What Is Quality Horse Hay?

learned above all that we cannot assume how any hay will test.
Grass hays tend to test higher in sugars and lower in protein than legume hays like alfalfa and alfalfa tends to have a much higher mineral content due to the fact that the roots of the alfalfa plant extend much deeper into the soil than those of grass species. Alfalfa hays also tend to contain more energy per bite than grass hays visible on the test as Digestible Energy or Relative Feed Value. The amount of fibre acid detergent fibre ADF neutral detergent fibre NDF and lignin indigestible fibre is important to consider as well as it affects the amount of total feed the horse is able to consume in a given period.
Colour
Most horse owners want dark green hay. Many sources state that higher quality hay tends to be dark green. This is true but it is only part of the truth. A dark green colour can indicate higher protein and nutrient levels but it can also indicate high nitrate levels. Kansas State University Research Extension provides the following information in its Forage Facts publication
The potential for high nitrate concentrations occur when crops such as corn sorghum cereal grains and some grasses are exposed to drought hail frost cloudy weather or soil fertility imbalance. Nitrates accumulate in the lower portion of the plant when stresses reduce the crop yield to less than that expected based on the supplied nitrogen fertility level. When fed to livestock nitrates interfere with the ability of the blood to carry oxygen. As to why nitrates are toxic the publication explains Nitrate toxicity is a misnomer because nitrite NO2 not nitrate NO3 is poisonous to animals. After a plant is eaten rumen bacteria rapidly reduce nitrates in the forage to nitrites. Normally the nitrites are converted to ammonia and used by rumen microorganisms as a nitrogen source. However if nitrite intake is faster than its breakdown to ammonia nitrites will begin to accumulate in the rumen. Nitrite is rapidly absorbed into the blood system where it converts hemoglobin to methemoglobin.
Nitrates accumulate in a plant when the plant continues to take them up from the soil but is unable to use them. Factors influencing nitrate accumulation include overfertilization or anything that may stress the plant and stop it from converting the nitrates it has absorbed into amino acids protein. Some examples of plant stressors are drought