Handy Hay Soaking Tips
Do you need to weigh your hay?
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In our view it is never a good idea to restrict access to hay - especially when horses are not on any grass.
Advice to weigh hay mainly comes from concern over horses who are obese, EMS and prone to laminitis.
The object of weighing hay is to avoid wastage and to control intake.
You can easily avoid wastage by adjusting how much you feed based on what is left.
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For horses who need to lose weight, it is preferable to soak the hay prior to feeding, rather than restrict it.
Whether the horse will lose weight or not will depend on the nutritional quality of the hay. Fibre content is relative to the maturity of the plant at the time of cutting.
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An over-looked point is that hay differs in nutrient composition according to stage of growth and the time of day at which it was harvested.
Weight of the hay will vary accordingly. For example mid-mature grass is considered ‘high quality’ hay, it will have more leaf, less stem, a higher moisture and nutrient content and weigh more than hay cut at a more mature stage of growth which will be less nutritious and higher in less digestible fibre.
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When you feed later-cut, more mature hay the horse can have more hay and not be required to go for any time without.
Hence there is no point in weighing hay because it doesn't tell you what nutrients that particular hay contains.
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It is simply not practical to have to analyse every batch of hay to find out the nutrient composition. Forage analyses are worthwhile if you are buying large quantities from one source and it is intended for horses prone to laminitis.
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The way to ensure a contented horse is to make sure forage is available to him at all times. Not doing so is stressful for him, reduces chew time over the 24 hour period and increases the likelihood of him developing ulcers.
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Slowing down consumption by serving the hay in small mesh hay-savers promotes trickle feeding and increases chew time.
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*Glunk, E.C., M.R. Hathaway, A.M. Grev, et al. 2015.
The effect of a limit-fed diet and slow-feed hay nets on morphometric measurements and postprandial metabolite and hormone patterns in adult horses. Journal of Animal Science 93(8):4144-4152.
Soaking takes out 20-30% of the soluble sugars and 50% of the potassium. It is beneficial particularly when you are feeding horses/ponies who need to lose weight or who have EMS, laminitis and/or when you are not sure of the nutrient composition of the hay.
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There are also benefits for head-shaking/flicking horses and those with PSSM, not from a point of view of weight loss but for reducing potassium intake until they are back to normal.
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Surprisingly, most horses take to soaked hay really well.
Soaking is usually a short term measure. There is no need to soak the hay for healthy horses who don’t have any issues...
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Here are some pointers to make it easier:
1. Soak a manageable quantity of hay because it is much heavier when it is wet
2. Put the hay in the hay-net ready for feeding post-soaking
3. Station your tub near the hose and somewhere the water can drain away when you tip it out/pull the plug
4. An old bath makes an ideal tub, here we are using half a mussel buoy. Put something heavy on top to help submerge the hay
5. Make sure it is in the shade when temps are on the warm side
6. Leave the hay soaking for 45-60 minutes in cold water (Soaking hay for longer can lead to loss of other minerals)
7. Empty the water out of the tub (it is great for watering plants if practical)
8. Rinse the sugary water off the hay
9. Leave to drain for a few minutes, this reduces the weight ready for transport
10. Place on a tarpaulin and drag over to horse or use a wheelbarrow
It is important not to recycle the same water. The sugars that have leached out will have started to ferment. Fill the tub with fresh water each soak.
Small tubs don’t work as well because the water to hay ratio is too low. You need quite a lot of water compared to hay otherwise the water becomes saturated too quickly and therefore limits how much sugar/potassium can transfer from hay to water.
It should be noted that soaking does not guarantee that the hay will end up less than the 10% sugars recommended for equines with laminitis. But it is very worthwhile to do it especially when it is a challenge to locate suitable low sugar hay.
Any darkening of the colour of the water is due to pigments leaching out of the hay and bears no relation to sugar content
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Double Soaking
When the horse is in crises with laminitis, the best strategy is to double soak the hay.
This is far more effective than leaving the hay in the same water for the same amount of time because the water becomes saturated with potassium and the sugars and can’t soak out any more.
Soak it for 1 – 2 hours then change the water and soak again for another 1 – 2 hours
When you take it out of the water – rinse before draining it.
Soaking vs 'Wetting' or Steaming
‘Soaking’ is different to merely ‘wetting’ the hay to get rid of dust or ‘steaming’ which is a sterilizing process for horses with respiratory problems. Neither wetting nor steaming reduces sugars or potassium content.
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SOAKING HAY IS QUITE HARD WORK
If you have any great ideas on how to make it easier let us know
Buddy is 29. He lives on the track with the Chh herd on a high hay diet to manage his Cushings which is well managed.