Walk down any feed aisle and you’ll see the word “fibre” splashed across bags of pellets, flakes, and brans. It sounds good, right? Horses need fibre, everyone knows that. But here’s what a lot of people don’t realise: fibre doesn’t always include forage.
Importantly forage is what your horse’s body is truly built for and needs from its feed. In a perfect world, your horse would be on a 100% forage diet that offers high levels of that important fibre.
What’s the Difference Between Forage and Fibre?
Fibre is simply the structural material in plants. Fibre is what holds the plant together giving it structure. Depending on the type and quality of fibre, your horse might get very little nutritional benefit from it.
Forage is the complete, natural plant material. Think grass, hay or haylage (like our product!). Forage is the complete plant including the leaves, stems and flowers and most importantly the nutrients your horse needs to thrive.
The older and tougher the plant, the less digestible its fibre becomes. Straw and heavily processed by-products may still legitimately be called “fibre,” but they offer minimal nutritional value. Your horse’s gut microbes need the kind of high-quality, fermentable fibre found in forage to stay healthy and keep your horse performing at its best.
Why Haylage is a better alternative to “Fibre-Based” Feeds
Many bagged feeds labelled as “fibre” are made from:
- Low-value by-products from the human food industry
- Pellets and flakes that are heavily processed
- Ingredients like straw or husks that your horse would never choose to eat naturally
Whilst these feeds contain some fibre, as we’ve explained fibre alone isn’t enough. Your horse needs that complex fibre found in forage. It’s what they are designed to graze on and contributes to improved gut health, behaviour, and performance. It’s this real, high-quality forage that FeedRight Haylage is produced from.
FeedRight is Visibly better than Fibre-Only Feed
We were once told we should print the word “fibre” on our haylage bags to compete with other feeds. But here’s the thing, when you open a bag of FeedRight, you don’t need a label to tell you what’s inside.
It’s grass. Pure and simple.
You can see it.
You can smell it.
Your horse knows it too.
FeedRight haylage isn’t about marketing words. It’s about providing true forage that supports gut health, mood, and performance. And it’s why our customers keep coming back, again and again.
A Reminder: Why Forage Matters for your Horse
- Forage supports gut microbes: healthy fibre fermentation from forage products, like our haylage, produce slow-release energy and essential vitamins.
- Improves behaviour and wellbeing: it’s scientifically proven that a healthy gut microbiome supports mood-regulating hormones like serotonin and dopamine and improves animal temperament. You won’t find high-quality microbes in dry, hard-to-digest fibre products.
- Easier to digest: this is especially important for performance horses, older horses, but there is less dust in a forage-based haylage product which is ideal for animals with respiratory issues. With haylage produced from real forage you can feed less, because you’re feeding a more bio-available product.
Our advice is not to be swayed by the word “fibre” on a bag. Instead, look for real forage, quality you can see and feed your horse the way nature intended.
FeedRight haylage gives your horse everything they need from forage: digestibility, nutrition, and gut-friendly fibre you can see with your own eyes.
Want to learn more about how haylage can benefit your horse?
Contact us with any questions you have about haylage, we’re always happy to talk forage and horse health.