Adlib hay - haynets question

I

IsabelleJ

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 June 2007
Messages
844
Location
Hampshire
Visit site
After my previous message, I've decided to try and give Sidney ad lib dry hay. I talked to my yard, and I'm a bit limited in my options. They will put a haynet in in the morning, and a friend can put one in at lunchtime. Then I thought that if I gave him two nets at tea time that would hopefully last him the night.

I'm not a fan of feeding from nets, but soaking his hay will be a much more complicated option, so if this will work I'm happy to try it. People have suggested doubling up on small holed haynets - will this help to slow his eating down? If you do this for your horse, how long will it usually take them to get through a full net? Do you usually weigh your nets or just fill them?

Thanks for the help! Hopefully the extra hay won't make him get any fatter, or at least the haynets will slow him down a bit.

Isabelle
 
My 15.2 cob in light work is out at night (and there's grass at the moment) and in during the day and at the moment he's getting through about 1.5 small holed haynets with home grown haylage in. My other 14.2 cob mare is out in the day and in at night (so less grazing) and she has 2 big haynets (small holed) overnight and then about 7am she has another half a haynet to last the hour til she goes out about 8. Haylage again. They both also have 2 hard feeds but just speedibeet and chaff. I did try putting the haylage ration in one haynet inside another one but both horses struggled and now they pretty much regulate their own hay intake and are doing well on it and maintaining condition.
 
My big greedy Welshie goes in at 6pm and out at 6am and he gets through 1 big and one small, small holed haynets per night. Not sure how many pads that is but it must be 4 small sections so a bale of normal sized hay will last him 3 nights. He always has some left in the morning too as I won't let him go without at all, so he is totally adlib.
I would get some decent sized haynets so it lasts and see how it goes. You dont want him to be running out and spending hours with nothing so ask whoever does him in the morning how much is left and adjust accordingly. I would also weigh tape weekly to check for increases of weight if you are worried!
 
I soak my hay too and put a large hay net for the evening and for the morning hay, I bought a big green flexible bucket which I can get two/three wedges in and the YO just pops it over the door in the morning
wink.gif
 
I think what I'm going to do now is feed in double haynets, and see how much is left over. I'll also use a weighttape on him and see how he gets on - I think soaking the hay will probably be a lot more work, and am worried about when the temperature gets down to zero. I will ask the girls at the stables to monitor how much is left at various times of day as I suspect it will take ages to get the quantities right!

Isabelle
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top