How to Choose Quality Hay for Horses: Appearance, Smell, Testing and Storage

Hay is an important part of many horses’ diets. Its quality affects feed intake, digestion and respiratory health, so buying it deserves more attention than a quick look at a photograph. You need to understand the batch, the needs of the horse eating it and the conditions in which it will be stored.

The best choice is not necessarily the softest or greenest hay. A horse in demanding work may need a different nutritional profile from an easy-keeping pony. Good hygienic quality, however, is essential for both.

1. Start with the source and appearance

Ask the supplier where the hay came from, how mature the crop was when cut, how it was dried and how it has been stored. Establish whether the offered supply comes from one harvest and field or contains several different batches. This matters when comparing quality and arranging laboratory sampling.

Whenever possible, inspect several opened bales from different parts of the supply. Look inside each bale rather than judging only the outside. An exposed outer layer may be faded while the interior remains suitable, but an attractive exterior can also conceal a damp or mouldy centre.

Check for:

• The balance of leaves and stems, coarseness and overall consistency.
• Unidentified plants, suspicious weeds or poisonous species.
• Soil, stones, string, plastic and other foreign material.
• Matted patches, unusual stains and differences within the bale.

A greener colour may indicate better retention of plant pigments, but it does not prove nutritional value or hygienic safety. Yellowish hay is not automatically unsuitable. Pronounced browning together with an unusual smell can suggest unwanted heating.

Later-cut hay is often coarser, but appearance cannot reliably tell you its sugar or energy content. If you cannot identify a suspicious plant, seek knowledgeable help before feeding the batch. Drying does not make every poisonous plant harmless.

Also consider how easy the hay is for your particular horse to chew. Texture matters, but it should be assessed alongside dental health rather than treated as a substitute for a dental examination.

2. Use smell and dust checks to spot warning signs

Suitable hay should smell clean and naturally grassy. Musty, mouldy, sour or unusually scorched odours deserve investigation. Do not press a suspicious bale against your face or deliberately inhale dust to assess it.

Gently separate a small portion in a well-ventilated area and watch for a noticeable cloud of fine particles. Dust can contain soil, broken plant material and microorganisms. You generally cannot determine its composition just by looking at it.

Warning signs include:

• White, grey or dark growths and suspicious clumps.
• A musty smell that appears only after opening the centre.
• Damp, stuck-together or unusually warm sections.
• Substantial dust released during normal handling.

Do not feed mouldy hay. Removing the visibly affected portion does not establish that the remainder of the bale is safe. Equally, the absence of visible mould does not guarantee good hygienic quality.

Soaking or steaming is not a way to rescue spoiled forage. Appropriate treatment can reduce airborne particles in otherwise suitable hay, but it requires hygienic handling and prompt feeding. Treatment choices should suit the horse and the equipment available.

If your horse coughs while eating, develops nasal discharge or shows increased breathing effort, consult a veterinarian. Changing suppliers alone is not an adequate response to a possible respiratory condition.

Tip: Before ordering a large supply, agree on access to several opened bales and a clear process for reporting unsuitable hay. One attractive sample may not represent the delivery.

3. Test what your senses cannot measure

Visual and smell checks are useful for finding obvious defects, but they cannot replace nutrient analysis. Testing is particularly valuable when balancing a diet, investigating changes in body condition or managing a horse that needs careful control of energy and sugar intake.

Discuss the purpose of testing with the laboratory before collecting anything. A nutritional analysis and a hygienic investigation answer different questions. Suspected mould or other contamination may require different tests and a separate sample.

Depending on your needs, a forage analysis may include:

• Dry matter and moisture.
• Crude protein and fibre measurements.
• Sugars and, where relevant, starch.
• Selected minerals and an estimate of energy value.

Results are useful only if the sample represents the batch. Follow the laboratory’s sampling instructions. A representative sample commonly requires material from several bales, ideally collected with a suitable hay probe. A handful pulled from the surface of one bale can give a misleading picture.

Keep distinctly different batches or harvests separate for testing. Label samples clearly so that each report can be matched to the hay actually being fed. Check the units and whether values are reported on an as-fed or dry-matter basis before comparing reports.

A qualified equine nutrition professional can help interpret the results and balance the whole ration. Where a medical condition is involved, include your veterinarian in the decision. A general feed report should not be interpreted as proof that every possible contaminant is absent.