Feed Your Steed

25/03/2026

🌧️🌱 WA horse owners: Just a few notes in case we do get a rainfall event this weekend.

🌧️The real risk is often not the rain itself. It is what happens in the days after it.

🌿After months of dry paddocks, the first decent rain onto warm soil can push pastures into a fast flush of short, lush regrowth 🌿. That first green pick is not the same as safe, mature fibre.

🌿Young pasture can be richer in non‑structural carbohydrates (NSC), the sugars, fructans, and starches linked with pasture‑associated laminitis. Especially in horses that are easy keepers or already metabolically vulnerable, e.g., those with EMS, IR, PPID, or a previous laminitis history (Kagan, 2022; Longland & Byrd, 2006).

So this weekend, the thing to remember is this:

☔🐴 It is not just “yay, rain, the grass will grow back.”

🌿It is that moisture-starved paddocks can come back fast, and horses can go from dry, fibrous feed to very palatable green regrowth in a hurry. That is where the trouble starts.

🌿In practical terms, that means being very careful with the first flush, especially with horses that should not be hit with sudden pasture access (Kagan, 2022; Longland & Byrd, 2006).

🌿⚠️ The other issue is w**ds
After rain, bare and stressed paddocks do not always come back as quality horse feed. They can also come back with annual w**ds and undesirable species 🌱🚫.

Some of these plants can accumulate nitrate, particularly where there has been:
🌿⚠️Drought stress
🌿⚠️High nitrogen input
🌿⚠️A strong w**d component

🌱🚫 The toxic problem is the conversion of nitrate to nitrite, which then forms methemoglobin and reduces the blood’s oxygen‑carrying capacity.

Horses are generally less susceptible than cattle, but they are not immune. Noxious w**ds can also replace safer forage and create a poisoning risk in their own right (Bolan & Kemp, 2003; EFSA CONTAM Panel, 2020; Stegelmeier & Davis, 2024).

That is why I would be very cautious about turning horses straight onto unknown regrowth, especially hungry 😬and especially if the paddock is:
🌿Weedy
🌿Recently fertilised
🌿Drought‑stressed
🌱💥Full of short green shoots through old dead material

👣 Walk the paddock first.
👀 Look at what is actually growing, not just the fact that it has gone green (Bolan & Kemp, 2003; Stegelmeier & Davis, 2024).

🚫🌧️ Hay hygiene matters after rain
Do not let horses clean up wet, mouldy, heating, or spoiled hay off the ground after rain.

Poor forage hygiene in horses is associated with:
🌬️🐴Respiratory disease
💩⚠️Colic
🧬🟤 Liver concerns

🩺🧪Mouldy hay‑derived spores have been shown to exacerbate airway disease in susceptible horses, and grasses and hays can also contain mycotoxins. If hay smells off, feels damp and heating, or is visibly mouldy — it is not worth the risk (Beeler‑Marfisi et al., 2010; Ensley & Mostrom, 2024; Intemann et al., 2022).

🌾⬆️ Feeding off the ground after rain (where possible)
After rain, soils are soft and easily disturbed, and that tasty green pick often sits right at ground level 🌱.

🌱When horses graze very short regrowth or eat hay directly off wet ground, they can ingest significant amounts of soil and sand, along with bacteria and fungal spores. Increased soil ingestion has been associated with hindgut irritation, sand accumulation, and colic risk, particularly in sandy regions like much of WA (Husted et al., 2005; Ramey et al., 1998).

Feeding hay off the ground , using hay nets, feeders, or raised areas can help to:
⬇️ Reduce soil and sand intake
🦠 Lower exposure to microbial and fungal contamination
💩 Support hindgut stability
🌱 Protect paddocks during recovery

This is especially relevant:
After rain 🌧️
🌾When pasture is very short
🌾When hay is being used to replace pasture intake
🌾For horses prone to sand accumulation or gut sensitivity

It is not about perfection, it is about reducing unnecessary risk during a vulnerable period (Husted et al., 2005; Intemann et al., 2022).

🧪 About toxin binders
A toxin binder may have a place as a back‑up support tool where there is a genuine concern about contaminated feed.

However:
🧬Using a toxin binder is not a licence to keep feeding dodgy hay
🧬The first job is still to remove the suspect feed or forage
🧬 Toxin Binder efficacy varies with the toxin involved and the product used

🧪 🧬Toxin Binders should be used cautiously and never as a substitute for feed/forage hygiene and common sense (Kihal et al., 2022; Raymond et al., 2003).

💧🧂 Salt and water still matter

🧂Salt does not make risky pasture safe, but sodium matters for hydration.
🧂Low sodium intake has been shown to:
🧂Reduce water intake
🧂Alter hormonal and cardiovascular responses in horses
🧂Sodium chloride supplementation has also been shown to be a safe way to replace sweat losses in exercising horses without worsening gastric mucosa (Alshut et al., 2023; Jansson et al., 2010).

✔️ Ensure access to plain salt
✔️ Ensure clean, fresh water at all times

✅ Practical WA take‑home
🌾 Keep hay up before turnout
⬆️ Feed hay off the ground where practical
🐴 Do not let horses hit the green pick hungry
⚠️ Be very cautious with EMS / IR / PPID / laminitis‑prone horses
👀 Check paddocks for w**ds and spoiled hay

And remember:
🌧️➡️🌱 The rain is only the trigger, the bigger issue is what those starved paddocks grow back into, and how quickly horses get into it
(Kagan, 2022; Longland & Byrd, 2006; Stegelmeier & Davis, 2024; Intemann et al., 2022).

📌 Different horses, different risks

🐎 Performance horses: Even fit, working horses can react to sudden pasture changes. Watch for subtle signs like tension, spookiness, girthiness, reduced focus, or manure changes. These are often nutritional or gut‑related, not training issues.

🍃 Easy keepers & metabolic horses (EMS / IR / PPID / laminitis history):
This group is at the highest risk during the first flush. Short, lush regrowth can deliver a big NSC hit very quickly, even when the paddock “doesn’t look like much.” Conservative turnout, hay before grazing, and close monitoring are key.

Same rain event — different management needs.

🩺 If you notice any concerning changes, e.g., as persistent lameness, marked behaviour changes, ongoing digestive upset, respiratory signs, or anything that feels “not quite right”. Do contact your veterinarian promptly.
Early assessment is always preferable to waiting things out during periods of rapid dietary & pasture change.

📚 References (APA 7th)
Alshut, F., Venner, M., Martinsson, G., & Vervuert, I. (2023). The effects of feeding sodium chloride pellets on the gastric mucosa, acid‑base, and mineral status in exercising horses. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 37(6), 2552–2561. https://doi.org/10.1111/jvim.16851

Beeler‑Marfisi, J., Clark, M. E., Wen, X., Sears, W., Huber, L., Ackerley, C., Viel, L., & Bienzle, D. (2010). Experimental induction of recurrent airway obstruction with inhaled fungal spores. American Journal of Veterinary Research, 71(6), 682–689. https://doi.org/10.2460/ajvr.71.6.682

Bolan, N. S., & Kemp, P. D. (2003). Factors affecting pasture‑induced nitrate toxicity. Proceedings of the New Zealand Grassland Association, 65, 171–178. https://doi.org/10.33584/jnzg.2003.65.2492

EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM). (2020). Risk assessment of nitrate and nitrite in feed. EFSA Journal, 18(11), e06290. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2020.6290

Ensley, S., & Mostrom, M. (2024). Equine mycotoxins. Veterinary Clinics of North America: Equine Practice, 40(1), 83–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cveq.2023.10.002

Husted, L., Andersen, P. H., Houe, H., & Olsen, S. N. (2005). Risk factors for faecal sand excretion in horses. Equine Veterinary Journal, 37(4), 351–355. https://doi.org/10.2746/0425164054529386 (doi.org in Bing)

Intemann, S., Reckels, B., Schubert, D., Wolf, P., Kamphues, J., & Visscher, C. (2022). Hygienic status of forage types for horses. Veterinary Sciences, 9(5), 226. https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci9050226

Kagan, I. A. (2022). Water‑ and ethanol‑soluble carbohydrates of temperate grass pastures. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, 110, 103866. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jevs.2022.103866

Kihal, A., Rodríguez‑Prado, M., & Calsamiglia, S. (2022). Efficacy of mycotoxin binders. Journal of Animal Science, 100(11), skac328. https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skac328

Longland, A. C., & Byrd, B. M. (2006). Pasture nonstructural carbohydrates and equine laminitis. Journal of Nutrition, 136(7 Suppl), 2099S–2102S. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/136.7.2099S

Ramey, D. W., Garner, H. E., & Hutcheson, D. P. (1998). Sand colic in horses. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 212(1), 86–89.

Stegelmeier, B. L., & Davis, T. Z. (2024). Range and pasture plants likely to poison horses. Veterinary Clinics of North America: Equine Practice, 40(1), 29–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cveq.2023.12.002

13/02/2026

🌿 Vitamin A in WA Horses & Ponies

☀️ WA reality check: A lot of our WA hay is cut around November. In hot, bright WA curing conditions, beta-carotene starts breaking down immediately after cutting. By the time we are 1-2 months into hay storage, most hays contribute very little meaningful vitamin A activity. Therefore, if your horse has no green pick or access to quality fresh pasture, vitamin A becomes something we need to actively account for. 🌿➡️🥕➡️🧡 (NRC, 2007; Harris et al., 2017)

Why WA is different and how to meet modern needs safely
Vitamin A supports vision (night sight) 🌙, immunity 🛡️, skin/airway lining 🫁, growth 📈 and reproduction 🐴.
In horses with regular access to green pasture, deficiency is uncommon, but a lot of Western Australia paddocks are not “regular green pasture” for much of the year. 🌞🌾

🥕 Where horses normally get vitamin A
Horses don’t eat vitamin A from plants directly. They eat beta-carotene from green pasture and convert it to vitamin A as required. Horses can store vitamin A in the liver for a while. (NRC, 2007; KER, 2019)
✅ Pasture beta-carotene is “self-limiting”: horses regulate conversion, so pasture doesn’t cause vitamin A toxicity. (NRC, 2007; KER, 2019)

🇦🇺 Why vitamin A is a WA issue
In many WA systems, horses have little to no green pick for 7–9 months, especially:
• EMS/IR/metabolic ponies 🧁 (managed off pasture)
• dry lot/track systems 🏜️
• performance horses on controlled diets 🏇

🌾 Hay ≠ pasture for vitamin A (especially in WA)
WA haymaking conditions are great for clean hay, but brutal for beta-carotene:
☀️ heat + 🧪 oxygen + 🌈 UV + ⚡ rapid curing = fast beta-carotene breakdown
Research shows up to ~80% beta-carotene loss can occur in the first 1–2 days after cutting, with continued losses during storage. By the time hay is a couple of months old, it may look green but contribute very little meaningful beta-carotene. 🌾 This is normal hay chemistry & not a quality issue & definitely not your hay supplier doing anything wrong. (NRC, 2007; Cheeke, 2005; Reid et al., 1970; Harris et al., 2017)

⏳ “Yeah, but the horse stores vitamin A, right?”
Yes, but not forever. Liver stores may cover roughly 1–2 months if intake is low/absent (varies a lot by individual & starting status). Horses which can go through stores faster include:
• young/growing horses 🐣
• pregnant/lactating mares 🤰
• performance horses 🏇
• long-term pasture-restricted metabolic horses 🧁
(NRC, 2007; KER, 2019; Lewis, 1995; Duren & Baker, 2012)

🎯 Minimum vs “modern optimal” intakes
Older advice focused on preventing obvious deficiencies. Modern guidance aims for better immune, growth, reproduction and performance support. (NRC, 2007:KER 2019)

Typical guideline ranges used clinically/industry:
• Maintenance: ~30–60 IU/kg BWt/day
• Growth / breeding / performance: ~80–120 IU/kg BWt/day

A 500 kg horse lands around:
• 15,000–30,000 IU/day (maintenance)
• 40,000–60,000 IU/day (higher demand)
(NRC, 2007; KER, 2019; Pagan & Harris, 1999)

⚠️ Toxicity: what actually matters
Vitamin A toxicity is linked to chronic excess preformed vitamin A, not beta-carotene. NRC’s upper guidance is expressed per kg dry matter intake; for a ~500 kg horse eating ~10 kg DM/day, that’s roughly ~160,000–200,000 IU/day, meaning there’s usually a big safety buffer when you’re targeting modern requirements sensibly. (NRC, 2007; McDowell, 2000)

🥕 The “two carrots a day” myth
Two carrots may provide roughly 3,000–5,000 IU vitamin A equivalents, helpful, safe, but often

11/02/2026

🌾 WA Hay Season Wrap-Up 2025–2026

What this year’s hay tests are telling us (and what it means for your horse)

This season’s results across WA aren’t mysterious or “odd” — they’re exactly what we’d expect from the weather we had.

A cooler, wetter, longer spring 🌧️
followed by warm, dry curing conditions ☀️🌬️

= classic plant maturity + dehydration effects.

In other words…
just plant biology doing plant biology things. 🌱🔬

Here’s what we’re seeing consistently across samples:

🌿 Higher fibre (NDF/ADF)

Later cutting meant more mature plants:

-thicker stems
-more lignin
-fewer leaves

So naturally:
⬆️ fibre
⬇️ digestibility
⬇️ energy density

Great for:
✔️ good-doers
✔️ easy keepers
✔️ metabolic horses

Less ideal for:
❌ seniors
❌ performance horses
❌ poor dentition

Think:
👉 NDF = how much they can eat
👉 ADF = how much energy they get from it

🌾 Variable crude protein (totally normal)

Protein reflects leaf content + cutting stage, not “quality” alone.

Typical WA ranges this season:

🌿 Meadow hay → 6–9% CP
🌾 Cereal hay → 6–10% CP
🌱 Lucerne → 18–24% CP

All perfectly normal.

If hay drops below approx. 4-5% CP, it’s essentially a straw-like bulk fibre. Useful for chew time but low in nutrition, need to add protein/mineral support.

☀️ Higher Dry Matter (DM) — a big WA feature this year

This one showed up a lot.

Many bales were very dry and thoroughly cured this season.

Why?

Delayed cutting + warm temps + low humidity + good airflow
= hay acting like a giant solar dehydrator ☀️🌬️

Typical hay:
~85–88% DM

This season, many samples:
👉 90–93%+ DM

Higher DM doesn’t mean higher nutrition — it simply means less water in the bale.

But here’s the nerdy catch 🧪

Very dry hay can:

-concentrate lab values
-amplify tiny dust/soil contamination
-make ash, iron, or manganese look higher

DM helps explain some of the mineral “spikes” we occasionally see.

It’s physics, not a paddock problem.

🧂 Minerals — why some look lower (or occasionally higher)

Later maturity + more stem:
→ nutrients diluted across more fibre

WA sandy soils:
→ naturally lower background minerals

So many hays:
⬇️ slightly lower mineral density

Totally normal.

Balance with:
✔️ major minerals
✔️ trace elements
✔️ vitamins
✔️ salt
✔️Amino Acids (Lysine, Methionine).

Rather than expecting hay to supply everything.

🍌 Potassium (K) worth noting for EMS horses

Some hay tested higher in potassium this year.

High K can:

-reduce magnesium absorption
-affect electrolyte balance

So for EMS/IR horses:
👉 ensure adequate magnesium + salt + mineral balancing

Again — not “bad hay,” just something to balance.

🌾 Straw — helpful tool, not a free lunch

Straw can be great for lowering calories, but two important cautions:

⚠️ 1. Not automatically low sugar

Straw can still contain residual sugars/starch.
Always test — especially for EMS/IR horses.

⚠️ 2. Don’t overfeed

Too much straw:
⬇️ reduces intake
⬇️ lowers nutrition
⬆️ increases impaction risk

👉 Limit to ~25–30% of total daily forage

Think dilution fibre, not main forage.

🧠 Big WA Hay Takeaway

Don’t judge hay by:
❌ colour
❌ “low sugar” claims
❌ one number

Instead, look at the whole hay analysis:

✔️ Dry Matter%
✔️ Feed value/energy DE MJ or DE MCal/kg
✔️ NSC (sugar + starch) %
✔️ Crude protein + Lysine %
✔️ NDF/ADF%
✔️ Ash%
✔️ Minerals/trace elements & ratios

Then:

🧪 Test your hay and balance with major minerals, trace elements, vitamins, amino acids & salt accordingly.

Because your horse & ponies' forage is the foundation.
Everything else just fine-tunes their engine. 🐴💚

09/02/2026

🌾 Curulli Meadow Hay — Full Results & Explanation for Elevated Iron

The full laboratory analysis for Curulli Meadow Hay has now been posted, along with the updated hay results for WA horse owners.

We delayed publication slightly while we retested one subsample that showed a higher iron (Fe) value than expected.
The repeat test returned a lower result consistent with the other subsamples, confirming the hay itself is not genuinely high in iron. ✅

So what likely happened?

🔍 Most probable causes

• Surface soil or dust contamination on the forage or hay probe during sampling
• Particulate contamination introduced during handling or shipping (including extra overseas handling)
• Very high dry matter (DM 91.5%), which concentrates nutrients and amplifies the effect of even tiny amounts of dust or soil

Here’s the quirky bit of plant science:
A speck of soil can contain hundreds of times more iron than plant tissue, so even a small amount can dramatically skew one subsample’s mineral reading.

In dry WA harvest conditions, this is surprisingly common.

🌬️ Contributing factors

• Low cutting height
• Dry paddocks
• Dusty baling conditions
• Probe contact with soil
• Extra handling or freight movement

All of these can raise ash, iron, and manganese values artificially.

🧪 Our testing approach

This is exactly why we:
✔️ Take multiple subsamples
✔️ Compare patterns across results
✔️ Question outliers
✔️ Re-test anything that doesn’t make biological sense

Because numbers should match the plant, not the paddock dirt.

✅ Bottom line

Curulli Meadow Hay remains consistent and suitable for horses.
The elevated iron reading was a sampling artefact, not a true forage issue.

References (APA 7th)
Ward Laboratories, Inc. (2025). Is soil contamination an issue in your hay? Ward Laboratories Blog.
DAIRY. (n.d.). Minimising soil contamination in forages. DAIRY guidance.
AHDB. (n.d.). Understanding forage analysis. AHDB.
Deepak, D. (2015). Causes of contamination of laboratory samples and their prevention.

27/01/2026

🌾 Curulli Meadow Hay Season Results 2025–2026

This year’s Curulli Meadow Hay is looking fantastic. The long, late season has produced clean, soft‑stemmed, highly palatable hay with solid protein levels, useful lysine, and stable dry‑matter values across all farms.

All key nutritional markers have tested safely, and Curulli Meadow Hay continues to reflect Phil and Paul’s commitment to producing consistent, horse‑friendly forage under WA’s challenging and variable growing conditions.

We’re still waiting on an Equi‑Analytical retest, and the raw data will be shared as soon as it arrives. This won’t change the sugars, starch, protein, or fibre values already listed — those results remain accurate and representative of the 2025–2026 tested batches.

If you’d like help interpreting your horse’s hay results or adjusting their ration, feel free to reach out.

12/01/2026

Limerick Hay Results for the 2025-2026 season are now available.
Please follow the link

Limerick Farms deliver high quality, cost effective meadow hay direct from our farms to your door.

21/11/2025

🌾 NIR vs Wet Chemistry — Why WA Hay MUST Be Tested Properly
(And Why Some Reports Can’t Be Taken at Face Value)

🎯 WA horse owners — if you’re relying on NIR hay reports, you may be making feeding decisions on numbers that aren’t real. WA hay is unique, and because it’s not in national calibration libraries, NIR often produces misleading results.

I’ve had a few of our WA hay producers ask why I send so many of our hay samples over to the USA for testing, and I completely understand the question. From the outside, it can look unusual, or like we’re being awkward or making things harder than they need to be.

The truth is much simpler. We use overseas labs because they give us the most accurate numbers for the unique chemistry of WA hay — especially for sugars, starch, and minerals. Our goal is never to complicate anything; it’s to protect horses, give producers honest data, and make sure the results we’re using are scientifically reliable. There are very real reasons why we choose these labs, and why it matters for equine health in WA.

☕ Settle in with a cuppa or a tipple of whatever takes your fancy. This Facebook post is for every WA horse owner, hay producer, and equine professional.

🔍 The Two Testing Pathways
🔬 Wet Chemistry (WC)
• Chemical digestion + combustion + enzymatic assays for sugars
• Proper mineral testing via ICP-OES or ICP-MS
• ⏳ Slower & pricier
• ✅ Globally the gold standard (Williams & Norris, 2001)

🌈 NIR (Near-Infrared Spectroscopy)
• ⚡ Quick, cheap, repeatable
• ❌ Does not measure nutrients — it predicts them using calibration libraries (Saha & Lumburg, 2016)

⭐ Why WA Breaks NIR
Most commercial NIR systems were built using east-coast forages such as ryegrass, lucerne, clover, vetch and east-coast oaten hay (Jeong et al., 2024).

WA forage grows under completely different conditions:
• 🟤 Iron-rich sands
• 🥉 Low copper & zinc soils
• ☀️ Hot, dry Mediterranean climate
• 🌾 Different cereal cultivars
• ⏱️ Rapid curing due to dry air + strong sun, which increases:
– bleaching (UV)
– leaf shatter (legumes & soft oaten cultivars)
– loss of soluble carbohydrates
– higher fibre from leaf loss
• 🌱 Variable ryegrass presence depending on paddock history

➡️ The spectral fingerprints don’t match.
NIR begins guessing outside its experience — and accuracy collapses.

📊 Calibration Reality
A valid NIR model requires:
• 800–1,000+ wet-chemistry samples per forage type (Saha & Lumburg, 2016)
• 200+ new wet-chem samples per year to stay accurate (AFGC, 2019)

❌ No Australian NIR system has this for WA hay.
➡️ NIR numbers drift — badly.

⚠️ Typical WA NIR Distortions
• 💪 Crude Protein → +15–20% too high
• 🍬 WSC + Starch → 20–30% too low
• 🌾 Fibre → underestimated
• 🧪 Minerals → not measurable
👉 This is why hay that “looks laminitis-safe” on NIR can still spike insulin.

❌ Why NIR Cannot Measure Minerals
NIR only detects vibrations of organic molecules — chemical bonds like
C–H, O–H, N–H.

What does “C–H, O–H, N–H” even mean?
These are the tiny chemical bonds inside plants that NIR can detect:
• C–H → found in carbohydrates, fats, fibre
• O–H → found in water, sugars, cellulose
• N–H → found in amino acids & proteins

When NIR light hits these bonds, they vibrate.
That vibration is what the machine “reads.”

But here’s the important part:
Minerals don’t have ANY of these bonds.
No C–H, O–H, or N–H bonds =
❌ no vibration
❌ no absorbance
❌ nothing for NIR to detect

Minerals like sodium, iron, zinc, copper iodine, selenium & cobalt are inorganic (Williams & Norris, 2001; Meyer & Coenen, 2014).
They cannot be measured by NIR under any circumstances.

👉 Only ICP-OES or ICP-MS can measure minerals accurately.
🧪 ICP Explained — Plain English

ICP-OES
The sample is vaporised in a plasma flame (~10,000°C).
Each mineral glows with its own colour.
The machine reads the colour spectrum → mineral levels.

ICP-MS
Same plasma, but the machine weighs each mineral ion individually.
Ultra-sensitive — parts per billion.

If your minerals were tested with ICP → they’re real.
If they came from NIR → they’re predictions, and for WA usually wrong.

🟡 The Elephant in the Room — Marketing Bias
Many WA hay producers avoid sending hay to USA wet-chemistry labs because those results often show:

• 📈 Higher NSC %
• 📉 Lower crude protein%
…which is the true chemistry of WA hay, but not ideal for marketing.
So some hay buyers are shown NIR results because they look “prettier.”

⚠️ The Cut-and-Paste Problem

• Over the years we’ve seen:
• 📑 Copied hay & ARGT reports
• ✏️ Numbers altered
• 🔤 Fonts altered in results
• 📄 Word docs pretending to be lab reports
• 🏷️ Samples rebranded
• ❌ Missing lab headers / sample codes

➡️ Always demand the ORIGINAL PDF, showing:
✔ Laboratory name
✔ Sample code
✔ Method (NIR vs WC vs ICP)
✔ Full carbohydrate panel (ESC, WSC, starch)

If any of that is missing — it’s not reliable.
This is why I now watermark all hay results being posted on social media or that are sent out to customers.

🐄 Ruminant vs Equine Reports
Many hay tests are designed for cattle/sheep, not horses.
Some Equine-unsafe reports may:
• ❌ Omit starch
• ❌ Omit WSC
• ❌ Omit ESC
• ❌ Use ME instead of DE

👉 Horse nutrition requires DE, starch, WSC and ESC — non-negotiable for EMS/IR horses.

🧪 Our Own Comparison
We sent the same bale:
• 📦 To an east-coast lab
• 🌍 To a USA wet-chemistry lab

Results? Wildly different.
👉 NIR smoothed out the sugars
👉 Wet Chemistry showed the truth

✅ WA Truth in One Line
🌈 NIR = screening only 🔬 Wet Chemistry = truth 🧪 ICP = the only way to get real mineral values 🐴 Horse reports must include starch, WSC, ESC, and DE — not ruminant figures.

📌 Summary
WA hay is chemically and environmentally unique. Because calibration libraries don’t include WA forage, NIR consistently produces inaccurate — and sometimes dangerously misleading — results.

For safe equine feeding decisions:
• Use Wet Chemistry for sugars and NSC (WSC, ESC, starch).
• Use ICP OES / ICP MS for minerals.
• Treat NIR as screening only, never decision making.
• Ensure reports are equine specific — not ruminant reports missing starch, WSC, ESC, or using ME.

WA hay is fantastic — but unique. When we use the right testing methods, we protect our horses, support honest hay producers, and keep the whole WA horse community better informed. Horses first, always.





📚 References (APA 7th Style )

American Forage and Grassland Council. (2019). Forage analysis by near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) vs. wet chemistry: Proceedings of the AFGC annual meeting. AFGC Press.

Forage & Feed Testing Consortium. (2013). Accurate analysis: NIRS versus wet chemistry. Rock River Laboratory.

Harris, P. A., Ellis, A. D., Fradinho, M. J., Jansson, A., Julliand, V., Luthersson, N., Santos, A. S., & Vervuert, I. (2018). Review of the equine digestive system and associated nutritional implications. Animal, 12(8), 1727–1740.

Jeong, E. C., Lindquist, A., & Kallenbach, R. L. (2024). Application of near-infrared spectroscopy for hay evaluation at the farm level. Animals, 14(7), 122848.

Kellon, E. M. (2020). The importance of accurate forage testing for horses with insulin resistance and laminitis. ECIR Group Technical Bulletin.

Meyer, H., & Coenen, M. (2014). Forage analysis and calibration challenges in arid regions. Equine Veterinary Nutrition Review, 9(3), 44–51.

Saha, U. K., & Lumburg, R. K. (2016). Development and validation of NIRS calibration models for forage quality analysis. Journal of Near Infrared Spectroscopy, 24(5), 421–430.

Williams, P. C., & Norris, K. H. (2001). Near-infrared technology in the agricultural and food industries (2nd ed.). American Association of Cereal Chemists.