Ad lib hay question............natives

M

millyspaniel

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 July 2009
Messages
435
Visit site
My coblet, tb and welshie have alot of hay (adlib) the TB has from tonight been stabled as shes not coping to well with living out. The coblet is looking quite weighty now, infact a bit too much (the welshie is perfect weight) is there such a thing as feeding too much hay in the winter to natives? do they really need ad lib hay? the coblet and pony have no hard feed and there is still a bit of grass they seem to be picking at.
Now the TB has been moved will they be okay with less hay?
Thanks
 
I wouldn't say you can feed too much hay, I very much doubt they will get fat on it but you can certainly end up feeding more than you need if you give natives ad lib. Daisy will happily eat almost 3/4bale a night if you let her even when she's been out on good grazing all day that is several inches deep of grass. I'm stingy and ration it now as she has no stop mechanism.
 
I have a mixture living out and it is tricky to get it right - the amount the horses need is far more than the hairy natives, but I love the concept of ad lib hay as it means they are never starving or bored.

Maybe cut back a little, now that you can, but not too much - wait till the foul weather is over.

It is better they go into spring without too much fat though, so keep an eye on them and cut back more by March perhaps.
 
Just like my Daisy lol (the coblet) i dont want to be stingy or anything its just with having to put the tb in a stable is costing me extra every week and need to make cut backs but not so it affects my ponies! so if i can use 4 bales a week instaed of 15 - 18 then its going to make a big difference pocket wise!
The colets 18 months (14hh approx) welshie is 2.5 yrs 11.2hh
there on around 2 acres as rest is resting and thers still a bit to pick at, how much hay should i be using per week?
 
Ours don't get any hay unless they are looking light
smile.gif
No hard feed either.
 
Ah, I thought from your original post they were in.

In that case if you've still got grass I'd probably give them one slice each just to be sure they've got some fibre going through them and leave it at that.
 
Well obviously I haven't seen yours but I wouldn't have thought they would need any more than a bale a day maximum between them.

I have my 2 NF's on ad lib haylage (can't get large bale hay) at the moment, normally I would never do this because they would balloon, but there really is no grass in the field, they actually started (shock horror) to drop weight FAST, and they are actually in hard work at the moment. One in particular is missing that stop button too, and he is looking a bit tubby, the other is regulating herself. Quite what happens when the workload drops back to normal I don't know, I guess I will have to go back to restricting their intake which is what I have always done before.
 
it is tricky deciding how much hay to feed. at our yard, there are 8 all living out 24/7 in a herd. a right old mixture they are to. a donkey, a v old fuzzy pony, a v old connie, a tb, a dales, two 4 yr old solid types, and my nf/tb type pony.

we get the big huge bales of haylage and give about 4 -5 sections late afternoon, we started giving them it yesterday as they were all hanging about the gateway for the frist time. they all obviously get their own individual feeds on top. i always know when mine is hungry as he will come racing across the field as soon as he sees me or my dog! cute to see, but now he's got the hay he doesnt do it!! we kinda judge them as a whole. the owners of the oldies will pump extra feed into them if they need it and it seems to work well. if we get snow or if the ground is still frozen a.m. then whoever gets there first will chuck a couple of extra sections in. if the younger fitter horses r looking tubby, they get their feed cut down. mine is on molichaff calmer. for the past couple of weeks i've been giving him plenty coz i knew he was hungry, but now they hve the hay, i will cut this back. he's only ridden 2 - 3 times a week so doesnt need a lot. we find that when the grass starts to grow again, they naturally loose interest in the hay and it end up wasted, so thats the point we stop feeding it.
 
give them what you think they need (natives about 3 slices of normal bale hay) if they clean up and leave nothing up ti a bit. dont feed so much that they waste it its a balance of what they eat and need before they start to waste it! and watch the waist lines!!!!
 
We are supplementing our very good hay for the 2 younger mares who are coming in at night and are both very good doers with good quality oat straw. We want them to be able to pick at something all night without putting extra weight on (in fact I'd quite like mine to lose a bit). There isn't really anything left in the field for them to eat dutring the day. This seems to be working well.
 
My welsh d foal is living in a barn and i fed 2 slices of hay in the morning and 2 in the evening plus a scoop of stud mix. My big boy section d is turned out on good grazing during the day and has 3 sections of hay at night.

If your ponies are leving more than the odd strand they are getting too much and being picky over the nice bits - if they are hoovering the lot up they are probably getting the right amount or could do with a little bit more so play about with the quanities building it up or down - put too much out and it will just get wet muddy and wasted.
 
I would look at what their weight is like as well. If they are very tubby give them less if they are looking a bit too slim give them more. With a lot of natives it is much easier to put the weight on than it is to get it off and you don't want to put them at risk of getting lami in the spring by being too fat at the end of the winter.

My NF could easily hoover up a whole bale of nice hay a night if he was living in - he has no stop button and loves his food - he is a very good doer. However he does not like all types of hay.

Mine lives out on good grazing but he had from Feb-Apr - when there was little grass - one slice of hayledge a day and his diet horse food and was still tubby YO is thinking this year living out ponies might get hay instead of hayledge though some get COPD so that can be tricky.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top