advice needed please

Dogbetty141

Dogbetty141

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As my gg isnt fully out yet prob wont be for another 2 weeks i am using hayledge as he is a 16.1 TB so generally eats a good amount! Now he has mild COPD so coughed a lot last year on hay (not soaked but not really interested).(also dont really want to be on haylegh in summer as i end up throwing most of it away sue to mould etc) Have just read the post below and i used to soak my hay for an hour but if it is just for the dust side of things how long should i be soaking it for and is it worth it due to COPD or should i just stay on hay;egh! Sorry to ramble hope you dont get too mixed up not explained myself very well! lol
 
Just a thought - have you considered steaming it? Retains the nutrients better & nets are not such a pain to deal with?
 
I think steaming is a good idea, it smells a lot sweeter too.
But I think the general thinking is to soak hay for 20-30 minutes if your horse has mild COPD. I think it would be better to go with hay in the summer than haylage, for the reasons you mention.
It depends how bad the COPD is though - you would have to try this with the hay and maybe if COPD is still bad you may need veterinary meds/or to pull him off hay. Check the quality of your hay/the dust content too....??
 
To steam it, put the hay in a big black plastic feed bin. Then boil the kettle, throw the boiling water over top of hay and put secure lid on bin. Leave it like that for 20 mins.
 
We put a haynet in a large dustbin, pour in two kettles of boiling water, & put the lid on for 10 minutes. My horse is allergic to storage mites & and rye grass (plus a variety of other things). It certainly seemed to help his urticaria when I started steaming. It is a bit of a fag boiling the kettles, but the hay smells lovely afterwards & the nets are not such a b*tch to carry! In the same way as soaking - the steam swells the spores & helps horses with COPD. You can buy hay steamers I believe - but they are very expensive. I believe a few other forum members also steam their hay
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I Have similar problems with mine as he coughs alot... I normally steam hay, but his coughs was getting worser so i begged my YO... guess what he's out Yippe but on his own and got text this am... he's very happy even on his own! I don't see the harm in asking your YO.

He's TB too
 
When I was a student, we were told that the optimum time was 6 minutes - long enough to make any mould spores expand and be eaten rather than inhaled - yet short enough to not leach out the nutrients.
That's what I do with mine...works fine
S
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