High quality hay will be hard to find this winter

Summer of 2013 was not a good year for producing horse quality hay.  The severe wet weather pattern that Southeastern NC experienced this summer resulted in a widely spread poor crop of hay. Hay is an easy crop to grow, but tricky to harvest correctly. The problem with producing high quality hay is that the farmer is completely at the mercy of Mother Nature when it comes time to bale. Once grass has reached the appropriate stage of maturity, you have to have a minimum of three (and preferably four) rain-free days, with the sun shining, to give the grass time to uniformly dry (reduce moisture through time and bleaching in the sun), then raked, baled and removed from the field.  It’s hard to get this done when rain is constant.

Why don’t they just wait for better weather in a few weeks and bale it then?  They do, but there’s a catch. Grass will only stay at peak maturity for 2-3 weeks before the nutritional value, appearance and overall quality starts to decline rapidly. Once that happens, the farmer’s only choice is to cut the hay, sell it as lower quality (usually referred to as “cow” hay) and wait for the next crop of grass to regrow.  This takes 3-4 weeks to get the next round of “pretty” grass ready to harvest. With Bermuda hay season only lasting for roughly four months per year, and 2 ½ months were quite literally “a wash”, many farmers only put up one good cutting of hay this past year.

You may have to settle for some “older” hay this winter. Because such a small amount of hay was baled at the proper stage, many horse owners will be forced to buy more mature hay than they’re used to feeding.  Fortunately, there is an easy solution to help you tell what quality your hay is.

Have a hay sample sent off for proper nutritional analysis. This is the best way by far to get a proper idea of what energy and protein levels your hay has. Contact your local Extension office for help with this. The cost is $10 per sample and takes a lot of the guesswork out of what your hay is giving your horses every day.

Written by Randy Wood, Scotland County Extension Director and Livestock Agent

Exercise Affects Mare Reproductive Ability

 The acceptance of many equine breed organizations allowing multiple foal registries per mare per year has led to increased use of embryo transfer, allowing mares to continue to train and compete during the breeding season without the hindrance of pregnancy.  Evidence supports that sustained physical activity is detrimental to both embryo recovery rate and embryo quality in mares.  Blood flow to the ovary appears to be critical to follicular development and oocyte and embryonic developmental competence.  However, the influence of exercise-induced stress on reproductive blood flow in any species remains elusive. 

Researchers at Clemson University and the University of Florida reported on a study that examined the impact of exercise on mare reproductive health and embryo transfer.  In the study, mares were divided into three research groups: no exercise (control), partial exercise, and full exercise.  Their objective was to measure reproductive blood flow and embryo number and quality.  Partial-exercised mares were exercised for 30 minutes of moderate-intense exercise daily during the periovulatory period and were rested after ovulation for 7 days.  Full-exercised mares were exercised for 30 minutes daily throughout the reproductive cycle. 

The study demonstrated that 30 min of moderate exercise significantly increased serum cortisol concentrations, tended to decrease embryo recovery rates, and reduced embryo quality scores. 

This is an area of research that needs further investigation, but it is something to think about if you're breeding your mares.  It would seem that avoiding exercise during early embryo development would be beneficial. 

The journal article in it's entirety can be found at the following link:

http://www.journalofanimalscience.org/content/90/11/3770.long

Heaves

With winter right around the corner here in North Carolina, it’s important to discuss the condition known as heaves, which affects heaves prone horses being stalled.  Heaves is an allergic, inflammatory, and obstructive airway disease affecting older horses and similar to asthma in humans.  The technical name for heaves is actually Recurrent Airway Obstruction.

Heaves is more common in horses who are stalled and fed hay.  It may be initiated by the inhalation of organic dusts, such as those associated with hay and bedding materials. These organic dusts contain allergens, endotoxins, molds, and other small particles which can initiate the inflammation process of the lungs.  There appears to be a genetic predisposition to heaves since not all horses develop the condition who are stalled and fed hay.  Even good quality hay can initiate an episode in a heaves prone horse, but it should not be of danger to a horse without the condition.

When heaves predisposed horses are moved from the pasture to a stall and fed hay airway inflammation can occur within six to eight hours.  Airway obstruction happens as a result of bronchospasm, mucus accumulation, and airway wall thickening.  Heaves affected horses have their airways narrow in response to allergens, dust, irritant odors, etc. and this condition is known as hyperresponsiveness.  For heaves affected horses, even a brief exposure to the stable environment can induce hyperresponsiveness.

In severe cases, affected horses have marked respiratory distress, the horse is typically seven years of age or older, and has spent a large portion of its life being stalled.  During a severe acute episode, their nostrils are flared, respiratory rate is increased, the horse is anxious/agitated, they can have a nasal discharge, and use their abdominal muscles which can lead to the development of “heave lines”.  During mild cases, horses may cough during exercise, feeding, cleaning the barn, and may have reduced exercise tolerance.  Your veterinarian is the person who can make a definitive diagnosis of heaves.

There are a few ways to manage heaves such as changing your horse’s environment, changing your horse’s diet, or your veterinarian can prescribe medications.  When changing your horse’s environment, moving your horse to pasture is the best option, however, it should not be a dry lot.  If that is not possible, then you should improve your barn’s ventilation and move your horse to a part of the barn where airborne particles are fewer.  Avoid storing hay in the loft, sweeping constantly, and you should change your horse’s bedding to one that produces less dust such as chopped paper or cardboard.  Your horse’s diet should also be changed to one that contains less dust.  In the winter when grass is low, pelleted feed should be provided and rolled grains should be avoided due to their high dust content.  Round bale hay should be avoided because horses will eat the center out of the bale, therefore inhaling even more particles.  If it is not possible to cut hay from your horse’s diet, then it should be soaked in water for five minutes before it is fed.  Also, alfalfa pellets and alfalfa cubes have a low amount of dust.  Finally, medications may be prescribed by your veterinarian, but this is something a veterinarian must recommend.

 

For more information, please contact your Livestock Extension Agent and review the following Extension publication:

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/asc/asc172/asc172.pdf

This article was adapted from a University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Publication, ASC-172, written by Dr. Fernanda Camargo, Dr. Bob Coleman, Dr. Laurie Lawrence, Dr. Mary Rossano, and Kristen Harvey.