BONUS 2 – Is Your Horse’s Diet Built on a Strong Forage Foundation?

Episode Notes

On this bonus episode of the Beyond the Barn podcast, host Katy Starr chats with Dr. Kelly Vineyard about one of the most important, and sometimes overlooked, parts of a horse’s feeding program, including:

•  Why the best place to start solving a feeding challenge, may not involve adding anything to the diet at all
• What your horse’s digestive system may be telling you about the importance of consistency in the diet and what can happen when it’s disrupted
• The behind-the-scenes factors that can make the difference between just feeding hay and building a truly strong nutritional foundation 

Together, Katy and Dr. Vineyard take a step back to look at the bigger picture of how horses are designed to eat and why starting with the basics can help simplify the way we approach nutrition. They also discuss how a stronger Forage Foundation™ can help horse owners feel more confident in the decisions they make for their horses, from everyday feeding to times when a horse’s needs change. 

🎧 Listen now on the Beyond the Barn podcast 

Have a topic idea or feedback to share? We want to connect with you! Email podcast@standlee.com 

______________________________ 

Additional Beyond the Barn Resources:

• ~4:38 - Discussing the forage-based or feeding only forage trends - Ep. 102: Horse Feeding Trends Explained: Forage-Based, Grain-Free & Everything in Between – Part 1
• ~4:38 - Discussing the forage-based or feeding only forage trends - Ep. 103: How to Balance Forage-Based or Grain-Free Diets & Bust Common Myths – Part 2
• ~4:55 - Discussing why horses need to have fiber in their diets - Ep. 003: Why Horses Need to Eat Fiber
• ~5:01 - Discussing how the horse’s digestive system is set-up and the process for how fiber and grains are digested - Ep. 034: Your Horse’s Digestive System – How It Works & How It Can Fail
• ~7:12 - Discussing what Forage Foundation is - Forage for Performance Horses: Building a Strong Nutritional Foundation blog post  |  Forage Foundation™ Nutrition
• ~17:30 - Discussing why horses need consistency in their diet and how it impacts the microbes in the hindgut - Ep. 090: Prevent Digestive Trouble - Why Consistency in Feeding Horses Matters  |  Consistent Nutrition and Forage Quality Defends Horses from Digestive Issues blog post
• ~19:12 - Discussing behind the scenes of how high quality forage is grown and what it takes to produce, including how irrigiation and time of cutting impact quality - Ep. 033: The Secret to Growing High Quality Forage
• ~22:12 - Discussing storage tips for how to minimize risk of moisture build up that can lead to hay fires or mold - Ep. 025: How to Plan for Hay Needs and Useful Storage Tips to Avoid Hay Loss 

______________________________ 

*Views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of Standlee Premium Products, LLC.* 

_______________________________

Read full episode transcript

Katy Starr (00:01): 

Hi, I'm Katy Starr, and you're listening to Beyond the Barn. Join me on this journey as we bust equine and livestock nutrition myths and sit down with some of the most intriguing experts from across the country. We'll also take you behind the scenes of how premium western quality forage is grown and brought to your favorite farm and ranch retail store. I'm so glad you're here. Welcome back to another episode of Beyond the Barn. Dr. Vineyard is back with us today. It's great to have you in here with us today, Dr. Vineyard. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (00:36): 

Thank you, Katy. It's great to be here again. 

 

Katy Starr (00:38): 

Yeah. And today, we'll be talking about Forage Foundation and why forage is such an important part of the horse's diet. This is nothing new for us as horse owners and not new to us here at Standlee. It's something that we've been doing for a long time talking about for quite a while, but it's something to bring up as a refresher and help us really feed our horses in the way that they were designed to consume forage and all of the different nutrition aspects that they need for their digestive systems to function correctly. So, Dr. Vineyard, I think today's going to be a really great and helpful episode for a lot of our listeners. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (01:17): 

Yeah. I mean, it's just a great refocusing on really, like, what is the most important part of the horse's diet? And I think most of us understand that it should be forage and that it is forage, but do we understand why? And do we understand the specifics behind that? So yeah, I'm excited to talk about that today. 

 

Katy Starr (01:34): 

Excellent. And to our listeners, just as a reminder, any of the topics that we cover on the Beyond the Barn podcast are more generalized and not specific to any individual horse or any specific situation. So, be sure to always work with your veterinarian and nutritionist before making any drastic changes to your horse's feed program, or you can reach out to us and talk directly with any questions that you have for our PhD equine nutritionist on any specifics that you'd like to know. So, Dr. Vineyard, just to kind of get us started on today's topic, there are obviously so many products marketed to horse owners today between feeds, supplements, oils, balancers, and everything in between. If a horse owner is standing in the feed room wondering, "Where do I even start?" What would you tell them? 

 

Dr. Vineyard (02:23): 

Well, I would say you actually probably need to walk out of your feed room and go to your hay barn because that's where you need to start is with the forage component of your diet. Forage is maybe less flashy than part of these other parts of the diet, but it really and truly is the largest part of the diet by weight. It makes up the greatest component of the diet. And it does sometimes become easy to like overlook or maybe it's easy to underestimate the importance of because sometimes we just take it for granted. But that is where you should start is with your forage, not in the feed. 

 

Katy Starr (02:56): 

Right. And I know we've talked about this before, but how much forage should a horse be eating? And that obviously varies depending on how they're being used and things like that, but how much should they be consuming? 

 

Dr. Vineyard (03:09): 

It absolutely does vary. But a good rule of thumb, we always like good rule of thumbs. Somewhere between one and a half to two and a half percent of a horse's body weight per day, the majority of the horses are going to fall into that range. There are some cases where you may go below one and a half percent of body weight, maybe in a weight loss plan and you have to be careful with that. And there may be times when you go above that, maybe like with a horse with high energy needs, but somewhere between one and a half to two and a half percent of body weight, and that's really where you start. And I want to just drive home the point that it does seem confusing when you're trying to decide what feed or what supplement to feed, but start with what your horse is already eating, right? 

 

Dr. Vineyard (03:47): 

That is really going to simplify things. Start with that and then you look at everything else as trying to fill in those gaps because a lot of owners tend to want to first go to feeds and supplements to maybe solve a problem or meet a goal. And a lot of time these problems that you're trying to fix are actually a forage problem. Whether it's an amount of forage or the quality of forage, it could even be the type of forage. Maybe you're not feeding a type that's not right for your situation. So, always start with the forage, make sure you're not trying to solve a problem with feed that could be solved with forage also. So, yeah, instead of saying like, "What do I need to add to my diet?" It's more like, "Is my foundation solid? And then what?" 

 

Katy Starr (04:32): 

Yes, that is so good. And we've been hearing a lot about forage-based and feeding forage only lately. We've talked about that a little bit on the podcast, but what makes forage such an important foundation for the horse biologically? So, what is the horse's digestive system designed to do with that steady intake of fiber? 

 

Dr. Vineyard (04:54): 

Right. I mean, this is how horses evolved. They evolved to continuously eat fiber-rich forage. This whole digestive tract is designed specifically for that. From the very front, from chewing, saliva production, which helps the forage you swallow. That saliva actually serves as a partial buffer for stomach acid. Then from there, towards the end, where you have your huge amounts of fermentation that go on with that fiber, the byproducts of that fermentation essentially are energy that the horse can use. So, from buffering the stomach, from energy production, and this continuous flow, trickle feeding is like what we like to call it, that is really how these horses are designed. I mean, their stomachs produce acid twenty four seven. So, when you have a trickle feeder, their stomach is producing acid twenty four seven. If there is not continuous intake of fiber and forage, that stomach sits empty and there's nothing to buffer that acid. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (05:53): 

So, that's not a situation we really want to be in. So, the other part of that is if you try to take away the focus of the fiber and really fill in the gaps with concentrates or excessive concentrates, they can be digested in the small intestine, but there's a limit. And there's only so much you can compensate for, especially when it comes to energy with feeding concentrates. So, you risk disrupting the system if you overfeed concentrates, especially in very large starch heavy meals, that can create problems in the hindgut where the hindgut wants to digest fiber, doesn't want to digest carbohydrates. And so that can create disrupted hindgut dysbiosis, change the pH, can lead to all sorts of issues. So, the digestive system is designed to continuously digest forage, and when you get out of that pattern, that's where you start to see some digestive issues. 

 

Katy Starr (06:46): 

Right. Well, and you were just talking about in the question before about how thinking that we can solve problems with grain or concentrate or whatever we're filling in with, but really you just explained why if we're focusing on the forage to start with, there's so many problems that we can avoid if we just get that right at the beginning. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (07:07): 

That's right. Yeah. 

 

Katy Starr (07:09): 

So, can you then specifically define for us what forage foundation is? 

 

Dr. Vineyard (07:14): 

Yeah. I mean, really, a forage foundation is just a feeding approach and it's built, you know, around this thing we're talking about, right? It's built around the one thing that the horse's digestive system depends on the most, which is fiber, which is provided through forage. And so forage foundation, it's Standlee's way of describing this, how horses are meant to eat, starting with your high-quality forage as the base of your diet, and then the rest of the diet, creating the rest of that diet becomes much more easy to manage. And so this forage foundation is just a feeding philosophy, but it's very simple. Feeding doesn't have to be complicated when you start with your foundation and then you build from there, just like a house when you build a foundation first. You don't hang the curtains before you build a foundation, right? So, build your strong foundation. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (08:02): 

And this is really something Standlee has been right in the middle of and talking about and been doing, delivering high-quality forages since the early '80s. So, for quite a long time. 

 

Katy Starr (08:12): 

Right. And so, you've talked a little bit about this, but on the flip side, what can happen when forage isn't the foundation or isn't prioritized in the diet? Maybe we have a focus that's a little bit more elsewhere, whether that's maybe long periods of time without access to forage, or maybe it's inconsistent forage intake, or maybe even just relying too heavily on the concentrates to meet horses' needs. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (08:40): 

Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of different things depending on what the issue is. It's almost like if, when you take your forage for granted and don't consider it, sometimes your focus is on the wrong thing. So, yes, long periods of time without chewing. Say you only feed a flake at night with PM dinner and then they're in a stall all night with nothing to eat. Long periods of going with an empty stomach, that stomach acid is continually being produced, so the pH drops really low. That can increase risk of gastric ulcers. Also, gut motility will slow down if there's not a continuous intake of steady fiber intake, that can also increase risk of colic. So, poor gut motility. I mentioned before relying on concentrates, overly relying on them to supply energy when you maybe could address that also through your forage. That might mean you need to feed really large meals of high starch concentrates, but that can result in overwhelming the small intestine with starch. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (09:33): 

It gets shunted into the hindgut. That can disrupt the microbial balance, the microbes. I always like to say they have a party when they see a lot of carbs in the hindgut, and then that's a bad party . 

 

Katy Starr (09:44): 

We don't want that kind of party. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (09:45): 

There's some bad consequences after that party. And so it drops hindgut pH. This is called hindgut acidosis. That can lead to loose manure. If you're lucky, it can lead to laminitis if you're unlucky and in really bad cases. So, another problem is not enough chew time. So, then either they're not going to be producing saliva to buffer acid, or they're going to maybe start wood chewing or tail chewing or other behaviors that maybe you don't want. So, that's a lot with like amount of forage. I think another problem is when you don't prioritize quality forage. Quality is clean forage, nutritious forage, consistent quality, but a poor-quality forage, a low digestible hay, for example, that can increase risk of impaction colic specifically. So, that's a problem. It's going to be less nutritious, less calorie dense, poor-quality forage can be contaminated with mold or be really dusty, lead to respiratory issues. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (10:39): 

And then probably the biggest challenge is weight loss, poor-quality forage. Even you may weigh it, you're feeding 2% of body weight, you think you're doing good, but if it's really poor-quality and the horse can't really extract calories efficiently because it's too overly mature, that could lead to weight loss. 

 

Katy Starr (10:55): 

Right. Yeah, those are excellent points. And I think that this is an important distinction because I can imagine some listeners maybe the first time kind of hearing Forage Foundation or with other buzzwords kind of going around like feeding only forage and thinking, "Does that mean my horse shouldn't have a concentrate or supplement?" So, what does a complete feeding program actually look like when forage is the foundation? 

 

Dr. Vineyard (11:23): 

Yeah. I mean, let's get this straight. Forage foundation does not mean forage only, okay? So, really, forage, that means fiber. Forage covers the fiber that the horses need. And forage can really provide a lot of the calories a horse needs. It can provide most of the protein in most situations, but it's rarely going to cover everything else. So, there's always going to be some nutritional gaps in a forage diet, namely trace minerals, salt, amino acids, like lysine specifically, especially if you have a growing horse or performance horse with higher needs for that amino acid. And then depending on the forage, potentially vitamin E, fresh pasture has wonderful amounts of vitamin E, fresh green grass. As soon as you cut grass to make hay, the vitamin E content will start to decline. Now, you can help preserve that vitamin E with good preservation methods and good baling methods and storage, but it's going to keep going down. 

 

Katy Starr (12:21): 

Still going to go down, yeah. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (12:22): 

So, it's another thing to keep in mind, especially if your horse never has any access to fresh green pasture. So, really, it's just about building your diet, forage first to meet their calorie needs and their whatever life stage they're in. Also, metabolic needs, right? If a horse has some sort of metabolic concern, you want to pay attention to the soluble carbohydrate content of your forage. And then you're going to identify the gaps. Maybe it's simply they've got plenty of calories, but we need to add vitamin and mineral supplements. Or maybe they need some extra calories too. So, that might be where you have a commercial concentrate that has some added fat, added fiber, also the vitamins and minerals built in, so a fortified feed, feeding it according to package directions, and that's still filling in the gaps. You know, a lot of people get a little hung up on that, right? 

 

Dr. Vineyard (13:11): 

Oh, I don't want to feed a concentrate. Well, if you think about the total amounts, you have a thousand pound horse, they're eating 2% of their body weight, 20 pounds of hay a day, you might be feeding three to four pounds of concentrate. That is a very small component of the overall ration. Like if you have 25 pounds they're eating, 20 pounds is hay, 5 pounds is a concentrate. And, you know, a lot of horses aren't even eating that much concentrate. So, it really is, you have to look at the whole diet and feed to your specific horse. 

 

Katy Starr (13:41): 

Right. So, if forage is the foundation of a horse's diet, I mean, we've talked a little bit about this, but does any forage automatically make a good foundation? What should horse owners understand about differences in forage quality and nutritional value? 

 

Dr. Vineyard (13:59): 

Right. I mean, I really like my house analogy. When you're building a house, you usually pour the foundation first. So, you can have a really good strong foundation or you could have, like, got the contractors who are trying to be cheap and now you have a cracked foundation. That's a bad situation to be in. My neighbors had to fix their foundation a couple years ago, and it took, like, a month. And it's a really bad situation, but it's a really good analogy because if you have a cracked foundation, which would mean you're just feeding the cheapest forage you can find, maybe it's dusty, maybe it's a little moldy, the horses are peeing on it, but you just keep throwing more, just hopefully they'll eat some, that, you are never going to get performance out of your horse the way that you would if your foundation was strong, right? 

 

Dr. Vineyard (14:43): 

And if your forage quality was basically bearing the brunt of your horse's nutritional needs. So, yes, poor-quality, to me, sometimes it's almost worse. Of course, like, if you don't have another choice, it's better than nothing, but you're going to end up, if you're relying on poor-quality forage, it's actually going to make your job a lot harder to help your horse thrive and do his job. 

 

Katy Starr (15:06): 

Right. Well, and like we talked about previously, depending on how poor-quality that hay might be, you could end up causing other problems that will then, you will have a vet bill that you weren't expecting to pay or things like we talked about, looking at the full picture, right? A lot of the times, that preventative preparation is actually going to be so much better for you and your horse in the long run and just make it easier for you overall. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (15:32): 

Yeah and you know, it can be a little bit intimidating sometimes because it's hard to just look at forage to know is it good quality or bad quality? And I think we have talked about this before on other podcast episodes, you know, what makes good quality hay or bad quality hay, but the species of hay is a really big deal. Is it grass hay? Is it, you know, legume or alfalfa? And even within grass, you've got timothy, you've got orchard, you've got teff, you have lots of different species. And they can all be perfect for a certain type of horse, but they can all be wrong for other types of horses. So, knowing your species, another really big contributor to quality is maturity at cutting. And that is where it comes back to having a grower and a harvester that knows what they're doing and knows when to cut the hay at the right time. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (16:18): 

Because if it's immature, that's one set of problems. And if it's too overly mature, that's another set of problems. So, you really want to make sure that hay is being cut or that fresh forage is being cut at the right time to make hay. Growing conditions, moisture, do you bale it? How dry is the hay when it's baled? Like that's another big thing that it's hard to see, but, you know, relying on, you know, good quality producers ensure that that's going to be taken care of. Because if you bale hay when it's too wet, guess what? You have moldy hay, you know? And so you definitely want to avoid that. 

 

Katy Starr (16:51): 

Potential hay fire too, and you don't want that to happen. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (16:53): 

Oh, yeah. When you stack it all in the barn and then the heat and fermentation. 

 

Katy Starr (16:57): 

Yeah. Yeah. And then you don't want that to happen. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (17:01): 

No, you definitely don't want that to happen. Now, you can see sometimes dusty hay, that's one thing you can see. You can see trash that's been potentially that would be bad quality, or you can smell sometimes will tell you if it's moldy or not. But you know what you can't see? Non-structural carbohydrate content. You can't see fiber content. You can't see protein and minerals. Those are the type of things that you have to, you know, send off for a hay analysis to know that. 

 

Katy Starr (17:28): 

So, why is consistency in forage so valuable for both the horse and the horse owner? What does a more consistent nutritional foundation allow us to do when we're managing the rest of their diet? 

 

Dr. Vineyard (17:42): 

So, consistency is important for those hindgut microbes. Hindgut microbes don't like surprises. They like to eat the same thing every day. Yeah. So, you know, if you change forage or if you have your really overly mature hay and then all of a sudden you throw in some really high quality, easily digestible hay, the population shifts and their fermentation behavior changes. And that can have some side effects that maybe we don't want that could result in hindgut upset. So, consistency protects the microbes. It lowers the risk of digestive upset from any kind of abrupt change. And then, you know, for the owner, when you have a consistent forage supply, that makes everything else much more manageable because when it's inconsistent, you're constantly trying to change. You know, maybe I need to increase my feed or change my feed. And you're always having to, like, recalibrate your ration based on your forage if it's changing all the time. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (18:34): 

So, if it's consistent, you don't have to compensate for that. And I think maybe finally, a, a really important point is if you have a metabolic horse, it's absolutely imperative that you have consistent, like, non-structural carbohydrate, like low carb hay. You don't want to be fluctuating, like, all of a sudden, you know, get in a batch of hay that you don't know if you have a really sensitive horse. And if it happens to be higher in soluble carbs, that can result in a spike in insulin after they eat a meal. And that is not good for metabolic horses. We want to avoid that. So, consistency and, like, carbohydrate content is specifically important for metabolic horses. 

 

Katy Starr (19:10): 

Right. And so you've talked a little bit about this, but forage, obviously, it starts as a crop in the field long before it ever reaches our horses and other livestock. So, what happens behind the scenes from selecting varieties and growing the crop to harvesting, testing, processing, and storing it that can ultimately impact the quality and consistency of what we're feeding to our animals? 

 

Dr. Vineyard (19:35): 

Yeah. I mean, listen, I am no forage agronomist, okay? I'm an equine nutritionist, but I appreciate all the care and time and effort it takes to harvest good hay. And it is a science and an art, that is for sure. Definitely. And that's actually one of the things I love working with Standlee, because I've been out in the fields. I've been into the plants. I can see, you know, everything behind it, which it's a field. It's a crop. Sometimes things go wrong, and there are processes in place to avoid, like, bailing up a field that had something go wrong. Or if, you know, there's contamination with dirt or, you know, anything that is, people are out there watching for that, right? And so - uh-huh. To me, cleanliness of hay is such a huge thing. You can have the best quality species and it'd be the most digestible, but if it's got weeds in it or got mold in it or it's too dusty, like, we want to avoid that. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (20:30): 

So, I guess a couple things that play into forage quality that maybe horse owners aren't, maybe haven't been able to see. I mentioned about timing of cutting, right? Right. You want to cut that hay when it's, like, kind of at the perfect stage. Right. And that perfect stage differs for horses and for cattle, like, for species. So, that's why you've probably heard, like, don't feed cow hay to horses. That's one of the reasons why, because usually cow hay's more mature, and then sometimes it's lower quality, but so maturity will drive it. 

 

Katy Starr (21:00): 

Cows can handle things better than horses since horses can't vomit whatever they need to if they eat something wrong, you know what I mean? That's why it needs to be good. Yeah. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (21:08): 

Horses are special. We know this.  

 

Dr. Vineyard (21:13): 

Maturity is a big deal. Also, after the hay's been cut, how long is it left to cure? That can play a big role. If it's left too long and it gets rained on, that's going to reduce the nutrient content. You know, vitamins will leach out with rain. So, if that hay gets baled after it's been rained on, that hay automatically is going to be less nutritious. You know, obviously the moisture content, we talked about that. And then, you know, once you get forage to, you know, whether you're baling it or whether you're, you know, like at Standlee where they're pelleting or cubing or chopping, there's a lot of things that can play into quality too with, like, testing, right? So, pulling regular core samples to know and, and know protein, you know, fiber, fat of this batch, does this match with what our expectations are? If it doesn't match, boom, it goes out the door, right? 

 

Dr. Vineyard (22:04): 

Like it has certain quality standards it has to meet before it goes into a pellet cube or chop. And that's huge, right? And then also storage. You know, are you storing your hay dry on pallets? Please don't store hay on concrete because that could actually draw moisture. And that can play a big role. Or if you have bagged forages, don't let it get rained on, don't let it get wet. If you purchase bagged forages from a retailer and it's out in the back outside getting rained on, just don't even buy that to begin with. Water is not forage's friend. You know, we just want to keep forage dry as much as possible. So, all of those things play a role in, like, your final quality of whether it's a flake of hay, whether it's, you know, in a bagged forage. There's so many steps that happen before that, that end up with, with a good quality product. 

 

Katy Starr (22:54): 

Right. And like you said, it is a science and it is an art. It very much is. So, when you do it right, it is. So, what about the horse owner who maybe boards their horses, travels, you know, to shows, or maybe they just don't have access to consistent high-quality hay? 

 

Dr. Vineyard (23:15): 

Yeah. I mean, I can relate to this because I board my horse and, you know, this is part of boarding, right? You don't have full control over some of these things. And so, to me, this is absolutely a place where, you know, depending on your situation, if you're concerned about consistency, this is a place where these premium cubes, you know, pelleted hay or chopped hay, they make a lot of sense, you know, incorporating portion of bagged forages into your horse's regular ration, whether it's three or five pounds a day, or maybe it needs to be more than that, depending on the quality of the rest of the forage you have access to. All of these things count as real forage. Pellets count as real forage. Alfalfa pellets are forage. You know, a pound of alfalfa pellets is delivering the same level of nutrition as a pound of alfalfa hay. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (24:01): 

So, you know, that's something to always keep in mind. So, if you're really concerned about the hay quality your horse is getting, substitute some with these bagged forages that you got that guaranteed analysis on the package. You don't have to guess what is in there, and you don't have to test it because it's already been tested. And so, you know, the guaranteed analysis and that low variability, I mean, that just creates a really stable foundation. I personally like to feed my horse alfalfa cubes because he gets a little bit of chop. We soak it with water. I know he's getting, you know, this much amount every single day. That's a really consistent part of his ration. And it just makes me feel a little bit more confident that, like, you know, with the natural variation of what may be happening with the rest of his forage, pasture or hay, depending on the seasons, he's getting consistent amount of this consistent alfalfa forage every single day. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (24:51): 

These bagged forages are also really good for horses with dental issues. If they have trouble chewing long-stemmed hay and they're starting to quid, you can soak cubes, you can soak pellets, you know, or even some of these horses can handle the, like, smaller chopped hay, which is kind of nice because they still get to chew and that makes them happy, but they're not going to create these large quids like they do with long stem hay. Another use case for these, the bagged forages would be respiratory health. So, horses that may have a little bit of equine asthma or heaves, they do benefit from low dust situations. So, you know, wetting down their forage is really important, but also you kind of, you can use some of these bagged forages to minimize dust they're getting from their regular hay. So, you know, bagged forages, they can be a supplement, you know? 

 

Dr. Vineyard (25:39): 

They can supplement inconsistent hay, kind of give you a little bit of peace of mind, and they can partially replace a horse's forage component of their diet. And that's typically what a lot of people will do. But in some cases, they can also serve as a full replacement when needed. It's great to have that flexibility, you know, when you need it. 

 

Katy Starr (25:56): 

Right. Yeah, that's very true. So, let's make this really practical. So, if a horse owner wants to evaluate their current feeding program, what questions should they ask themselves to determine whether they actually have a strong forage foundation and how they can improve their horse's diet? 

 

Dr. Vineyard (26:17): 

Okay. Start with amount. Start with how many pounds a day of forage is my horse eating? That includes pasture, which is a little bit of a challenge sometimes to estimate. But, you know, for every hour a horse is grazing, you know, nice pasture with adequate, you know, pasture cover, you can maybe estimate, very big estimate, a pound of dry matter per hour, okay? If they're grazing 24 hours on pasture, that's about 24 pounds of dry matter, and that's about almost two and a half percent of their body weight. Big estimate, but that's just how I think about it sometimes. So, then your hay, right? If you're feeding flakes of hay, weigh your flakes of hay. I can't stress that enough. If that's all you ever do, sometimes you'll surprise yourself. You think you're feeding less or more, weigh three or four flakes separately and then take the average and that will give you a good estimate because every hay bale, like, flakes off a little different, right? 

 

Dr. Vineyard (27:17): 

And different varieties are going to, you know, alfalfa's really dense. It's going to usually be heavier per flake versus a grass hay. So, know what your flakes weigh and then know what your horse is eating every day. That's the one place to start. And then number two, is this within that window, that one and a half percent minimum of body weight, you know, up to two and a half percent, depending on what they need. Are we close to that? And are they getting access to this continuously, not just in two meals a day? Because if that forge is being fed two meals a day, there's a high likelihood they're gorging on it and probably going some time without being able to chew. And we talked about the problems with that. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (27:56): 

That's our start. Pounds a day, you know, within that window. And then, you know, the quality. Do I know my forage quality? And this is where it gets a little bit more challenging, but, you know, use your senses, your eyes and your nose for what you can. And then you either have it tested or you can look at the guaranteed analysis if it's a bagged forage. And then also, you know, ask yourself, where's this coming from? Is it coming from a knowledgeable supplier? You know, someone with experience putting up horse hay that knows what they're looking for, whether that's locally, or from Standlee, right? That they know, have a long history of producing good quality horse hay. Because it's different than cow hay, as we talked about. So, yeah, those are some really practical steps. You know, don't let them go long stretches overnight or if you're on a horse trailer for a long time. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (28:44): 

Some horses get a little nervous on a trailer and they won't eat hay, but I always like to make sure they have the option if they want it. And then maybe before you travel, make sure they have a little hay meal before they get on the trailer. That's always a good part of a good foundational approach to management. And then finally, when you talk about concentrates, and we talked about supplements, look at those as filling in the gaps of your diet, the nutritional gaps. You know, don't use concentrate to, don't start there. Use it, you know, you end there, basically, and you don't want to use it to compensate for anything. You want it to use it to enhance what your forage is already doing. 

 

Katy Starr (29:22): 

Right. Those are such great tips. And so you shared a lot of good ideas here, but if someone right now is listening and realizes, "I probably haven't been paying enough attention to my horse's forage," what's one thing that they could do today to start improving that forage foundation without completely overhauling their horse's diet if they're not able to, you know, get it to where they need to be? 

 

Dr. Vineyard (29:48): 

Yeah. I mean, the one thing you can do is weigh your hay. That really is, we talked about that, you know, you can get a digital hanging luggage scale is a really easy way to weigh flakes of hay. So, you know, Weigh your hay, know what your flakes weigh, know how much in pounds per day your horse is getting, know your horse's body weight in pounds, and then you can calculate the percentage, right? Percentage of body weight and make sure it's at an absolute minimum of one and a half percent body weight per day. So, feed by weight. And I would say a runner up, you know, number two thing is to send your forage sample off for analysis if you can. It's pretty inexpensive and it just takes the guesswork out of, you know, your forage. Especially it's really nice if you get a large delivery of hay, you can take representative samples and you kind of know what you're dealing with for the next couple months. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (30:39): 

That is an excellent tool for building a strong foundation as well. 

 

Katy Starr (30:43): 

Excellent. So, Dr. Vineyard, as we begin to wrap this episode up, what are some of your key takeaways that you'd like to leave listeners with about Forage Foundation? 

 

Dr. Vineyard (30:54): 

Well, you know, always look at your feeding program, starting with that strong forage foundation and realizing that not all forage is created equal. You know, we, we don't want a cracked foundation, we want a strong foundation and you can't always judge quality by looks alone. So, when you select premium quality forage to incorporate into your horse's diet, that's just going to be, you know, it's going to be more consistent. It's going to managing the rest of your diet a lot easier and, you know, take a little bit of stress out of your feeding regimen focusing on premium quality forage. And at the end of the day, that's what Standlee's been focusing on since 1981, producing premium quality forage for horses. And so using Standlee forages when you have questions about your forage, you know, that is one way to solve that problem. So, yeah, that would be my takeaways. 

 

Katy Starr (31:48): 

That's excellent. And, you know, just a reminder for our listeners, this is, if we didn't go in depth enough about some of these things, we have probably another podcast episode or a blog post that does go into some more detail. So, I will plan to link a lot of those resources in the show notes of this podcast. That way you can reference it, go back, check it out if you haven't listened to it yet or read it yet. And then obviously, you know, appreciating you, Dr. Vineyard, and all of your wonderful insight that you provide to us as we build and develop our products, but then also just being a service to horse owners and livestock owners on feeding their animals. It's just so invaluable, the information that you provide to us and help keep us on track and make sure that we're giving them the best that they need to be able to take care of their animals and keep them healthy and, you know, all that good preventative care that we can do on our end. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (32:49): 

Well, I love that. Thank you so much. I'm glad to be a small part of that. 

 

Katy Starr (32:53): 

Excellent. Okay. Until next time, Dr. Vineyard, thanks so much for being on with us today. 

 

Dr. Vineyard (32:57): 

All right. Thank you. 

 

Katy Starr (33:00): 

Thanks for listening to the Beyond the Barn podcast by Standlee Forage. We'd love for you to share our podcast with your favorite people and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite listening platform. Until next time, keep your cinch tight and don't forget to turn off the water.