Can you tell the quality or the sugar levels of hay just by looking at it? The short answer, no! But it’s a question we get asked a lot.
It’s completely understandable, hay is something we see and handle every day, so it feels like we should be able to judge it just by looking. While your eyes (and nose) can give you some useful clues about general quality, they can’t tell you how much sugar is in a bale.
When it comes to appearance, good hay can be green to light green in colour, although many pasture hays can be a straw colour, so again, appearance doesn't tell you anything about the quality. You can have premium pasture hay that is low in sugar or high in sugar and it will have no colour at all, as loss of colour is part of the bleaching process that occurs when the hay is laying out of the ground to dry out sufficiently, before baling.
One thing you can rely on is your nose, good hay, smells.... so good!! An expression only a horse lover can understand!!
Excessively pale, brown, dusty, or musty hay can sometimes indicate weather damage, age, or poor storage. Leafier hay often contains more nutrients than very stemmy hay, although that isn’t always a negative, especially for easy keepers or horses that need lower energy intake.
What appearance can’t tell you is sugar content. Hay that looks soft, fine, leafy and "perfect", can still be high in sugars, but equally, it can also be low in sugar levels. Sugar levels are influenced by factors such as the time of day the hay was cut, weather conditions during growth, fertilisation, and plant stress. None of these are visible once the hay is baled, which is why looks alone aren’t reliable.
These two hays in the image above look and feel very similar, they’re the same species, from the same paddock, but harvested two years apart (2022 and 2024).
Our 2022 hay (Sample 1) was noticeably less palatable to horses, reflected in its very low sugar content of just 2.29% ESC + starch. Comparing these two hays is a bit like pitting plain Weet-Bix against Coco Pops in terms of appeal, one’s a tougher sell! Interestingly, this less tasty hay had a lower ADF and higher protein at 10.23% (compared to 6% in the more palatable one). *Although there are some differences in these hay types, both Sample 1 and 2 are perfect for 24/7 access, however you would want to control the eating rate more of Sample 2, since it is more palatable, therefore giving you peace of mind that horses alway have low-sugar forage.
Sample 1 hay is perfect for 24/7 access, giving you peace of mind that your horses always have low-sugar forage available, no matter how much they eat, it won’t trigger laminitis. In this case, Sample 1 was fed out in 4cm / 1¾" and 6cm 1 1/2" holes, and Sample 2 was fed out in 3cm / 1¼"and sometimes 2cm / 3/4" holes.
For those who don't know the ESC and starch are added together to give the total sugar level of your hay. For laminitic, overweight, or metabolic horses and ponies, it is best to avoid hay with ESC + starch above 10%.
Sample 2 (2024 Hay) has a combined ESC + starch of exactly 7%, which makes it an excellent option for metabolically compromised horses and safe to offer ad lib. Its ADF is a little on the higher side at 43% (values above 45% can make it harder for the horse to extract nutrients), but this level is still acceptable. Interestingly, its protein is quite low, which is fine in this case as I top it up by supplementing with lupins.
In the Spring hay season of 2025, we again made hay from the same paddock. We cut it too late, as that was the only time our hay maker had to do it, plus I thought that there was a good chance that we would get a bit on rain on it, which would help leach out the sugars.
We unfortunately didn't get much rain on it, and it made really yummy fine hay, BUT, it's sugar levels a lot higher than we normally make, coming out at ESC 11.10 + Starch 1.50 = 12.6. (See Analysis Sample 3 for more details)
This paddock was cut at 1.30pm and finished by 2.20pm, resulting in hay that is no longer recommended for laminitic or metabolic horses or ponies. I therefore just advise people of this when selling it. It depends on the sensitivity of the horse as to if this is a problem of not. Soaking would take this hay back to within the safe limits, as soaking for 15 to 30 minutes can leach out up to 20% of the sugar levels.
As this 2025 hay is over the 10% and I don't want to soak, I won't feed this hay to our IR Welshie, but if I did, it would be in 3cm / 1¼" or 2cm / 3/4" nets. I can however feed it to our new horse, who is only 3yo and has no metabolic issues. She is getting fed this hay in 4cm nets as she seems reluctant to want to eat it from smaller holes. Again, this illustrates just how different horses are in their management needs and requirements, especially in terms of hay and how they are fed, and how much our hay nets help to enable them be managed easily.
Interestingly, we actually cut another paddock AFTER the above times, it was just a 3ac paddock and it was cut between 2.20pm and 3.45pm, and for whatever reason (different species of hay), it tested just in the safe zone at 10%.
There are just so many variables that affect the sugar levels of your hay. We normally never cut so late in the day and this year in 2026, we will go back to starting around no later than 9am so that we are finished by 1pm. This year, we treated all paddocks the same in terms of liquid fertilizer etc, but the results were very different.
The images below are of the 2025 hay, the reason for the green colour is that it was very hot when the hay was cut for baling, and hence it dried out quickly, reducing the time it was on the ground being bleached. As it could dry out adequately, we only had to rake once, and that was just before baling, so this is the reason for some greenery as opposed to most pasture hay we have made in the past.
This is exactly why hay testing matters: it paints the full picture of your feed. In my own routine, I often mixed this hay with tastier options to boost its appeal, (To see a video on this please click HERE) but when I’d be away for a few days, it was ideal in a 4cm / 1 3/4" or 6cm / 2 1/2" hay net for ad lib feeding – safe, reliable, and harm-free no matter what.
The only way to know sugar levels with certainty is through hay testing. This is particularly important for horses that are laminitic, insulin resistant, easy keepers, ponies, or natives. Testing removes the guesswork and gives you clear information to feed with confidence.
When testing isn’t possible, feeding management becomes just as important as hay selection. Because hay naturally varies from bale to bale and season to season, controlling how quickly it’s consumed can help reduce sugar spikes, prevent gorging, and support more natural, consistent intake throughout the day.
Key takeaway: You simply cannot judge hay quality by appearance alone, the only reliable way to know its nutritional profile is to test it. You can't accurately judge sugar, starch, DE, protein ADF and many other parameters by sight alone.
Be Flexible with hay net sizes: The two samples discussed are from the same paddock, just two years apart, highlight how much variation can occur season to season. One year, your horse might need a 3cm / 1¼" net for a specific hay; the next, a 4cm / 1¾" could be more appropriate. Closely observe how your horse eats from their usual net size with each new batch of hay, regular monitoring is a key part of hay/ horse management.
It is important to remember when feeding with our slow feed hay nets to not to get too fixed on using one specific hole size, because it will always change depending on the type of hay you’re feeding. You can read more about why hay net hole size may need to change depending on your hay type HERE.
For further information and management ideas, as well as support, in the past, I have found the Equine Insulin Resistance and Cushing’s website to be loaded full of helpful hints and it is moderated by a Veterinarian.
We’ve created a video below so you can visually see the difference we’re talking about. It shows two bales discussed above, demonstrating how they look very similar but have different sugar levels.
