Forages and Roughage Ingredients
Forages and roughages are characterized by having a high fiber content; fiber being the structural carbohydrates in the plant cell walls (1). Forages provide fibrous bulk, macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, fat) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) to the feed. Forages can be divided into three types of hays; grass, legume and cereal grain (2). Grass hays can be further divided into warm-season and cool-season. Bermuda and Bahaigrass are examples of warm-season grasses. Orchard, Timothy, Fescue and Brome are examples of cool-season grasses. Legume grasses would include Alfalfa and Clover. Cereal grain hays are the leaves and stems from cereal grain plants such as wheat, oat and corn (2).
Roughages are fibrous components of fruits, vegetable and seeds that are often the by-product of another food production process. Hulls, the shell portion of seeds, are common roughage ingredients. Pulps from sugar beet process and pomaces from juicing processes are also common ingredients.
Forages and roughages provide digestible energy largely from sugars, starches and fermentable fiber. It is estimated that hindgut fermentation of fibers provides 30% of a horses’ maintenance energy needs (1).
NRC. (2009). Nutrient Requirements of Horses. (6th Ed.) National Academy Press, Washington D.C.
Padgham, J. (2015). What the Hay? TheHorse.com . Retrieved from https://www.thehorse.com/articles/36369/what-the-hay?utm_source
Definitions of terms from AAFCO 2017 Official Publication
Dehydrating, dehydrated = (Process) Having been freed of moisture by thermal means.
Hay = (Part) The aerial portion of grass or herbage especially cut and cured for animal feed.
Hulls = (Part) Outer covering of grain or other seed.
Meal = (Physical form) An ingredient which has been ground or otherwise reduced in particle size.
Mill by-product = (Part) A secondary product obtained in addition to the principal product in the milling practice.
Pomace = (Part) Pulp from fruit or vegetable. See pulp.
Pelleted, pelleting = (Process) Having agglomerated feed by compaction and forced through die openings.
Pulp = (Part) The solid residue remaining after extraction of juices from fruit, roots or stems. Similar terms are Begasse and Pomace.
Sun-cured = (Process) Material dried by exposure in open air to the direct rays of the sun.
Common Forage and Roughage Ingredients
Legume Hay
Alfalfa
Alfalfa, dehydrated
Alfalfa hay
Alfalfa meal, dehydrated
Alfalfa meal, sun cured
Alfalfa meal
Alfalfa pellets
Alfalfa, pre-bloom, dehydrated
Alfalfa stems
Alfalfa, sun-cured
Grass Hays
Grass hay, Bermuda
Grass hay, Orchard
Grass hay, Timothy
Grass hay, Timothy, immature
Grass hay, Timothy, meal
Grass hay, unspecified variety
Cereal Hays
Oat hay
Pulps
Apple pomace, dried
Beet pulp
Beet pulp, dried
Beet pulp, ground
Beet pulp with molasses
Other
Algae meal
Carrots
Flax plant product
*Forage products*
Kelp
Kelp meal
Linseed husks
Organic Roughage Products
**Roughage products**
Soybean Hulls
Soybean hulls, dehydrated
Soybean hulls, ground
*Forage products* = Per AAFCO definition, Forage products may include one or more of the following:
3.2 Alfalfa meal, dehydrated or pellets
3.1 Alfalfa hay, ground
3.1 Alfalfa meal, sun-cured or pellets
60.27 Coastal Bermuda grass hay
48.20 Corn plant, dehydrated
60 Dehydrated silage (ensilage pellets)
71.3 Flax plant products
60.11 Ground grass
45.1 Lespedeza meal (Lespedeza is a legume)
45.2 Lespedeza stem, meal
84.2 Soybean hay, ground
**Roughage products** = Per AAFCO definition, Roughage products may include one or more of the following:
60.7 Almond hulls
60.2 Apple pectin pulp, dried
60.1 Apple pomace, dried
63.26 Bagasse (part. Pulp from sugar cane)
12.1 Barley hulls
12.4 Barley mill by-products
63.36 Beet pulp, dried, plain
60.17 Buckwheat hulls
21.2 Citrus meal, dried
21.1 Citrus pulp, dried
21.3 Citrus seed, meal
48.1 Corn cob fractions
24.6 Cottonseed hulls
71.4 Flax straw by-product
48.21 Corn cob, ground
60.84 Psyllium seed husk
15.4 Malt hulls
69.4 Clipped oat by-products
69.2 Oat hulls
69.7 Oat mill by-products
71.6 Peanut hulls
75.6 Rice hulls
75.8 Rice mill by-products
78.1 Rye mill run
84.3 Soybean hulls
84.8 Soybean mill feed
84.9 Soybean mill run
71.23 Sunflower hulls
60.1 Straw, ground
60.8 Tomato pomace, dried
Nutritional Content Comparison