Another hay question???

W

walkandtrot

Well-Known Member
Joined
31 January 2008
Messages
204
Location
Scotlandshire
Visit site
I am now soaking my hay for my (was overweight, now going down a dress size mare) My question is how long does the hay keep once its soaked, ie could I do 2 days worth at a time which would mean soaking it for 12 hours and then leaving it 24 before its fed?? Or does it start to go "off"... thanks in advance...
 
Did anyone tell you to soak it for 12 hours? When I had an asthamatic pony I was only to soak for 2 hours otherwise it goes a bit horrible?
 
I think that if you soak your hay for that long you are losing the benefits of soaking. I think I remember hearing that you should only soak for a couple of hours max and that actually 10mins is as good.

I certainly wouldn't soak and then feed 24hours later, dust etc would resettle and I'm sure that you would start to see some decomposition in the hay - just my opinion though
 
The whole idea of soaking hay is so that the horse doesnt breath in the dust spores they eat them instead and this really would only take a max of 2 hours so thats what I would do instead and I definately wouldnt soak to feed the next day etc do it as you go along its much better for the horse.
 
Good decision MB - I soak my hay for varying length of time each day and it's fine soaked up to 12 hrs, but my mare will never eat 'yesterdays' hay. I think it goes a bit nasty after a while once it has been soaked.
 
soak for 12 hours then pull it out and rinse in clean water, I did this all summer with my mare
smile.gif
 
We never used to bother soaking hay for astra the porky pony,One slice of good hay with two slices of spring barley straw,and he has been fine (for the last 30 odd years).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top