infections to how to compost your manure. She is also a Canadian certified riding coach, an equine nutritionist, and works in media relations for the harness racing industry. She lives with her band of off-the-track Thoroughbreds on a farm near Guelph, Ontario, and dabbles in eventing.

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