Steam for success
Forage makes up the largest proportion of fibre in the horse’s diet and is an essential part of their nutrition. The quality of hay and haylage varies across the country and throughout the seasons, often being very weather dependant. One thing is consistent – there is a link between poor forage and respiratory problems. Even good quality forage contains high levels of respirable particles which can cause airway inflammation.
As well as increasing the horses’ chances of having colic, forage that is contaminated with bacteria and mould can have a negative effect on a horses respiratory health. High temperature steaming with a Haygain steamer kills up to 99% of mould and bacteria and can reduce respirable dust by 98%. Soaking hay is often seen as an alternative to steaming to reduce the bacterial content within the forage, however the negative effects of soaking far outweighs the positive.
Soaking hay actually dramatically increases bacterial content, reduces hygiene quality, reduces palatability and leaches lots of the valuable nutrients from the hay. Whereas steaming reduces the respirable particles, reduces bacterial and mould content, improves hygiene quality, improves palatability and retains the nutritional value.
For a limited time only, get a free Haygain starter park (worth £90) with every Haygain Steamer.
Haygain starter park contains a year’s supply of Descaler to maintain your hay steamer, a Haygain Bale Bag, the perfect accessory to help transport your steamed hay; and a Safety Knife, a must have accessory on any yard.
For more information and to order your Hay Steamer, please visit
https://haygain.co.uk/collections/equine-hay-steamers or call 0333 200 5233.
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