Steamed Hay For Laminitis

In a one year study of danish horses with and without laminitis harris and nanna luthersson dvm found that allowing a previously pasture restricted horse to have free choice grass or moving.

Steamed hay for laminitis. Procedure fifteen hay samples of multiple varieties were split into four representative subsamples of up to 50g each. Even the best quality hay can be full of pathogens such as dust mold and bacteria. Haygain steamers are the only scientifically proven. Heaves is already a common practice in horse care.

Soaking hay can increase the bacteria contact by almost 150. Diagnosing and treating the primary problem laminitis is often due to a systemic or general problem elsewhere in the horse s body. Hay and haylage suppliers that have their forage analysed by equi analytical or via a uk agent e g. The laminitis consortium is continuing its work in this area and hopes to be able to identify practices that will be of greater benefit to the horse owner faced with hay of unknown wsc content.

Steamed hay is suitable for feeding to any horse though the carbohydrate level is slightly reduced with this method. Hay contains a lot of sugar but the quantities vary between different grass species so it can be difficult to find a solution that is best for all forage types. While soaking hay is a popular option it actually has more negative impacts on your forage than positive. Steaming is time consuming and there is some expense involved in purchasing the steamer.

Hay was either steamed for 80 minutes soaked for 10 minutes or soaked for 30 minutes. Stop feeding all grain based feeds and pasture. We propose that soaking hay can be a practical method for reducing wsc and potassium in the treatment of horses with laminitis insulin resistance or hypp. About haygain hay steamers why steam your hay.

1longland ac barfoot c harris pa 2009 the loss of water soluble carbohydrate and soluble protein from nine different hays soaked in water for up to. Steamed hay is appealing to horses increasing free choice intake over soaked hay but not affecting the digestibility of protein or fiber. In addition studies have been done to research the benefits of steaming hay to rid it of bacteria fungi and yeast to improve the hygienic quality of the hay especially when it is fed to performance horses. Many veterinarians recommend soaking hay fed to horses that are prone to laminitis.

Feed only grass hay until advised by your veterinarian.