Amount of hay when turned out for 8 hrs at grass

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Mystified

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Hi I wonder if you could clarify how much hay you should feed a pony/horse at night (stabled) when turned out at grass for 8 hrs during the day.

I know that you should calculate their feeds based on body weight and most of mine are good doers/laminitic so I normally work this on 1.5 - 2%.

So for instance a cushing pony 350kg @ 1.5% = 5.25kg this is fine if they are in 24/7 as it is easy to workout the amount of hay / hard feed.

But how much do you reduce this by if they are out at grass?

I am conscious that I might be overfeeding the amount of hay at night but when they are in for 16 hrs I don't want them standing in for hours with no food.
 
I was told by a feed company nutritionist years ago that grass intake is calculated at around 1kg per hour on good grazing and obviously less on poor quality or sparse grass so 8hrs on good grazing could be as much as 8kg of forage! (Although at this time of year, it'll probably be less).

Agree with judging by how your horses look and definitely thinking about trickle feeding.
 
Over the years I've managed to gauge how big a pile I need to leave for them to last the night (big) in the barn.
In the field, I give them more, I would rather too much, than not enough, mine are out 24/7 and get a smaller pile am, then the main pile at approx 4pm or just as dusk is falling, am is given at 6 45 am, just before I leave for work
 
Mystified said:
Hi I wonder if you could clarify how much hay you should feed a pony/horse at night (stabled) when turned out at grass for 8 hrs during the day.

I know that you should calculate their feeds based on body weight and most of mine are good doers/laminitic so I normally work this on 1.5 - 2%.

So for instance a cushing pony 350kg @ 1.5% = 5.25kg this is fine if they are in 24/7 as it is easy to workout the amount of hay / hard feed.

But how much do you reduce this by if they are out at grass?

I am conscious that I might be overfeeding the amount of hay at night but when they are in for 16 hrs I don't want them standing in for hours with no food.
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I too feed on the above basis- BUT totally agree that winter is different to summer- In summer an overnight net would be about a third of the daily requirement, in winter-it depends on the grazing (half? or slightly more???). Ours are in during the winter on a yard with haylage 24/7- The nets are small-holed and double netted and are 'bulked up' with good quality barley straw so that even when the haylage is gone they have something to pick at- the other alternative to this is soaking hay as this reduces the sugar content and slows down the horse eating.
 
I have a 14.3 cob and a 15.2 medium wt. both are in 14 to 16 hrs overnight during the winter. they have 2/3 of a bale each [conventional bale] a night each thats 3 or 4 slices in a haynet and 3 slices in the hay rack. if its snowing them I put 2 slices in the field at turnout otherwise they just pick at the grass. I'd rather them eat in the stable overnight it gives them something to do rather than just standing there.
 
Years ago from recollection I was giving my horse approx 24lbs of hay a day when he was out for eight hours a day. He is 17.1hh WB and at the time weighed approx 700KG with 9" bone. He had a tub before turnout when frosty, a tub when brought in from the field in the afternoon and a large net at night. He was quite fat though even though he was ridden quite a lot. Scored 6 on the Henneke body condition scoring chart. Is now down to a 5! :)

Now he gets about a small net morning, small net afternoon, and large net and small net at night but no grass at the moment. He looks quite good on it and has lost quite a bit of weight so he is a little fitter. Now his owner has to catch up lol x
 
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