Feeding Hay when feeding grain?

[Sandy]

I recently read an article that noted that hay should not be fed at the same time as grain, as it will impede the digestion of the grain... or cause it to pass through their body too quickly. I have never heard this before, so I'm wondering what others think and do? (I know not to believe everything we read, considering there are often conflicting ideas, and circumstances can be so different for everyone.) I read this in part of a nutrition article
from the Horse.com

Normally I will give the horses a small amount of hay when I arrive in the barn in the morning so they don't go nuts while I'm getting their grain ready for them, then after they're fed, I have the hay ready in the paddocks for them to go out to. Same idea end of the day, I have hay in their stalls for when they come in, and then go get their dinner ready. The article did say it depends on the amount of grain they are getting too.

When do you feed your hay in relation to grain, and does this sound like a true concern?

[Ottilie]

Well, that's a new one... I always thought hay should be fed prior to grain, to prevent the horses bolting their feed, however this is entirely on the basis of what I was told by someone, once, a long time ago...

I feed fairly modest quantities of grain/nuts mixed with chaff and soaked beet. They get hay/haylage after their feed usually, but I think the way I feed (small amounts of concentrate, mixed with roughage), it doesn't make much of a difference. It might be a different matter if they were in 24/7, or getting lots of high energy concentrates.

[Sandy]

You're probably right, they most often are referring to high performance horses in their articles, which are indoors more hrs/day and likely get a higher qty of grain. I do the similar to you, mix smaller amounts of grain with soaked beet pulp. And mine are outdoors all day every day. It worried me at first, but I can't imagine changing my routine, if I didn't give them their hay when I get there in the am, I'd figure they'd gobble the grain back too quick, on top of damaging the barn with kicking and biting when they get anxious for their feed. They do that even when they have hay there!

[Rena]

i hadn't heard about this before either and i was wondering if i was the only one who hadn't!
At Christmas i was given 2 new books! (Yeaaa :) and they both said the same thing
As i'm on my lunch break at the office and my books are at home.... what i understood is that
the horses stomach is very small (4 gallons but works best when only 2 gallons full) and that empties its contents very quickly ~12 minutes into the small intestine (70ft long)
If the contents don't a chance to start the digestion process (grain) before being pushed out by more food (hay) that is where trouble begins.
I will post the title of the books if you are interested. Both seem to be excellent books.
Also i have read that when feeding any pelleted feed be sure to wet it down first.

[Rena]

oh ya......it was 2 hours before or after feeding hay was the best time to feed them their grain

[Geoffrey Pannell]

Hi Sandy, Yes the article is quite correct. Large volumes of bulky, mature fibrous feeds may reduce overall digestability as the rate of passage through the gut is increased, and the time for bacterial fermentation of fibre is reduced. What you will find with this is large amounts of grain in the stool, so the horse is not getting the ration you are feeding him. So better to seperate the hay feed time from the concentrates, but still giveing some chaff in the grain ration to slow down the intake . Bulking the ration out this way minimises the risk of digestive upsets, and increases eating time and overall digestibility in stabled horses. Cheers Geoffrey

[Hank]

From what I understand it is best to feed grain about 15 minutes to 1/2 hour after feeding hay to get the horse's digestive juices flowing first. The best method of feeding for a horse's digestion is to either free feed or feed little and often because it's important for horses to have something going through them all the time. It also mimics their natural grazing behavior. If they are free fed then they are less likely to bolt their grain too because they won't be starving. I've also read studies that show that horses that are fed grain before their hay are more likely to colic or get ulcers. As for the grain being found in the stool comment, that is more likely because the horse has been fed whole oats rather than crimped or rolled oats and horses can't digest the tough outer shells very well. I have yet to find stools full of a complete feed pellet.

[Sandy]

well thank you for the responses! Sounds like it's true then. I'll try to spread out the hay and grain timing. It's difficult when you only have an hour in the morning to get them all fed and outside with their hay before going to work, but I'll stretch it out as much as possible. The horses are all in great health and condition, but this must help their bodies be more efficient with their food.

[Dori Nowazek]

Actually, Grain should be fed after the hay, but not at the same time, The grain should be fed about 10-15 minutes after the horse is finished eating their hay. This is so because this way the hay goes through first instead of chasing the grain out. The horses system will absorb more of the nutrients he/she needs from the grain this way.

[Sandy]

that makes sense too, i was thinking/ picturing it working kind of like that. the hay after grain would push the grain through possibly too quick, but I can't see why not feed the hay prior. Thanks!

[slc2]

I feed hay, and if I'm feeding more than a handful of grain, I feed grain after the horse has had a chance to eat some hay.

We feed hay four times a day, but right now, none of the horses are getting enough grain that it matters at all. We try not to feed a lot of starch, so the horses get a protein/fat/vitamin/mineral product (Grow N Win) and hay only unless they are working very, very hard in upper level work; the pony never gets any grain.

The reason for this is that the horses adore grain and they try to eat it very quickly. Having something in their stomach means they eat the grain and chew more, and that the grain gets mixed in the stomach(s) with the hay, forming a 'matrix' of moisture, fiber and carbohydrates. I believe the grain gets digested better, and the 'climate' in the hind gut is more normal, when the grain is eaten after the hay and mixed in with it.

For many years I used to make a hole in the hay and pour the grain in, when I fed out in the pasture. But again, it was a very small amount of grain. If the horses are getting more than a pound of grain, I think the key is that it is given in several small meals.

For example, when my horse goes back to work this spring, he will get his usual 4 hay meals a day, but he will get 1 lb of grain with each meal. We have automatic feeders so it's not really any effort.

I look at how many undigested grains of hay are in the manure. I like to see zero undigested grain in the manure.

The oldest advice in the world on feeding horses is to water, then hay, then grain. Ideally, the grain is fed 30-40 min after the hay is given. If you go to a very traditional old fashioned barn the horses get hay an hour or so before grain. This doesn't mean the stomach is 'empty' when they eat the grain, it means the grain mixes with the hay and gets digested better.

Today, with a lot of horses getting ulcers, I think it's very important to make sure horses get many small meals a day, with more hay than grain. I think we genrally feed too much grain - the starch in grains makes sugar and sugar makes acid. If the horse eats small meals and the grain is in small amounts mixed with hay or after hay they are more healthy.