Keeping you up-to-date with what’s happening at Bridge Farm.
Well recently we’ve busy bringing in the hay. We’re quite pleased with the hay crop this year and the hay is looking good.
So, we thought we’d share some photos of the hay harvest with you.
Bridge Farm needs a good hay crop, it is essential to ensure we have winter feed for our own and our livery clients horse’s and ponies.
In its most basic form, hay is just dried grasses and plants, but there is a vast difference in the quality of hay based on how and sometimes where it’s grown. You can find good basic information on why good hay is essential for horses’ at … Selecting Quality Hay for Horses‘
If the Bridge Farm hay crop was ever to fail it would mean we’d have to purchase hay from other sources.
The added cost, shopping around to find good quality and transporting the hay would drastically affect our overheads.
You see domestic horses’ still need to forage and hay is a good substitute for the grass that doesn’t grow in the winter.
Good hay helps keep your horse’s digestion working properly by providing the roughage it needs. Good grazing is best, but hay or haylage are good substitutes.
Your horses’ digestive system is quite complex.
Horses are designed to take in food for about 22 out of every 24 hours. This keeps the digestive tract moving. Failure to keep the digestive tract going can lead to impaction and colic which can be fatal.
The risk of Colic ( see: The Symptoms of Equine Colic), can be a worry among horse owners and hay is good roughage, it also has a lower sugar content than grass. Especially in the spring as new spring grass is loaded with carbohydrates, which convert to sugars when digested.
So, as good as fresh green grass is for your horse, in some circumstances good quality hay can be even better.
That’s all at the moment but I’ll bring you more of what’s happening at Bridge Farm shortly … Richard
