Feeding horses in the winter presents unique challenges. During this season, hay commonly becomes a horse's primary source of forage. However, the type and quality of hay you choose—along with how and when you feed it—directly influences your horse’s body condition, digestive health, and ability to stay warm in cold weather.
This article explores how to choose and manage hay during the winter months, evaluating hay quality and selecting the right type for different horse needs, as well as proper storage practices and feeding strategies.
Why Choosing the Right Hay for Horses in the Winter Is Essential
Across much of the country, cold weather causes pastures to go dormant. Even if grass is still present, it provides little nutrition, and grazing during dormancy can damage pasture health and long-term productivity.
Instead, hay is commonly the horse's primary winter forage, supplying calories, fiber, and nutrients that directly impact body condition, digestion, and warmth. Its fermentation generates heat, while chewing aids gut health, making hay a consistent and reliable source of energy, protein, and essential vitamins when pasture grass is unavailable.
Because hay typically serves as a horse’s primary winter forage, choosing the best type and quality based on the horse's individual needs is crucial. Low-quality hay may keep horses feeling full but often falls short in essential nutrients, which can lead to weight loss or other health problems. In contrast, high-quality hay delivers digestible energy, protein, and fiber to meet daily requirements better and supports hindgut function.
Evaluating Hay Quality Before and During the Winter
As winter approaches and pasture growth declines, evaluating hay quality becomes essential since hay provides the bulk of a horse’s nutrition. The quality and value of hay can vary widely based on forage type, harvest maturity, storage, and handling practices. To make the best selection, horse owners should use both a visual hay inspection and laboratory hay testing.
Color, Leaf-to-Stem Ratio, and Aroma
Leaves contain more protein and digestible nutrients than stems, with up to two-thirds of hay’s protein stored in the leaves. Choose hay that holds its leaves and doesn’t shatter easily, as this reflects careful harvest and storage. Texture is also key—soft, pliable hay is more palatable and digestible, while brittle, stemmy forage is generally less desirable.
Color can also provide quality clues, with a green hue often suggesting good curing. However, aroma is an even more reliable marker of quality. Hay should smell clean and fresh. A musty, sour, or dusty odor usually points to mold, spoilage, or poor storage.
Maturity at Harvest and Nutrient Value
The stage of plant maturity at harvest has a significant influence on the hay’s nutrient profile. Grass hays cut before seedheads form are higher quality and easier to digest than those harvested after full maturity, when they become more fibrous and less nutritious.
For legumes such as alfalfa, the bud stage represents peak quality. Slight blooming is still acceptable, but extensive flowering reduces nutrient value and digestibility.
The Importance of Hay Testing
Visual inspection provides helpful hay quality clues, but laboratory analysis offers the most accurate measure of hay quality. Standard tests evaluate crude protein (CP), acid detergent fiber (ADF), and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) to determine digestibility, energy value, and intake potential.
From these values, labs can estimate Relative Feed Value (RFV), Relative Feed Quality (RFQ), Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN), and net energy. Still, hay quality may change after sampling due to leaf loss, mold, or poor storage, and variability between bales can occur. For this reason, visually inspecting hay before feeding remains a crucial step, even after reviewing lab results.
Choosing the Right Hay Type for Your Horse in the Winter
When selecting hay, several key factors should be evaluated. In general, leafy, fine-textured hay is more digestible for horses and delivers more calories than coarse, stem-heavy hay. The best hay option for a horse ultimately depends on their age, body condition, and energy requirements. Common winter hay options include:
- Timothy hay: A well-balanced grass hay that suits most horses.
- Orchardgrass hay: A highly palatable grass hay with moderate nutrient levels.
- Alfalfa hay: A protein- and energy-rich legume hay ideal for horses with higher caloric demands.
Choosing hay based on cost per bale when choosing a horse's winter forage can be misleading. Instead, start by evaluating hay quality and weighing bales to calculate cost per pound. This provides an accurate comparison between sources, often showing higher-quality hay to be more economical overall. Round bales for pasture forage may further reduce winter forage costs, but they require careful management and storage to maintain quality.
Matching Hay to Horse Needs in Winter
Different horses have different nutritional demands, and choosing the right hay in winter means matching forage type and intake to each horse’s age, workload, and health status.
Easy Keepers and Horses Prone to Laminitis
Horses prone to weight gain or metabolic disorders benefit from lower non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) hays. Testing hay is critical for these horses, since high-NSC forage can trigger laminitis or worsen insulin resistance, and NSC cannot be judged by appearance of hay alone.
Performance Horses in Training and Hard Keepers
Hard keepers and performance horses typically require hay with ample fiber content for digestive health, along with calories and nutrients to support their workload and energy demands. High-quality grass hay or a grass-legume mix offers more calories and protein, supporting muscle recovery and sustained energy output.
Senior Horses and Horses with Poor Dental Health
Older horses or those with poor teeth often struggle to chew long-stem hay. For these horses, softer hays like early-cut grass or legume hay are easier to chew. In addition, hay cubes, pellets, or complete feeds can help ensure adequate fiber and nutrient intake.
Pregnant and Lactating Mares
Broodmares in late gestation or lactation have increased demands for protein, calcium, and energy. High quality hay is a must for broodmares. Both high quality grass hay and legume hay, such as alfalfa, can be a good fit for a broodmare diet; however, they must be matched with a concentrate designed for broodmares.
Strategies for Feeding Hay and Round Bales in Winter
During the winter, how and where you feed hay affects hay waste, digestive health, and overall horse well-being.
Winter Stall Hay Feeding Strategies
In the stall, free-choice hay feeding is the most ideal method because it mimics natural grazing and keeps fiber consistently moving through the digestive tract. Free-choice hay also supports equine welfare by reducing stall boredom during extended stall time in inclement weather.
When free-feeding isn’t an option, offering multiple hay meals throughout the day—especially when paired with slow-feed hay nets or other safe slow-feeders—helps extend forage intake, minimizes waste, and better mimics natural grazing patterns. Spreading hay into multiple small piles around the stall can also encourage movement and natural foraging behavior. For horses with poor dental health, soaked hay cubes or pellets provide a safe and digestible alternative.
Because hay is low in moisture, free-choice access to fresh water is essential when feeding high volumes of dry forage in the winter. Heated buckets, regular ice removal, and offering warmer water between 45–65°F encourage hydration and help prevent impaction colic.
Round Bale and Winter Pasture Feeding Strategies
Feeding round bales is a common way to provide winter forage when pasture grass is dormant. However, without a round bale feeder, hay waste can be excessive, while a well-designed feeder can significantly reduce losses.
Protecting round bales from inclement weather is equally important. Round bales exposed to rain or snow without cover frequently develop mold. Moldy forage can cause severe respiratory and digestive problems, including colic and heaves. Storing round bales off the ground in dry, well-ventilated areas, or using feeders with roofs, helps preserve hay quality.
Feeding large round bales also carries a higher risk of botulism, so vaccination is recommended. Still, when appropriately managed, round bales provide free-choice forage and reduce daily labor, making them a practical winter pasture forage strategy for horses.
Storage Tips for Winter Hay
Proper storage and handling of hay are critical in winter, since poor weather conditions can quickly reduce its nutritional value, increase waste, and even pose health risks to horses.
How to Store Hay Indoors and Outdoors
Indoor storage in a clean, dry, well-ventilated barn is best for preserving hay quality. If hay must be stored outdoors, cover bales with breathable tarps and place them on pallets or gravel to keep them away from ground moisture.
How Long Can Hay Be Stored Before Losing Nutrition?
Hay gradually loses vitamins and nutrients over time, even under optimal storage conditions. Vitamin A, for example, declines quickly in stored hay, as sunlight degrades beta-carotene—the vitamin’s precursor. After 6–12 months, hay may retain only about 10% of its original beta-carotene, and by two years, even less. Greener hay generally contains more Vitamin A. Feeding the oldest hay or round bale first and monitoring its quality ensures horses receive consistent nutrition throughout the winter.
Support Your Horse’s Nutrition in the Winter Months with Tribute Equine
Even the best hay may not fully meet a horse’s needs in winter, as cold weather increases calorie demands and can leave gaps in protein, vitamins, or minerals. Tribute offers a wide range of equine feed solutions to complement winter hay feeding programs. Pairing high-quality hay with specialized feeds and supplements can help horses maintain body condition, support digestive health, and keep horses performing their best through the winter.
K Finish®, a 25% fat supplement, provides concentrated calories for hard keepers or horses in heavy work. For seniors or horses with poor dentition, Seniority® serves as a complete feed and hay replacement, delivering highly digestible fiber and balanced nutrition.
For easy keepers or horses with metabolic issues, Essential K® ration balancer can be fed alone or paired with a full-intake feed for hard keepers and performance horses. It provides vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that hay may lack, delivering balanced nutrition without excess calories.
If you’re unsure how to adjust your horse’s feeding plan for the winter or want to be sure they’re getting the best hay for their individual needs, contact the Tribute Nutrition team for a free, personalized equine feed program.
References:
- Oklahoma State University Extension. (n.d.). Evaluating hay quality based on sight, smell, and feel (hay judging). Oklahoma State University. https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/evaluating-hay-quality-based-on-sight-smell-and-feel-hay-judging.html
- University of Minnesota Extension. (n.d.). Horse nutrition. University of Minnesota. https://extension.umn.edu/horse/horse-nutrition
- University of Minnesota Extension. (n.d.). Feeding horses with a round bale feeder. University of Minnesota. https://extension.umn.edu/horse-nutrition/feeding-horses-round-bale-feeder
- Rutgers University, Equine Science Center. (n.d.). Winter feeding for horses. Rutgers University. https://esc.rutgers.edu/fact_sheet/winter-feeding-for-horses/
- Penn State Extension. (n.d.). Equine nutrition and feeding. Penn State University. https://extension.psu.edu/animals-and-livestock/equine/nutrition-and-feeding
