Time of harvest affects nutritional value and digestibility of haylage since plants are in different developmental stages. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of plant maturity of haylage cut in June, July and August on digestibility and faecal particle size in horses.Forage and faecal samples used for the analysis of apparent dry matter digestibility (DMd) and particle size distribution in faeces were from a feed-study performed in the autumn of 2009. Twelve horses were used in the study, divided into three groups in a change-over experiment. Each group was fed haylage harvested in June, July or August during three periods. Faecal grab samples were taken from each horse and pooled so that one sample represented one horse during one period.

The aim of this study was to investigate if the botanical composition of haylage affects pH, dry matter content and microbial composition of the faeces in horse and pig and ileal environment in pigs. Two separate studies were conducted where pigs and horses were fed two diets containing haylages with different botanical composition. The first haylage was from a tilled land dominated by timothy and meadow fescue and the other haylage came from a meadowland with a large inclusion of dandelion, 25 % and common couch. The dry matter content (70.8 % and 73.0 % respectively) and the pH-value (5.7) were similar in both feeds. The first study was made as a three-periods switch-back study with 7 Standardbred horses. In the first and the third period, 7 and 9 days long respectively, the diet consisted of the haylage from the tilled land, oats, sugar beet pulp, soy bean oil meal, lucerne pellets and brewers yeast.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the content of glucose, fructose, sucrose and fructan (WSC) varied in silage, haylage and hay harvested from the same field and at the same time of harvest. The study also investigated if differences in the WSC-fraction in the forages caused differences in composition of WSC in the colon of horses fed the forages. Hay, haylage and silage were harvested in the first week of June 2005 and stored for about nine months before feeding. Horses that were fistulated in right ventral colon and caecum were used, but only the colon fistula was used for sampling. The fresh crop and the conserved hay, haylage and silage were analyzed for chemical composition and WSC-fraction.

Kunskapen om hur tränande hästar påverkas av olika dieter behöver bli större. Därför utfodrades 6 tränande travhästar med 3 olika typer av foderstater. Våra frågeställningar var:Hur påverkas hästens vattenintag och vätskebalans av olika foderstater? Hur vätskebalansen påverkas under arbete.Hypotesen var att hästens vattenintag och vätskebalans skulle påverkas och att vätskebalansen kommer att påverkas av de olika dieterna under arbete.Hästen får i sig vatten från tre källor, dricksvatten, vatten i foder och metaboliskt vatten. För att behålla vätskebalansen måste intaget av vatten täcka det hästen förlorar.

Botulism is a serious disease with high mortality that can affect horses. Due to this about 20-30 percent of the horses in Sweden are vaccinated against botulism. The purpose of this study was to see how common botulism is in the Swedish horse population and to se if a connection between feeding with haylage and botulism could be seen. In addition to this, the study aimed to find how common vaccination against botulism is among Swedish horses and on what grounds the diagnosis botulism is made. Medical records of horses being diagnosed with botulism at all the major large animal hospitals in Sweden between 1995-2005 were searched. In addition to this the database where general practitioners report their cases as well as the cases with botulism reported to the insurance companies were included. The results of this study show that only 0,03 percent of the Swedish horse population has been diagnosed with botulism during the time period this study covers. In all the cases included in this study the diagnosis was made based on clinical signs and in none of the cases verification by isolating the toxin was possible. In all cases where forage is noted in the journals the horse has been feed haylage which indicate that there is a connection between the use of haylage and botulism. Three horses died despite being partially vaccinated against botulism type B which indicate that a correct vaccination has to be done before the horse get any protection or that the correct diagnosis was not botulism type B..

The purpose with this literature study was to investigate the possibilities for improvement of forage protein in dairy cows with focus on feeding strategies and conservation of forage protein. The utilization of forage protein in dairy cows is often not that efficient as it could be. The feed crude protein consists of both true proteins and non protein nitrogen. The digestion of proteins in the rumen depends on the protein degradation rate and the ability of the microbes to synthesize microbial protein. The microbes need a balance between carbohydrates that provide them with energy and proteins that are degradable in the rumen.

The purpose of this trial was to evaluate the possibility to use sampling of faeces, urine and plasma, and measurements of blood pressure as methods of discovering hypomagnesemia in horses, as well as the application handiness of these methods. The most commonly used method of checking the magnesium status of a horse is to analyze samples of serum or plasma. The trial was of a switch-back design, in which the horses were used as their own controls. The animal material was five Swedish warm blooded trotters between six to ten years old, and weighing between 485-620 kg. The trial consisted of three periods that were two months each.

The purpose of this study was to examine vitamin A and E in equine nutrition and especially in relation to forages. A literature review was conducted to examine factors that influence the level of vitamins present in forage, the vitamin A and E requirement of horses, and the absorption of vitamin A and E in horses. The influence of DM level on alpha-tocopherol and beta-carotene content in ensiled forage was investigated in a controlled ensiling study using baled silage and haylage. The results from the ensiling study were combined with data of vitamin A and E concentrations collected from literature. Calculations were done to theoretically establish how well the vitamin content in ensiled forage can cover the maintenance requirements of vitamin A and E in horses.

The main purpose of this study was to determine the impact of bedding material on the faecal microflora of horses. Another objective was to investigate the hygienic and physical qualities of the bedding materials used and how these may change in the course of the trial period. The bedding materials used were sphagnum peat and wood shavings. Six horses had each material as bedding for a three week period in a change?over experiment.

Horses are made to eat mainly roughage and it is essential for optimal health to offer them an appropriate amount of roughage with good hygienic and nutritional qualities. To produce good hay at the right time and be able to keep the hygienic quality until next summer is a problem. This has the effect that horse owners today choose haylage and silage to a larger extent. Science in this area is scarce, i.e. if the change from hay to silage has any effect on the horse.

Methane (CH4) is a greenhouse gas (GHG) that contributes to the global warming. One of the largest sources of methane is livestock, preferably ruminants which alone counted for 30% of the total agricultural anthropogenic methane emissions in the year of 2000. The reason to why ruminants are such large contributors of methane are that the gas is produced in the rumen by enteric formation and leaves the animals by belching, exhaling or by the excreta.Diets high in concentrates can result in a lower emission of methane. Also diets with a high content of starch, such as alfalfa-grass, have a methane-decreasing. It is profitable to reduce enteric methane formation since that form of methane is unavoidably lost.