High costs or limited availability of hay may have horse owners considering alternative forage options including hay cubes. Hay cubes are a good nutritive substitute for long-stem hay, but little research has looked at the potential impact on feeding behavior. Researchers in Austria evaluated the effect of forage type (hay cube vs long-stem hay) on dust production and chewing activity when fed to horses.
Six horses between the ages of 4 and 16 were pastured together during the day and individually housed overnight. During the trial periods, the horses were fed one of two treatments overnight: 11 pounds as-fed of long-stem hay or hay cubes. Each horse was subjected to each treatment with a 14-day washout period in between. The long-stem hay consisted mainly of meadow fescue, timothy, tall oat grass and cocksfoot. The hay cubes were a 50 percent mix of meadow grass and alfalfa. The horses readily consumed both forage types. Chewing activity was recorded using halter sensors and a dust measuring instrument was placed to measure dust particles near the mouth and nose areas of the horse.
The horses spent a shorter time (67 minutes less) eating hay cubes compared to long-stem hay. Additionally, fewer total chews were observed with hay cubes (15,110) compared to long-stem hay (20,299). However, the number of chews per minute were similar between hay cubes (70.6) and long-stem hay (72.6). While the concentration of inhalable dust particles was higher for the hay cubes, dust concentrations were generally low and considered safe for both forage types.
Maximizing the amount of time a horse spends eating supports their digestive health and helps fulfill their instinct to forage. When long-stem hay is scarce, hay cubes can serve as an appropriate forage alternative. Using hay cubes as a partial replacement for long-stem hay can help you stretch your hay supply, while encouraging more foraging and chewing activity than hay cubes alone.
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The post Chew On This: Hay Cubes And Long-Stem Hay Affect Chewing Activity appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
