advice re haylage

debsflo

debsflo

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due to wet weather i am running out of hay and no one near has any so planning to introduce haylage gradually to make it last longer. bit anxious as never used before. any advice please. i believe its ok to feed both, neither horses have hard feed ,can they have same amount i generally feed ad lib forage.
 
Are they in or out atm??

If you're worried about haylage (I was told it can cause lami) you can always soak the hell out of it for 12 hours before feeding.
 
i've never known a horse that doesn't usually get Laminitus to get Laminitus just because it is fed haylege. However if your horse is prone to it, it is definitly not a good idea.

I'm not sure soaking haylege would do much good. I'm not sure you'd get the richness out of it even with that. And I know my horse wouldn't eat it after it was soaked, I'd imagine it would turn rather horrible!

You can get the high fibre horsehage though. That is probably your best bet is you're worried.

Just a warning though about feeding haylege in the summer, especially if you mixing it with hay, because the weather is warmer it goes off even quicker. I know it's not really hot at the moment but we were finding even this winter where it wasn't very cold that it didn't last as long.
 
You should be fine if introduced gradually. Mixing it is fine too, and mine has adlib haylage in the winter, and has also failed to die due to me letting him live out 24/7 with no haylage except when we compete, so once a week or so he gets 2-3 big nets of it and the rest of the time he gets nothing.

Haylage has a much higher water content than hay so advice from nutritionists is that you feed more to get the same level of nutrition, however I would guess that advice may differ for those prone to lami? Never fed lami ponies anything other than soaked hay, but then again, only had access to haylage now I am older and have a horse, so don't know much about it in relation to laminitics!
 
neither has had laminitis and got the high fibre stuff, mostly worried about upset tums as heard it can give them loose pooh . out in day in at night only because field is like a bog
 
Make sure you feed a mix that is high fibre and not Ryegrass. High fibre haylage (such as Timothy) is suitable for laminitics. As haylage has a much higher water content than hay, weight for weight you need to feed more haylage, but as it has a higher feed value it is best to feed it in small hole haylage nets to make it last longer. The ryegrass mix is suitable for horses in hard work and has a very high nutritional content.
 
I think you'll be OK then. Just like any new feed just introduce it gradually and you'll be fine.
 
One of our horses has soaked haylage every night - which he quite happily eats, and which was recommended to me by the nutritionists at Top Spec as part of his weight management regime. It is soaked all day, rinsed and left to hang for about an hour to drain and then fed to him.

You can feed it ad lib to some horses, but if yours are really good doers then definitely consider soaking it.
 
I was in the same postion as you in May...and switched to haylage.

I have 4 horses, in at night, and feed as much haylage as I did hay.

I use a big round bale at £25 and it lasts a week. My neighbour also takes 2 nets from it every day for her horses.

My horses took to it easily and we started with 10lbs a day and increased to around 15lb.

The white bits on it are yeast and are harmless but if it smells fusty, dump it. Once opened, keep it fully exposed to the air, and in the coolest darkest place you have to stop it fermenting.

Waste haylage is a sod to burn so try to waste as a little as you can unless you have somewhere to dump it.

None of the horses have had a personality change on it...infact they have stopped coughing and are much more settled.

Hope this helps...
 
It only gives them loose poo because of its high water content... they cant absorb all the water so it passes out in the droppings, making them much wetter.

2 of mine are prone to foot problems but have not had a problem with the haylage.
 
I had the same problem and fed my horse the blue High Fibre horsehage...which didn't give them loose pooh, doesn't have nutrient levels all that much higher than hay (after all, it's all just preserved grass), and my girl really liked it.
Am still feeding it as it seemed to help her digestion (now I feed a slice of haylage in with her normal hay).
Oh, and it lasts at least 5 days when opened.
S
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