The best way to sample grass is to walk in a “W” shape across the field and take a sample every 10 steps. Do not take samples from areas where it is obvious that horses have urinated or defaecated.

Once you have collected your samples from multiple sites across the field these should be placed into a clean plastic bucket and mixed.

We recommend taking samples from between 12 and 20 different points in the field where the horses have been grazing. This will account for differences across the field. For example, near hedgerows grass will shaded and likely lower in sugar.

The best way to cut samples is using scissors. Studies show that samples that are hand plucked rather than cut have a higher proportion of leaf meaning that they are higher in crude protein and digestible energy and lower in fibre. The forage should be cut at the height at which the horses are grazing, for example if the grass is 15cm high, and the horses are grazing the top 10cm, only grass from the top 10cm should be sent for analysis, as this is representative of what the horse is actually eating. It is also important to make sure that you do not get any soil or roots in your sample.

If you have a corer then this can be used to take a cored section diagonally across bales. This will ensure that you have a sample representative of the whole bale. Probes can be used to collect samples from large bale hay or haylage. If you do not have access to a corer or probe then you should split open the bales and take hay or haylage from both the centre and outer edges of the bale.

Research suggests that in order to get a suitable composite sample, representative of a whole batch of hay or haylage, samples should be taken from between 10 and 20 bales and mixed together. Whilst this is not always possible it is best to take your samples from as many bales as possible. Hay from every sampled bale should be placed into a plastic bucket and mixed.