How do you measure the dry matter content in your forage?
Measuring the dry matter (DM) content in forage is best done by an analysis company. However, if you want a quick idea of how many kilos of haylage your horse should eat, you can actually measure the DM content yourself. All you need is a kitchen scale and a microwave.
Do the following:
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Place a plate on a kitchen scale or letter scale, and weigh out 50g of the forage you want to measure the dry matter content of.
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Place the plate in the microwave and microwave on medium heat (not the highest setting) for 1 minute.
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Stir and flip the forage.
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Microwave in 30-second intervals until the forage starts to feel dry.
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Once it starts to feel dry, weigh it again after every 10 seconds it has been in the microwave. When the sample stops losing weight, it's done.
Be careful so that it doesn't smell burnt when microwaving the grass, it can catch fire!
Once the sample stops losing weight, it's time to calculate the DM content. You do this by taking the final weight and dividing it by the original weight.
Example:
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Weight before drying: 50 g
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Weight after drying: 30 g
Then you calculate:
30/50 = 0,6
To calculate the dry matter (DM) content as a percentage, multiply by 100:
0,6 x 100 = 60% ts
Horses should eat at least 1.5 kg of dry matter (DM) per 100 kg of body weight. When using hay and straw, you can assume a DM content of 84%, but it can be harder to estimate the DM content in a wetter haylage. To ensure the horse is receiving the correct amount of forage, it is always important to conduct an analysis of the forage.
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