It's important to fully understand why and how feeds are processed when thinking about equine feed. | Photo: The Horse Staff

A: This is a concern that I hear fairly frequently. We hear a lot regarding processed foods and human nutrition and the fact that they’re not the best choice. I think it’s important to fully understand why and how feeds are processed when thinking about equine feed.

Wait. Hay is Processed Feed?

Equine feed processing takes many forms. For example, we don’t often think about it this way, but hay is processed grass: Farmers cut, dry, and then bale it. These are all processing steps that allow forage suppliers to store and sell hay in other geographic locations or when horses don’t have pasture access.

This hay might be further chopped and then turned into hay pellet, a process that involves heat in the form of steam and the application of pressure to form the pellets. All this processing increases the cost of the product; however, it makes the hay more digestible because the relative surface area of the hay has been increased by chopping it more finely to make pellets. The resulting product requires less chewing to eat, which is beneficial for horses with poor teeth, but might be a less beneficial choice for horses with good teeth, because chewing results in stomach-acid-buffering saliva