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There
are lots of horses in Alabama and throughout the Deep South, ranging from
pleasure horses to show horses. The value (economic and otherwise) of
these animals, as well as their diets, varies greatly. Regardless, many
horses have access to pasture during at least part of the year and are fed
hay throughout most of the year. Despite the importance of forage in the
diets of horses, relatively few forage research studies are conducted
involving horses.
An
exception is a study conducted at Texas A&M Commerce by Lauren Foster
and Dr. Pat Bagley reported at the 2006 American Forage and Grassland
Council Annual Conference in San Antonio, TX. (It may be of interest to
some readers that Dr. Bagley was recently named Dean of Agriculture at
Tennessee Tech University). I believe it is worth discussing this work
because it addresses some issues on the minds of many horse producers
these days. Furthermore, the results also should be of interest to
cattlemen and other livestock producers as the findings have implications
for them as well.
There
were three objectives in this study. The first was to determine whether
horses preferred Tifton 85 bermudagrass over Coastal and common
bermudagrass (despite producing large stems, Tifton 85 has been widely
reported to have higher digestibility than other bermudagrasses). The
second was to determine whether the time of day during which hay is
harvested affects preference by horses (this is another issue that has
gotten quite a lot of attention in recent years). The third was to
determine the dry matter digestibility of hay in both a.m.-cut and
p.m.-cut hays of each bermudagrass type.
The
approach used was to establish the three bermudagrasses in separate but
nearby areas from which hay was subsequently cut in either morning or
afternoon. At different times, hay of each of the three bermudagrasses was
provided to individually-stalled horses. On a given day, the animals were
given access to equal weights of both a.m.-cut and p.m.-cut hay of one of
the bermudagrass types. After four hours of a horse having the ability to
choose between the hay harvested in morning or afternoon, the amount of
hay of each type remaining was weighed, thus providing evidence of
preference. Also, by comparing results overall, the amount of hay horses
consumed of various bermudagrass types could be compared as well. In
addition, laboratory analysis and in vivo (rumen cannula digestion
of hays) were determined.
This
study showed on average the p.m.-cut hays were preferred over a.m.-cut
hays, especially in the case of Tifton 85 and Coastal, which is consistent
with other research done in recent years. It is believed the reason
p.m.-cut forage is preferred is because they have a higher sugar content
due to photosynthesis occurring during the daylight hours (as opposed to
night when there is no photosynthesis and |
