Ad lib hay

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Brandy

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Who feed it?

This is inspired by jadeyandladys last post.

I keep an elderly tb and a young welsh cob together. The tb is put in his own little paddock at night, with stable in there with door left open. He gets alarge feed which he grazes at, and ad lib hay (always some left in the morning.) the young boy gets a small feed and a couple of sections of hay.

In the morning, they each get breakfast - old boy some condition mix and blue chip, young one a token handful. I put them both in the same field (they like to have a scratch and the company) Then they get about 4 sections of hay to browse on through the day, between them. They do eat it all up.

So, old boy has access to ad lib hay from 6pm to 8am. Then access to the shared hay in the day.

The welsh is fat. The old boy is in good condition.

Should I be feeding ad lib to the welsh? He would stand and eat and eat and eat and eat. Whereas the tb will eat what he needs, and then stop. To be fair, the tb is not thatinterested in the hay in the morning when they go in together, probably because he has just been eating his ad lib hay in his stable......
 
My native would be grossly overweight on ad lib hay, the only way would be to mix with straw (tried and she won't eat it!) or soak the hay to leach out nutrients but that is practically impossible in these conditions.
 
its a problem with natives, they are programed to eat what they can and put on weight for the winter, you are right, if you gave him adlib hay he would just eat.
i think what you are doing is good enough, as long as he is holding his weight and looks well, then i would say he is getting enough to eat
 
I like ours to have ad-lib forage but it is a balancing act because we have good-doers and a retired cob who doesn't find it so easy to keep her weight.
They are in overnight with a mixture of haylage and straw. The oldie gets a bucket of dried grass instead of straw. Until the snow they did not have anything in the field, they were expected to pick at whatever is growing. I have put some straw out during the snow, so that they have something to do. They are all a good weight and condition. Except for the oldie they have very little hard feed, they all get grassnuts and dried grass as a bucket feed. If we gave them ad-lib haylage, they would burst.
 
I have a fairly skinny WB and he doesn't have adlib hay during the day. Absolutely no point in putting it out if he completely ignores it and ambles off up the field to dig holes in the snow and eat the grass underneath.

While ad lib hay is a good idea in principle go with common sense and what your horse is telling you.
 
I like giving ad lib access to hay but if you have a very good doer it could be a great idea to give some straw as well so they have something to nip at which isn't so full of calories. Also, if the horse is a good doer I'd rather give the same calories in hay with a tiny feed w/balancer, than a proper bucket of hard feed but with less hay.
 
I think with porky natives or porky anythings for that matter, they should be fed according to what they NEED... i.e. follow the 1-2% of bodyweight rule and feed from small holed haynets where possible to slow them down, give them fibre for longer and therefore keep them warmer and busier for longer...

It's really difficult as my youngster would eat until he burst but at £5 a bale and with him carrying his weight well, it just seems stupid not to manage him. he gets enough to last him the night and some of it is in a small holed net to ensure this...
 
Hmmm... I have a similiar situation with a chunky Section A and fussy WB X. I have split my field into two with one section tiny and running into the field shelter and the other much bigger and running into the stable. I ad lib them most days as I like them to run together in the large field (and always if frosty or snow) but I also separate them every day or two over night or for a few hours and restrict fatty pony.

Section A gets all calories from hay and a handful of balancer which given she is a lead rein pony, is enough to keep her round.

The only thing I dont do anymore is feed haylage as ad lib haylage would make her pop for sure! As it is she seems to be eating snow this morning and not many calories in that at least!
 
my two native's (one sec A & one sec C/D) who i have only put hay out for during the last few days before i got them moved into the winter paddocks.
they have only had a bale put out over the last few days due to the busybody across the road reporting us for not feeding them anything, they are both on the heavier side of a healthy weight & currently still knee/belly deep in meadow grass & if i put out ab lib hay they will both be barrels in a matter of weeks.
good ab lib forage is what they need be it good grassland, hay or haylage, or at least thats what i was raised to know.
 
Mine are only on ad lib hay at the moment because of all the snow. Normally they would still get quite a lot but if the grass is edible they tend to leave some, and I'm far too tight-fisted to watch them waste it!
 
all my welshies are on ab lib hay, stallions and foals ab lib hayledge, find if its available all the time, the pig out the first few days, then just eat what they need. we have big round feeder in the fields and most the time i pass the gate there is nobody at the feeders and are in far fields. they come a pick as they need it, although they are eating alot between them, they dont just stand there eating hay all day
 
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